Embroidery Shortcuts: Stabilizer Savings



Who doesn’t like saving money on stabilizer? Here are two great tips for both using and saving stabilizer.

Fortunately, Sew Inspired by Bonnie’s Facebook group followers are so very generous with their tips. In response to Bonnie’s request for favorite embroidery shortcuts, Valerie Skidonenko recently shared two tips that she follows for more efficient stabilizer usage.

This one in particular is a Why didn’t I think of that kind of thing. Valerie is restricted to a 6-inch width for embroidery because she has a 7-inch hoop. She likes to purchase stabilizer by the bolt when she finds it on sale, then splits it up the center and makes two separate 10" wide rolls.

She uses Wonder Clips to keep the edges of each roll together so that it does not unwrap. See how Bonnie uses 3-inch bobby pins to hold folded fabric here.

For the extra savings part of her tip, Valerie does not cut separate sheets of stabilizer for her embroidery hoop. Instead, she lets the stabilizer dangle off of the embroidery hoop, still attached to the bolt or roll.

When embroidery is finished, she pops it out of the hoop but does not cut it away from the stabilizer until the project is finished. That allows her to hoop very close to the embroidery. She says that cutting the stabilizer at the design edge rather than the hoop edge, saves between 4-7 inches on every use.

That technique works especially well when stitching several pieces of a project, like the pages of Bonnie’s Needle Keeper, kind of like chain stitching quilt blocks.  Join our Facebook Page for tips, inspiration and fun! 

Great tips, Valerie!