Smoothing Things Out - Part 2

Applying a topping is easy.  Removing it is another story.  In theory, the water-soluble toppings dissolve easily when sprayed with a light mist of water. (Don’t you wish!)  Unfortunately, all water-soluble toppings are not created equally.  As it turns out, some of them require a blast of high pressure water, such as that generated by a fire truck battling an out-of-control blaze.  And since most of us don’t have ready access to such a vehicle, it makes removing the excess topping a real challenge indeed.

The first step in removing excess topping is to figure out which product to buy.  Call Suppliers and ask for samples of their toppings, then test them for sew-ability and dissolve-ability.  (Just because it comes off easy doesn’t mean you will get the quality of stitching you are looking for.)

Once you have chosen a product to use, experiment with steam as well as water.  You can purchase a small travel steamer from most local department stores.  Steam is a much better alternative than water, if it will do the job.  If you have to wet the garment, then you have to let it dry before folding, packing and shipping, which means you could end up with hundreds of garments sitting around your shop drying.  Steam on the other hand will make the garment damp, but not wet.

If you are forced to use water to dissolve the material, use it sparingly.  You can enhance the effect by lightly rubbing the affected areas with a tooth brush after spraying with water.  Another trick is to wet a wash cloth and heat it up in the microwave.  Removing the steaming cloth and lay it over the embroidery.  The combination of heat, steam and wetness should dissolve the topping.  (Of course, this is not practical for large orders.)

There is also a temptation to try and remove every little piece of topping left behind after sewing, such as in the center of letters like O,P,Q,B,A,D,C,R,U etc.  Usually this accomplished with tweezers and it is a very dangerous practice as it is very easy to pick the fabric or the embroidery accidentally.  As an alternative, create a hang-tag that states something like this:

“To ensure the utmost quality, a special material was applied during the embroidery production process to enhance the visual results of the stitches.  You may notice small sections of plastic material in and around the embroidery.  This excess material will dissolve during the first washing, but the enhancement effects will last for the life of the garment.”

Smoothing Things Out - Part 1

They call it solvy, but in reality it is water-soluble topping.  Solvy is actually a brand-name for Gunold’s water soluble topping, but like Kleenex it has become synonymous with the product.  Regardless of what you call it, water-soluble topping is one of the greatest production tools ever created for the embroidery industry.  It’s relatively cheap and easy to use, but can make a huge improvement in stitch quality in certain situations.

Originally, toppings were put to use for dealing with towels and terry-cloth products.  Because their surface is composed of thousands of extended fibers, sewing was a nightmare due to the individual fibers poking up through the embroidery, resulting in gaps and distorted stitching.  It was found that water-soluble toppings would hold the fibers down, thus providing a smooth surface for application of embroidery.  Eventually, water-soluble toppings graduated from towels to corduroy to pique and finally, to all textured materials.

Most Embroiderer’s are well aware of this product and keep a supply on hand.  But there is also another type of topping which is found in very few shops.  Fusible Topping looks much like water-soluble topping, but is removed through the application of heat.  The benefits are the same, but the removal process can be simpler.

Regardless of the type of topping that you use, the rules-of-use are the same.  The material is applied unhooped (except towels) on top of any textured fabric to prevent stitches from sinking in and to provide a smooth platform for sewing.  Simply lay it on the garment and start sewing.  However, towels and terrycloth are a different story.  With these items, the topping should be hooped in place (on the top).