Underlay is to stitching as the foundation is to a home, serving many more purposes than we first imagine: It can level the face of an uneven fabric; it can erase the center seam in a six-panel cap; it can give satin columns a toe-hold at the edge to prevent a sawtooth look; it can help neutralize the hue of a garment; it can stabilize the stitching on fragile or stretchy fabrics, creating crispness and aiding registration; and it helps different segments in a design line up or register with each another. On a creative level, it can provide loft to areas of a design helping to change the appearance of the color and give dimension to the stitching.

Automatic underlay

Underlay is available in digitizing software programs in a drop-down menu. You can choose what you want, or the nearest available thing to it. Some programs select the underlay for you when you choose the fabric type. While certainly convenient, both these “automatic” concepts have their drawbacks. The first assumes that you know what underlay to choose and why. The second assumes you know the same things about fabric that it does. But, if the “unthinkable” happens and the stitching turns out to be less than stellar, you have to trick the program by choosing the “wrong” fabric, to find an underlay that works better. This requires you to learn what underlay is behind each fabric door so you can be in charge of your digitizing project.

Perhaps the best underlay is the kind you digitize yourself, with an eye toward what you want the underlay to accomplish both in terms of what will happen to the fabric as well as to the stitching. Once you understand underlay, you can make educated choices from any drop-down menu or pre-selected underlay in your program. The point is to choose according to your plan for the fabric and the design. Throwing “any old underlay” under the design just for the sake of having it is like adding “any old flavoring” to a cake that you want to be chocolate. Learning about embroidery and how it is built and shaped leads to eye-popping designs that make you proud and create loyal and pleased customers.

Stay ahead of the design

Underlay is stitching that is programmed to run in a different direction than the final top embroidery. If the underlay runs parallel to the top stitches, the result will be a heavier density, but not a support system for the final stitching.

The three main types of underlay are running stitches, zigzag stitches and an open weave or cross-hatched fill which can be as dense or sparse as the digitizer chooses (45 to 90 degrees from the direction of the top fill). Some call zigzag stitching that runs right-to-left, along with the satin stitch that covers it, “parallel” underlay, but it is not stitching in the same direction. The underlay is still at a 45 degree angle to the top stitches.

You can use these stitching styles separately or combine these underlay types in whatever manner works to create the desired effects in your embroidery design.

“Stay ahead of the design,” is a phrase I often use in my Printwear Show seminars when discussing digitizing. If you think through the design before you begin, even using colored pencils to mark your graphic, your thought processes will already be in gear before you begin. Where do you need to cover the fabric well? Where do you want extra loft for dimension? Do you need to cover the ditch of a seam or a waffle piqué fabric? Which part of the design do you want to stand out? Where can you add softly sculptured effects to bring life to natural elements such as leaves, flower petals or body parts?

It is important to remember that top-stitch segments can act as “underlay” for any subsequent stitching; lettering on top of a fill, for example, can use that fill as its underlay.

Educated choices

When considering your digitizing project, study the fabric. The most perfect fabric to embroider is a woven cotton with no stretch and a loose enough weave to allow the needle to penetrate easily. The reason I mention this is simply because I look at underlay choices as my means to make whatever fabric I am facing behave as much like that perfect textile as possible. Proper underlay choices can go a long way toward leveling that stitching field.

When planning a design on waffle-weave, corduroy or other textured fabric, consider a “net” of fill in a cross-hatched pattern with a stitch length and density that will give a smooth surface without adding unnecessary stitches. You can use a programmed underlay, changing the parameters to add or decrease density, or you can simply apply a fill stitch to the area, then lessen the density.

When faced with a center seam’s ditch on a cap front, begin with a running stitch from the center down, then fill the gap with a double zigzag as closely stitched as need be to allow the final stitching to appear “seamless.”

Consider a running stitch around the edges of columns or other geometric shapes to give the satin stitches a “fence” to grab, eliminating the unsightly sawtooth effect that robs the lettering or segment of the smooth edges that add to the look of quality embroidery. Remember that, if it is too close to the edge of the design, it can peek out and if it is too far inside the edge, the sawtooth issues may not be resolved.

When the fabric is darker than the thread, use underlay to coat the fabric like a paint primer (can you say “under-printer”?), creating a base for the top stitching—a better solution that just adding density, as those extra parallel stitches in added density can cause thread breaks and looping. A good tip when stitching with metallic thread is to use a matching hue of polyester or rayon thread for the underlay. This saves on the more expensive thread and reduces the chance of breaks and loops that plague some metallic stitching.

Segments of a design, especially on knits or other stretchy fabrics, can separate, allowing the fabric to show. Use carefully placed underlay (zigzag or line stitches, or a combination) in the areas where the segments meet, to help the elements of the design meet and register better. This allows stitching to show rather than fabric, if there is any gap.

Fragile fabrics require more underlay, not less, as their delicate nature might suggest. A well-planned underlay will stabilize the fabric and lend greater strength, offering an area that is more accepting of the embroidery and better able to hold the stitches.

When you wish to create dimensional effects, consider combining your different types of underlay. Several lines of zigzag stitches of different lengths, added to run stitches, can create a lofty foundation which, when covered with top stitching, adds dimension to the segment. Think about how that leaf, horse’s haunch or child’s cheek looks in real life and determine how you can build a framework with underlay so the final top stitching skims a smooth coat over the foundation and provides exciting dimensional embroidery.

Have fun!

Try different combinations, cross your line stitches, use a thicker three-ply bean stitch, use any of the top stitching as underlay. A satin column stitched under a narrower satin column can create underlay and an outlined-letter effect as well. Use a satin under a fill to create an “underlayed” border to smooth out the edges of the segment.

Thomas J. Watson, founder of IBM, said, “The way to succeed is to double your failure rate.” In our industry, this means every hour you spend digitizing and trying new and different things is one step closer to the expertise that awaits you! Share your smiles and hugs with everyone this month. A smile and a hug cost nothing, but they give much.

––HHM