How to Embroider on Tricot

Tricot fabric is quite tricky to stitch on, and you have probably faced various issues with it.

We hope that our suggestions, outlined below, will be of help to overcome the common Tricot pitfalls.

If you know another good technique for dealing with T-shirts and the like - please, drop us a note. We'll be happy to expand this section with alternative methods.





Supplies We Use for Stitching on Tricot:

- No-show Mesh stabilizer
- Water soluble topping
- Water soluble backing (in addition to No-show Mesh)
- Spray Adhesive

The Process:

1. Prepare the Tricot cloth for embroidery (it mustn't be rumpled); Print design template, position it on the garment, and mark the exact spot where you'd like to stitch the design (place center-marks, following the template).



2. Turn the garment inside out, and mark design position on reverse side, too. Spray a moderate amount of spray adhesive, then place a layer of No-Show-Mesh, and a layer of fabric-type water soluble backing.

NOTE 1
WSB is optional - for enhanced stability; Spray adhesive is optional too - but it will help to hoop all these layers, that otherwise tend to fall apart and/or pucker.

NOTE 2
The layer of water soluble backing is very good for some designs - like the designs on this example (see Heraldic Gold set), which are lightweight running-stitch designs. It's best to test stitch your prospective design on similar fabric, with both options, to see what works better. Often the addition of WSB provides much better results.





3. Turn the garment back to it's right side, and place a layer of water soluble topping over it (you may use a bit of spray here, too). The topping is VERY important here - it will prevent stitches from "sinking" into the Tricot, which has tendency to absorb stitches.



4. Hoop the garment, and embroider.



5. When embroidery is finished, remove hoop, cut away the excess edges of stabilizers, and wash away the water soluble ones.



To make this instruction, and the photos, we've used white backing on dark fabric. However, it's better to use the color of backing that is closer to color intensity of the garment. The No-Show-Mesh is available in WHITE, BEIGE and BLACK. It's an awesome backing for Tricot, great for baby items and other body-touching clothes, since it's incredibly pleasant to touch.