Dakota Collectibles values your business and wants to help you succeed as an embroiderer. If you are new
to this business, here are some helpful suggestions and tips to achieve high quality embroidery.
Together, with the use of proper techniques and our high quality designs, we can produce works customers
will be proud to wear and display.
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BACKING
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It is important to use backing material on most items to be embroidered. Backing adds stability to insure
proper registration and evenness of stitching. Backing also helps prevent slippage of fabric once it is
hooped. The presence of backing makes ripping out much easier.
Use a lightweight tear-away backing for towels, sheets, poplin, foam hats, vinyl and leather. Use a
heavier tear-away for woven shirts, blouses, ties, nylon jackets, and corduroy caps. Use a double layer
of medium or heavy cut-away backing and tear-away backing for knits, sweatshirts, sweaters, Lycra, and
Spandex fabrics. Please do not use newspaper or any type of paper for backing.
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HOOPING
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Quality embroidery depends on good hooping techniques. Use the smallest hoop that will fit the design to be sewn.
Tighten the fabric in the hoop by pulling with the grain. Fabric should be taut with no ripples or wrinkles.
Be careful not to stretch knits -- smooth them in the direction of the grain.
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MATERIALS
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We recommend that you test-sew all designs from us on fabric like the garment, before actually sewing on the garment.
Remember, if necessary, you can use the editing capabilities in your embroidery software to fine-tune stitching lines
for your specific garment applications. When we create our designs, we use poplin fabric hooping along with 2
pieces of cut-away backing. We have found that this method produces designs that can be resewn on other fabrics
with good results. For added stability, a piece of tear-away can be slid under the hoop after the hoop has been
placed on the embroidery machine. For sample sewing purposes, we recommend poplin.
WE DO NOT RECOMMEND OR GUARANTEE SEWING ON FELT
Felt is not stable, especially for designs with directional fills. Pushing and pulling from the fills will cause
puckering and single-stitch lines may not line up with rest of the design.
The grain in the fabric of jackets and other garments runs up and down. For the best results, sew the samples
so they run up and down with the grain of the fabric. Stitching samples will assure that the designs you receive
from Dakota Collectibles have not been damaged in shipping and the samples can be used for displays.
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WATER SOLUBLE STABILIZERS
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When sewing on fabrics with a nap, such as towels, corduroy, sweaters, sweatshirts and knits, use a water soluble stabilizer
on top of the fabric. This will prevent the stitches from sinking in to the fabric. If possible, hoop the stabilizer
along with the fabric and backings.
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NEEDLES
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If sewing quality starts to deteriorate, you may need to change your needle. Choose a size appropriate for the
thread you are using:
#65 or #70 (9 or 10) for #50 weight thread
#70 or #75 (11) for #40 weight rayon
#75 or #80 (11 or 12) for #40 weight polyester
#80 or #90 (12, 14) for metallics or #30 weight thread
Use a ball point for knits, and a sharp point for wovens. A good, general purpose needle for many
applications is a #75 light ballpoint needle.
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SEWING SPEED
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Dakota Collectibles has some sewing speeds we recommend for certain types of material:
Knits-Sweatshirts-Etc. 450SPM-Max
Full Jacketbacks 600SPM-Max
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TENSION
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Adjust the top and bottom thread tensions in your machines, until threads easily pull through, with just a slight
resistance. Proper balance is achieved when bobbin thread covers 1/3 to 1/2 of column stitching on the back
side of embroidery.
To test, sew out the letter I. Remove the hoop and inspect the thread patterns on the
back side of the material. Compare the stitching with the examples above. If the thread pattern looks like
(B) or (C), adjust your tensioners as above and resew the letter I. Set the other needles on your machine
with the same procedure.
If, after following these guidelines, you still experience difficulty in achieving good quality embroidery
with our designs, please give us a call or send us a new sew-out. We will be happy to help you overcome
any problems.
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SHIRT SWAPS
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Dakota Collectibles introduced our popular Shirt Swap designs in 1993 and have been producing them every since.
Shirt Swaps are designs that are created for right and/or left chests of garments. Although our smaller designs
can be used, some designs listed throughout the Full Color Workbook were
produced for Shirt Swaps. These designs average 6.00" W X 5.00" H in size, a perfect size for Shirt Swaps.
When sewing Dakota Collectibles' Shirt Swaps, take into consideration how you want the Shirt Swaps to appear
on the garment. The left side of the swap would look like this  or
 , and the right side would look like this 
or  .
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TRAPUNTO
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Trapunto is an old and beautiful needlecraft adapted to modern textile arts. Trapunto is designed to cover a lot
of fabric, with fewer stitches. We recommend a pellon backing which is available at your local fabric store.
This raises the negative areas where there is no embroidery giving a three-dimensional look.
ATTENTION
SMALL SEWING FIELD EMBROIDERERS
Dakota Collectibles offers our Trapunto designs in two different sizes. The large designs
are for embroidery machines with sewing fields of 13.00" W X 10.00" H or larger. The small designs are for
embroidery machines with a 5.00" W X 9.00" H or larger sewing field.
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WIDE CAP FRAME
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- Check with your machine manufacturer for size and compatibility of the cap frame.
- Make certain the cap is stretched as tight as possible for accuracy. If possible, run a trace to make sure the
needle does not hit the cap frame.
- We suggest using two (2) pieces of tear-away backing on all caps.
- Dakota Collectibles suggests running your machine at a slower speed (such as 450 rpm) for better sewing
quality and to reduce the push-and-pull caused by the rolling of the caps.
- The wide cap designs have more color changes in them than usual for better registration.
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3D PUFF
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- Foam is available in 2-6mm thickness. The designs shown in the catalog were sewn using the 3mm foam.
The thickness you choose depends on the effect you want to create.
- A spray adhesive may be used to hold the foam in place, although it is not necessary.
- Sewing tensions should be loosened to keep the foam from pressing down.
- Each design will have a color change run an "outline" for the puff area. This shows you the area(s)
that will be using the puff material. After the outline is sewn, lay the puff material down and start the next color.
- The color change sequence for each design will indicate when to "apply" and "tear" the puff material
away from the design. Do this slowly so the material won't loosen in the hoop.
- The color of foam used should be closely matched to the outside column of the design. For example:
If the column around the outside of the design is black, use black foam under the design, regardless of the
other colors that may be used throughout the design. This helps eliminate the foam showing through the
column.
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APPLIQUE
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- Start the design by sewing the outline stitch, this will define where the applique will be placed.
- Cut the applique fabric at least 1 inch larger than outline stitch.
- Spray the back of the applique fabric with a spray adhesive. Place the applique fabric,
adhesive side down, over outline stitch. Make sure to cover the outline stitch.
- Sew the tackdown stitch. This running stitch will hold the applique fabric in place.
- Carefully trim the fabric to the outside of the tackdown line as close as possible to the stitches.
Note: When using satin or other slippery fabrics, leave at least 1/8 inch of fabric when trimming.
- Follow the remaining color changes of the design.
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UNZIPPING EMAILED DESIGNS
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If you have questions about what to do with files that we have emailed to you, .
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