Sweaters come in a wide variety of textures weights and knit constructions. The best sweater for embroidery is a tight, consistent knit formed of thin yarn. This produces a dense flat surface that lends itself well to embroidery.

 

Digitizing
When creating the embroidery design columns should be widened, as the embroidery has a tendency to sink in to sweater fabric. Running stitches should not be used directly on to the sweater as the stitches will be lost in the knit.

 

Underlay
This is the most important part of the design as it creates a platform to keep the sweater fabric from stretching and moving in the frame. It also flattens the sweater fabric so that the design is not distorted by the uneven texture on which it is placed.

 

Backing
Backing is a necessity and it must be cutaway , this will keep the stretching of the sweater to a minimum.

 

Topping
A topping should be used as it flattens out the surface to improve the quality of the embroidery, especially on more fuzzy surfaces such as Angora.

 

Framing
The backing should be framed with the sweater fabric to prevent stretching and distorting of the embroidery design.

 

Stitching
A wide variety of threads can be used on sweaters including #20, #40 and #50. Each of these creates a very different effect.