Tips For Using Puffy

With Stickma Puffy, G S UK has launched another product which allows you to express your creativity in embroideries, real eye-catchers. Just follow these simple guidelines for successful three-dimensional embroidery.

• Satin, or column stitches, are the best stitches to use as fill and ceeding stitches only flatten the foam.
• Use 40% to 60% more density than usual to achieve good coverage over the foam without show-through. We recommend using a colour of foam that is closest to the thread colour that you are using.
• Simplify shapes where possible, reducing sharp corners to more rounded ones to keep columns wider.
• Overlap the ends of column sections so that the foam’s bulk does not create a gap in the finished sewing (see fig 1).

  
  Fig 1

• Avoid excessive underlay stitches, best are the double edge walk underlays as shown in fig 2. These running stitches along the inner edges of the columns cleanly perforate the foam, reducing the possibility of foam peeking through the edges of the columns.

  
  Fig 2

• Add very short running stitches (see fig 3) to the ends of open columns. Alternatively you may add satin stitches in a heavy density perpendicular to the ends. There must be needle penetration to perforate the foam, and these can be quickly added on any editing system. The edge of the column at the end should be regular, along a straight line. The other side of the column should vary, so that the foam is not cut here. Throw the stitches toward the inside of the column as shown in fig 4. Both alternatives will later be covered by the normal satin stitch in order to obtain a perfect embroidery.

  Fig 3

  Fig 4

• For more dramatic effects, use two layers stacked. The first few stitches will tack the foam together, but if there is a lot of pantograph movement at the beginning of the pattern, use a little spray adhesive (KK 100 or KK 2000) to hold the two pieces together.
• A ball point needle makes a slightly larger hole than a sharp point, and perforates the foam cleanly.

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