The Importance of Good Stablizer

You would think that after 5 years of running an embroidery business that I would have learned everything there is to learn about it already. Yet I still learn. For instance, I re-learned a lesson I forgot about when I was making the onesie for little Jack. Good stablizer makes all the difference in the world! I get away with using really cheap stablizer (butcher paper to be exact) on my burp cloths, blankets, and security blankies because the fabric is sturdy and doesn't really need much other than somehting to hold the fabric still while the machine does its thing. Not so with stretch knit fabric! I learned when I was doing bibs that I need a good stablizer on the back of the bib and a water soluble clear stablizer on the top of the bib in order to get the graphic to stitch properly without the fabric moving all over the place while it stitches. I figured that it needed stablizer on top and on bottom because there were two layers of knit together in the bib. Well, it turns out that any knit, even 1-ply knit needs both! Here's a picture of the onesie with only bottom stablizer (and a good, expensive one at that):


Notice how the outline doesn't match up at all with the frog legs! Now look at the onesie when I use a top stablizer as well:
Now you can still see the clear stuff on there because I hadn't washed it yet when I tok the picture, but look how much better it is! I tel you that I wouldn't be able to sell any knit stuff if there wasn't this water-soluble stablizer. I think this onesie turned out really nice. Do you think Tina will like it?


And I thought you might enjoy seeing the holes in the wall I found.
Hole with partial hole started above it.

Wall dent from metal fighter jet.

So I found out that Aaron is the culprit on the holes. When I went into their room to put Ethan down for his nap this afternoon, the hole on the bottom is much bigger and perfectly round and the bit you can see poking out on top is now a full white circle too. I was so shocked. When I asked Ethan about it, he said Aaron did it and Aaron confirmed that to be true. He said he just picked the "blue stuff" off. "Blue stuff? You mean the wall???" Yeah. Bye, bye wall. I think Jerry will make him pay for the repair plaster with his chore money. I don't want to severly punnish him because he did tell the truth, but there needs to be some consequence.

So we need to start a homeschool discussion here soon. What are you doing for Sarah next year?? I am starting to think about what to do with Aaron. I don't want to order the next package from Sonlight yet because Ethan needs one more year to do it with him and I want to combine them on it. I have been looking at other kindergarten stuff and have many, many thoughts!