Embroidery Backing & Stabilizers

In addition to its trademark Solvy™ and Ultra Solvy™ backings and toppings, Gunold stocks a huge variety of wholesale embroidery stabilizers consisting of the very finest and largest selection of woven and non-woven backings.  We sell embroidery backing in rolls, die cuts, and even perforated backing roll put-ups. Check out our full selection of embroidery stabilizers below.

Tear-away is the backing of choice for very stable items. Designs that are sewn on very stable garments work best with tear-away backing. Most tear-away backings range in weight from 1 to 3 oz/yd. To perform well as a backing, a tear-away should be stable and able to withstand repeated perforations. The backing should tear easily and cleanly in either direction. Sadly some embroiderers are still using backings that tear only in one direction. These products have to be tugged which leave long strings of fiber. Pulling a tough tear-away too hard or too quickly on a delicate long stitch design can needlessly cause distortions.

 

No matter the type of tear-away, you should tear the backing as close to the stitches as possible to reduce any chance of distortion. Using two light layers of tear-away pulled off one at a time is a technique that can avoid a distortion problem. 

 

Finally, in choosing a tear away backing consider ease of tear, cleanness of tear, hoop stability, and perforation resistance. Tear-aways can be used on stable items but should not be used on exceptionally delicate or stretchy fabrics such as loosely knit sweaters. Swimsuits and socks are often an exception to this rule where wash-away/tear-away is a good choice.

At Gunold, we offer the following tear-away backings:

Cut-away backings are needed to provide a stable base for delicate and stretchy fabrics both during and after the stitching process. Some fabrics are so stretchy they can force themselves down the throat plate. A cut-away backing not only helps maintain the crispness of a design's detail, it also helps retain the design's shape after repeated washings. Avoid having an angry customer return a sagging or stretched design by using cut-aways. An embroiderer should insist that cut-aways are both washable and dry cleanable.

 

It’s important not cut too close to the embroidery with your scissors and a gliding scissor motion rather than a cutting motion works best. A cut-away that has some rigidity will help with this scissor motion. When cutting, both the backing and the fabric should be kept in view, do not allow the garment to fold over. You may even want to consider blunt-end scissors to prevent snagging fabric. Others use versitile 3.5-inch to 4-inch double sharps. Nippers are not particularly useful for this operation.

 

Most cut-aways range in weight from 1.5 to 3.5 oz/yd. In choosing a cut-away consider ease of cutting, wash stability, hoop stability, and perforation resistance. Cut-aways tend to have more bulk than tear-aways. In some cases, the embroiderer needs to determine which property is most important for a particular design. The softer backings tend to have more hoop stretch and will not allow as crisp a design as stiff ones.

We offer the following Cut Away options:

Call 1-800-432-3781 or contact us today for more information.