Complete Guide of Embroidery Underlay in Embroidery Digitizing

Embroidery underlay is the backbone of your digitized embroidery design that helps you to increase the quality & prevent distortion.

Embroidery underlay is the foundation stitch of an embroidery design that needs to be digitized before the top stitches.

Underlay stitches act as the support structure of the design. They are the first layer of stitches sewn onto the fabric before the upper stitches.

They provide stability to prevent puckering and pulling issues, especially when  Digitizing for Hoodies & Jacket.

There are different types of embroidery underlay. However, you can use a combination of underlay as needed.

The center run is used for tiny columns between 1.5 mm and 2mm. Because of limited space, it runs through the center of the embroidery object.

Edge-run stabilizes large embroidery designs such as letters for jacket backs and others.

It is use for 2.5 mm to 3.5 mm column stitches because they need more strength and foundation.

Zigzag and double zigzag are usually use when the column width is between 4 mm and above.

Because wide columns require more pull compensation if no zigzag stitch is digitize on them.

Tatami underlay is commonly use with edge run underlay for complex objects that require highly dense tatami fill stitching.

It is ideal when you are using two different colors, such as white thread, for the black fabric.

Because it'll cover up the fabric and prevent it from showing through.

Learn more on How to Use Tatami Stitch in Embroidery Digitizing?

Here are some basic considerations that you need to know before digitizing underlay stitches.

• Stitch length: The standard stitch length for underlay is 5mm and can be increase by 4mm.
• Stitch spacing: The stitch spacing is 2 mm.
• Stitch angle: The stitch angle should be set at 90°.

The selection of embroidery underlay directly relates to the stitch density.

Here's how:

Designs with low stitch density require less underlay support.

Since fewer stitches are use, the fabric is less likely to pucker or pull.

We recommend to use a center-run underlay or edge-run underlay for low stitch density design.

Designs with high stitch density require more high underlay support.

Because the large number of stitches creates more pressure on the fabric, making it more prone to puckering and pulling.

As professional embroidery digitizers, we recommend to use tatami underlay or zig-zag underlay, where the design uses high stitch density.

The type of the artwork directly affects the selection of your embroidery underlay.

Here’s how:

When you are digitizing a simple artwork, such as a one-color logo, line art, or clean shapes, you can use center-run underlay or edge-run underlay.

However, complex artworks and real images with textures, details, and shading require high-density underlays such as tatami or double zigzag.

Fabric weight and stability affect embroidery underlay.

The fabric’s texture and weave affect how underlay stitches lay on the surface.

Fabrics like fleece and terry cloth always require a highly dense underlay, which helps you to prevent stitches from sinking into the fabric and unnecessary show-through.

Client's original artwork

Take the above-embroidered artwork as an example; the white part shows the irregular underlay density, which makes the fabric show through. We recommend using the double tatami underlay because it works best with high-pile fabrics & gives excellent coverage.

Also, you can use Double Tatami underlay with the combination of Edge run for thin or stretchy fabrics.

It creates the stitches in both forward and backward directions, giving your embroidery design a raised and puffy Appearance.

The process of underlay stitches for lettering is simple: always measure the column width of the letters.

If the width is more than 0.30 mm, use tatami underlay.

For short letters, use center-run underlay, which helps you to place stitches on top of the fabric.

Client's original artwork

Consider the above artwork as an example, in which we digitized the large letters with tatami underlay, and for short, we used center-run with the satin top stitches.

Have you ever made pizza? Like you made the base of pizza, sauce, and toppings, underlay stitches work the same way in embroidery digitizing.

If the artwork is complex and contains large fill areas, letters, and small objects.

Then you need to digitize the underlay separately for the background and then the letters and small objects.

Client's original artwork

Take a look at the above image. This artwork contains large letters, small letters, and tiny animals, such as cats and dogs. We digitized separate underlays for them and even made the animals' paws and tails with satin stitches for a better finish.

Here are a few thumb rules that help you select the correct underlay for machine embroidery.

• To get the best results for digitizing letter embroidery, avoid using an underlay for letters less than 5mm in height.
• We recommend using a center-run underlay for lettering between 6mm to 10mm.
• Select tatami underlay for embroidery object which is larger than 10mm.
• You can use a second layer of underlay when digitizing large designs, such as for jacket backs.
• Select double-zigzag underlay to give your embroidery object a puffy look.

In manual underlay, you can manually change the setting of underlay.

Such as stitch angle, stitch length, number of lines, density, and stitch length for each embroidery object.

However, auto-underlay mainly covers each embroidery object segment separately, and it doesn’t always support covering both objects at once.

So, it’s a win-win for manual embroidery underlay.

This guide helps you select the right embroidery underlay based on the complexity of the artwork. It provides a deep knowledge of using automatic vs. manual underlay, underlay types, and how the fabrics affect the selection of underlay based on the complexity of the artwork, ultimately resulting in high-quality embroidery digitization outcomes.