Stabilizer can be, to embroiderers, both a blessing and a curse. Without a good stabilizer (preferably cutaway), we can't get crisp, beautiful embroidery ... but its raw edges (not to mention the back of the embroidery itself) generally aren't exactly soft against the skin. Luckily, there are usually ways to hide it.
One great solution is to let the lining of jackets, bags, etc. do double duty as a beautiful disguise for the back of the embroidery. If you're making an item from scratch, you can just build it around the embroidery. But what if you want to embroider a pre-made item, and still hide the stabilizer inside the lining? It's simple to do! We used a khaki jacket for this example, but it'll work for anything you can hoop and stitch.
Choose where you want to embroider the design. Use a seam ripper to cut the stitches holding the garment and lining together. You'll want to create a gap large enough that the lining can be pulled away from the outer fabric to make room for hooping. Be careful not to cut the fabric.
Open up the garment and make sure you'll be able to hoop flat the area to be embroidered, on the outer fabric only.
Where to open up the garment? Beth offers this advice: "I learned this trick when I worked for a tailor doing alterations. If you look closely at the side seams or follow the side seam up into the sleeve, you may find a section of the seam that the manufacturer straight-stitched from the outside of the lining to close it up. Just open it up again for access to the garment. You may need to open up the seam a little more if your design is bigger. After you finish embroidering and trimming the stabilizer, stitch the seam back up and give it a little pressing to smooth it out."
Spray your stabilizer (medium weight cutaway, in most cases) with temporary spray adhesive, and smooth it onto the area to be embroidered. Make sure the stabilizer will fully cover the back of the area to be hooped.
Firmly hoop the garment's outer layer, with the stabilizer attached. Make sure no parts of the garment are caught under the hoop. Depending on the garment and the location, this may be tricky ... so be patient and keep at it!
Attach the hoop to the machine, load up the design, and embroider.
Unhoop the garment and cut away the excess stabilizer on the back.
Now it's time to put it back together again! Hand-stitch the gap closed, picking up a bit of fabric with the needle from one side, then the other, alternating until it's all stitched up.
Voila - a fashionable jacket with unique embroidery on the outside - and nothing but silky lining on the inside!
