Sublimated fabric

[SharonA]

Hello and help, please. Has anyone tried to embroider on sublimated Dri-Fit fabric? I have some very nice Nike polos that a customer supplied and after embroidering one we realized they are sublimated. Is it even possible to embroider on sublimated fabric? Since the dye of sublimation sits on top of the fabric when those threads are separated by the needle the white of the fabric is exposed.
Are we beating our heads agianst a brick wall here? I am sure we are going to see more and more sublimation start coming thru.
thanks!
SharonA
Goldden Corp dba University Spirit
Purdue University
West Lafayette, IN

[John]

Hello and help, please. Has anyone tried to embroider on sublimated Dri-Fit fabric? I have some very nice Nike polos that a customer supplied and after embroidering one we realized they are sublimated. Is it even possible to embroider on sublimated fabric? Since the dye of sublimation sits on top of the fabric when those threads are separated by the needle the white of the fabric is exposed.
Are we beating our heads agianst a brick wall here? I am sure we are going to see more and more sublimation start coming thru.
thanks!
SharonA
Goldden Corp dba University Spirit
Purdue University
West Lafayette, IN

Sublimation doesn't sit on top of the fabric - the colors actually go into the fabric/become part of it by converting the ink to a gas. So I can't imagine embroidering on something that's been sublimated is much different that embroidering on a dri fit shirt.

Sublimation is the transition of a substance directly from the solid to the gas phase without passing through the intermediate liquid phase.

[SharonA]

Thanks, John. I guess I didn't describe it very well. We do sublimate here so we do know that it is a sublimated polo. Regardless, the white from the inside of the fabric is appearing when we emb on it. I don't want to put a lot of time into this if it's an impossible task.

[John]

Thanks, John. I guess I didn't describe it very well. We do sublimate here so we do know that it is a sublimated polo. Regardless, the white from the inside of the fabric is appearing when we emb on it. I don't want to put a lot of time into this if it's an impossible task.

Gotcha.

So, lets talk how you are doing it.

1) Topping or no topping?

2) Backing - what are you using

3) Thread feed - what are your settings

Shouldn't be impossible.

[SharonA]

No topping
2 pieces of 2 oz cutaway
Actifeed on auto
Upon reflection, we probably should have used one piece of tearaway and one piece of mesh with a water soluable topping.

[HERB]

Can you post a picture. I have never had an issue such as this with sub poly...

[SharonA]

Sublimate- J Purdue club

Here it is. One piece of mesh, one piece of tearaway and Solvy. 75/11 ballpoint.
Thanks for any light you can shed on this.
SharonA

[SharonA]

I just sewed this with a 65/9 needle. I can see an improvement around the flag but the lettering could use some improvement. I will decrease the density of the lettering and see what happens.
-SharonA

[HERB]

Try a sharp needle. Sounds wrong but you may be pushing the poly thread apart exposing the white. My other thought is why are the garments not being dyed through out the fiber. Use 2 or 3 points as the pull comp. May look better than using a percentage.