# Tips to avoid puckering and thread breaks with sweaters



## Patches (Oct 13, 2008)

I recently did a small batch of sweaters for a friend.. I am not totally familiar with flats - I have had great success with hats though..
I do my own digitizing - this design does sew from the inside -> out (as much as possible!)..

Question 1: Do I need a looser tension when working with lighter material?? I wasn't getting thread breaks when doing this design on hats - but when I was doing it on a larger scale with sweaters I was getting 3-4 thread breaks per sweater..

Question 2: Any sugestions on how to avoid the slight puckering in my design? is this possibly caused by thread tension being to tight? I realize that 13000 stitches and the digitizing of the design probably has a lot to do with it... any sugestions would be apreciated..

Thanks.. 
Patches


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## dan-ann (Oct 25, 2007)

how much larger is the design for the sweater then it was for the hat. I believe the general rule is not to enlarge or decrease a design more then 20% or you will have problems. It might need to be redigizited


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## Patches (Oct 13, 2008)

any idea why exactly that occurs when 'dragging' and resizing your original digitized image?!


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## tfalk (Apr 3, 2008)

My guess says you need more underlay and/or firmer backing for the sweaters. The hats are made out from a much firmer material than a sweater would be. More give = more puckering problems...


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## Chapalahal (May 5, 2009)

Also, stitch direction and length will make a difference. Try adding underlay and lowering the top density. is this a "auto digitized" design or did you do it section by section?


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