They are essential to machine embroidery. There are so many available on the market right now  that some embroiderers  (especially beginners) find it very difficult to choose which one to use for a specific project. In the end, it all comes down to which one works for you! However, there are a few rules you can use before you decide which one works best for you.

Experimenting is the best idea as the combination of thread, machine, fabric, design and stabilizer will determine the final effect. So always do the “driving test” on the same or similar fabric before you go ahead with your project.

To generalise, you will need to have more stabilizer in the following situations:

-   The higher the stitch count of the design

-   The more movement in the fabric

-   The lighter the weave of the fabric

Stabilizers can be divided into a few categories:

-   Iron-on – medium weight - Paper based stabilizer. Perfect for most embroidery jobs, a general purpose stabilizer for use with almost any fabric. Tears away easily and the good thing about this one is that it can be re-used. Just save all the tearaways and iron them onto another piece of fabric to be embroidered joining small pieces together with your iron. Fabrics to use this one with include: light, medium and heavy knit, fine cotton, homespun, velvet, denim, organza, georgette, towelling, fur, lycra, cutwork, satin, corduroy.

-   Iron-on – heavy weight - Crispy, non-woven stabilizer, extremely firm and stable. Easily cut off after embroidery is finished. Perfect for medium to heavy knits and whenever super stability is required. The true choice of professional embroiderers.

-   Rinse/Tear Away - Non -Woven Vilene. The stability of tearaway with the properties of solvy. The best and easiest way to embroider any lace design. Just hoop it by itself and let your machine do the rest. Rinses completely away or rinse it lightly, dry in the sun and it’s a natural stiffener. Cuts with ease and it doesn’t twist back on itself. Use where stability is needed to embroider but not required on the finished garment. 

-   Solvy - This is a premium quality water soluable film. Perfect for lace embroidery as it is strong enough for high density embroidery designs. After your project is finished, just run luke warm water over it and the film will disappear. Can also be used as a topping to prevent stitches from sinking into the fabric when used on knits, fleece, towelling and other high pile fabrics. Large pieces tear away easily and if you don’t want to use water to get rid of the small ones,  place the embroidery face down on a cut off of cotton fabric and press it using steam. 

-   Tear Away - light weight - Non-woven stabiliser with a smooth & crispy finish. Perfect for use with lightweight fabrics like light and medium knit, velvet, denim, towelling.. Tears-away easily.

-   Tear Away - medium weight - Non-woven stabiliser with a smooth & crispy finish. A general purpose stabilizer for use with almost any fabric. Tears-away easily.

-    Vliesofix - It is a double sided adhesive web for appliqué work, mending, reinforcing, craft work and sewing. It can be used on all fabrics and on leather at low temperatures. If ironed with light pressure it will partly melt and hold an appliqué in place to check positioning. If the appliqué is in the wrong place it will peel off easily to be repositioned elsewhere and will still bond permanently with more heat and pressure applied. Use a wool setting and a dry iron. The bond is washable and dry-cleanable.

-   Filmoplastic - It’s a high quality, self-adhesive embroidery backing for those tricky jobs which just can’t be secured in an embroidery hoop in the usual way. Use it when you need to embroider a small design in the corner of a handkerchief or silk scarf, when you need to embroider a super stretchy fabric such as lycra or a fabric which is too thick for a hoop. Filmoplastic has grid markings on the removable top paper which really helps with accurate positioning of the product every time. You can re-use it and it does not gum up the needle. 

I put the Iron on – medium weight at the top of the list as I consider it to be an absolute essential! But as I mentioned before, your choice of stabilizer will be determined by a number of factors: so experiment and experiment as it is the best way to work out what works best for you and your machine!