Thread numbers followed by “S” indicate Sulky thread numbers, “M” indicates Madeira, and “RA” refers to Robison-Anton. Unless otherwise noted, threads are 40 wt. rayon. Colors listed were selected to coordinate with chosen fabrics. Please pick colors that will work well with your fabric selections. Listed thread colors are the ones used for the sewout featured on the package cover. If you use a different brand, try the thread database at www.ud.net/thread for possible cross-matches.

Specialty Techniques: For complete instructions on these techniques, please see embref.pdf on your CD.

• Fringing Technique to Produce Looped Pile: After the design is complete, clip the bobbin thread behind the long satin stitches, then pull satin stitches to top (stitches will be loose on one end).
• Fringing Technique to Produce Cut Pile: Slide a pair of trimming scissors under the non-tacked down edge of the long satin stitches and clip all the threads. Trim as closely to the fabric as possible. When finished trimming, rub the loose threads to give the fringing volume.
• Appliqué: On appliqués, when a “STOP” is listed at a color change, place fabric and continue sewing in the same color as last. When printing appliqué templates, be sure to uncheck the “Shrink to fit” and “Expand to fit” options in the print dialog box so that the file prints at a zoom of 100%.
• 3D embroidery with Puffy Foam: Sew your design as usual up to the point where you will “puff” your embroidery. Stop the machine and lay the foam on top of the hooped fabric. Sew the foam down. Stop the machine and tear off excess foam. Complete the embroidery.

All Cactus Punch designs are test sewn using 40 weight rayon thread in the color printed in the color sequence, unless otherwise noted. Likewise, the designs are digitized in their given size, for “average” fabric: smooth, stable, average in weight, neutral in color.

If you choose other thread colors, different thread weight or material, or non-average fabric, you must make adjustments to compensate. Such adjustments may include changing the stabilizer, using a topping or color block, altering tensions, etc. We recommend that you make a design no more than 10% to 20% larger than the size as we digitized it.

Whether you make changes or not, Cactus Punch recommends that you sew a sample first to be sure your chosen combination of fabric, colors and stabilizers will give you the result you want. Embroidery is an art, not a science; we cannot guarantee results under any circumstances.

Understanding good embroidery techniques is important to creating successful sewn results. Many tips are covered on our web page and on our CD’s in the “Cactus Punch Guide to Better Embroidery.” Here are some highlights:

• Use new, high quality needles, thread, and appropriate backings and toppings. Needle or thread breakage is not necessarily indicative of heavy design stitching.
• Learn proper and accurate hooping. Stretching or pulling fabric in the hoop or allowing fabric to slip or shift in the sewing process results in poor quality embroidery.
• Understand how to control your machine tensions. Looping, birdsnests, and bobbin pulled to the top or disappeared completely are machine problems, not design problems. Registration problems or exposed underlay may occur on excessively tensioned machines.
• Understand which designs are suitable for which fabrics. Heavier designs and designs with many shading layers work best on heavier fabrics. Light running stitch designs do not work well on deep pile fabrics. Large, dense designs are not suitable for lycra. If you need to run a design on non-average fabric and cannot get the results you desire with a stock design, you cannot modify it with your editing software.

See "Design Use" page

Our designs are tested extensively before we ship them, so chances are that your problem is caused by your choice of backing, topping, or thread, bad hooping technique, or improperly tensioned machine. If you are having a problem with a design not sewing as shown on the package, test it first on stable fabric with a cutaway backing. Please read the embroidery hints here, in the embref.pdf file on your CD, and on our web site to find the cause of the problem. One exception is the possibility of file corruption.