Raised Machine Embroidery

I wanted to avoid the dark stripes showing through the fabric, so I created two layers of the larger objects and used tatami fill. I changed the stitch angles 90 degrees on the top layer, so the stitches of the top object don’t sink into the stitches of the bottom one. I removed the underlay from both objects. It created a 3D-raised effect. The embroidery became quite thick and rigid, but the fabric was also thick, so it could hold the heavier-than-usual embroidery. It might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I quite like the density and texture. It also makes the embroidery slightly elevated, which gives it a bit of extra dimension. I just used the default stitch density setting, but the stitch density can be changed in Hatch Embroidery as needed. 

If you embroider on thinner fabric and want to avoid the pattern showing through, it’s a good idea to adjust the density of the underlay and/or the object. You can also float one sheet of tear-away stabilizer before stitching the underlay, then tear it away after the object is stitched out. In this case, you don’t need to have two layers of the same object, but you will avoid overly heavy embroidery on your fabric.

On the topic of stabilizer, I floated a water-soluble stabilizer on the top of the fabric to avoid the needle splitting it.