What is puckering in embroidery?

Fabric gathering or wrinkling around the stitching, because the stitches pulled the fabric in more than the stabilizer could hold.

Machines and thread

Puckering, explained

The usual causes are a backing too light for the fabric, fabric stretched or loose in the hoop, or a design too dense for it, such as a file made for denim sewn on a T-shirt. Fix it with cut-away on knits, flat hooping without stretching, and a file made for the fabric. In Embrizo, the knit and stretch presets lighten the density slightly and add more pull compensation and heavy underlay; see the problems and fixes guide.

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