Diane,

My guess is that the problem lies in hooping and/or stretching of material. I first was taught to hoop the tear away with the towel using spray adhesive. Then recently I was having the outline problem like you described and took my towel (still in hoop) to the store to see what I was doing wrong. They told me I was not hooping it tight enough. I thought it was good, but learned to do it even tighter. There should be no "bounce" when hooped properly. So now I hoop the towel, attach hoop to machine and then slip the tear away stablizer under the hoop and place the solvy on top. Also I changed my tear away. I was using a cheaper, thin stablizer with lots of polka dots in it. I changed to a heavier paper type. I now use the Floriani brand tear away. When you place this stablizer under the hoop, you don't have to use as much. You can even cut a piece about the size of your hoop, lightly spray adhesive and then gently attach to back of hooped towel - then attach to machine and sew. My towels came out much better - not perfect.
I hope this helps you a little bit.
Vicki

Hello the problem you are getting is down to the material being compressed in the direction of the stitches. If you have designed the pattern yourself then alter the direction of the stitches to compensated for the pull, Also most softwares give you the option of pull compensation. turn this on and see the difference

Hi, I have had the same problem from time to time, but with completely different fabric-same embroidery design, so sometimes it is the digitizing of the pattern & the way to check this is to try the same pattern on different fabrics, hope this helps, Julie

Depending on your design it could be your stabilizer too. One sheet of tear-away works ok with light designs but heavier designs require a thicker stabilizer. Cut-away will probably be your best bet but if you just can't stand those cut-away edges you could try using two layers of tear-away.

If you haven't found it yet, Embroidery Library has a bunch of lessons both video and written. I provided a direct link below to their article on stabilizers with towels. Hope that helps!

Here is a link that might be useful: Embroidery Library - Towel Talk (Stabilizers and Towels)

I agree with the last post, always use a cutaway stabilizer with towels, and hoop stabilizer and towel and solvy on top. Not only will this help with your outline, but also keep your design from puckering after many washings. After many trail and errors, I find this to be the best technique. Also your towel must be tight in the hoop, when you tap the bottom it should sound like a tight little drum...good luck