Why are my embroidery stitches overlapping?

The most common reasons embroidery stitches overlap are a design that is too dense, resizing the design, fabric moving while stitching, or too many stitches being placed in the same area.

The Design Has Too Many Stitches

Sometimes a design simply has a lot of stitches packed into a small area. This can make the embroidery look thick, crowded, or like the stitches are sitting on top of each other.

The Design Was Resized

Making an embroidery design much smaller can cause the stitches to become crowded together. If the design looked good at its original size but starts overlapping after resizing, the size change may be the problem.

The Fabric Is Moving

If your fabric moves even slightly while the machine is stitching, stitches may not land exactly where they should. Make sure your fabric is held securely in the hoop and has enough stabilizer.

The Design Has Layered Stitches

Some embroidery designs intentionally place stitches over other stitches to create details, shading, or extra coverage. A little overlap can be completely normal.

Your Thread Is Building Up

When there are too many stitches in one area, the thread can build up and make the embroidery look bulky. This is especially noticeable on small designs or areas with lots of detail.

The Needle or Thread Is Causing Problems

A damaged needle or thread that is not feeding smoothly can cause stitches to land incorrectly. If the problem appears throughout the design, try changing the needle and checking your thread path.

Best Tip

If the stitches overlap in exactly the same places every time, the design itself is probably creating the overlap. If the problem happens in different places from one stitch-out to another, check your hooping, stabilizer, needle, and thread.

Source of information: With over 200,000 customers and a private Facebook group with more than 2,000 members, we have heard just about every embroidery question and troubleshooting problem you can imagine. This question has come to us directly from customers by email, through our Facebook page, and in our private Facebook group.

Have another question? See all the answers in our machine embroidery designs FAQ.