One factor that is surely going to affect the quality of the embroidery you create is your choice of needle. If you use a sharp point on a knit you will cut the yarn and cause the knit to run and unravel. If you use a ball point needle on wovens you will not acheive a clean, crisp edge to your column stitches and if the fabric is thick enough you could actually break the needle. When you start creating a design within Compositions project based embroidery design software you are prompted to choose the type of fabric you will be embroiderering on and based upon that fabric it will tell you what type of needle and what size you should use, along with the backing and topping and anything else you need to know about embroidering on that fabric. to see how this works go to the full demo at http://www.annthegran.com/kparsons/SWF/KP%20Compositions%20Web%20Final.html