Whether you're working up a sweat on the field or court, or gently perspiring during a round of golf or a summer evening stroll, chances are you're wearing micro pique.

Micro pique is a soft knit fabric with a geometric texture on the right side, and smooth Jersey knit on the wrong side. It's often used in golf shirts and athletic wear.

The interesting -- and incredibly useful -- thing about this fabric is that it's designed to wick moisture away from the skin. That means that it's picture-perfect for summer and athletic wear.

Micro pique is lightweight and stretchy. Like all knits, it's prone to shrinking. Be sure to wash and dry the fabric or garment before embroidering on it.

If you're buying micro pique off the bolt at the fabric store, take note of the laundering instructions on the bolt.

Micro pique is stretchy and slippery, and I found that using a cutaway stabilizer was the best choice for backing. I used a medium weight; about 2 - 2.5 ounces.

To do that, hoop the fabric with the stabilizer, being careful not to stretch the fabric. It shouldn't be loose in the hoop, but also not too tight. You can use the geometric texture on the right side of the fabric as a guide to make sure that none of the fibers are stretched or skewed.

A temporary spray adhesive used between the fabric and stabilizer will also help to create a nice tight bond. The brand of temporary spray adhesive that I use is Gunold's KK100.

When choosing designs to stitch onto micro pique, remember that the fabric is stretchy and light. That means that when working with a large design (4 x 4 or larger), open and airy designs will perform the best on this fabric. Large and heavy designs will weigh down the fabric too much.

If you're working with a small design (3 x 3 or smaller), and using it in the left chest area of a shirt, then designs of nearly any complexity will work well.

This sample features the Inky Deer design. You can see what is meant by light and open; this design uses a lot of open or negative space, making it a perfect fit for light and stretchy fabrics, such as micro pique.

This Golf Jersey design is also a great candidate for micro pique. The fills are simple -- there is no shading or highlighting. The sleek satin stitches in the lettering look terrific. When I tried this same combination with tear-away stabilizer, the micro pique under the lettering started to sag; using cutaway stabilizer makes all the difference in the world with this fabric.

Designs of any size work great on micro pique -- just make sure that when you're working with larger designs, they're open and airy. This "echo" design has a lot of open area to create a big visual statement with fewer stitches.

I tried embroidery needles, ball point needles, and sharp needles in my tests. All three worked very well. However, my preference is sharp needles, as that keeps the stitches very crisp.