If you’re like me, you love giving gifts you’ve made but you are hopelessly short on time! These jar toppers are quick and easy, are easily adjustable to different jar sizes, and add that perfect extra little touch that says “you’re special” to the lucky recipient. Once you’ve made these, look through your design stash and see what else you have that will work well. I’ve chosen small, low stitch count designs for these projects. Consider using a lettering program paired with some small designs to further tailor these jar toppers for your needs.
Basic embroidery and software skills. You’ll need to know how to combine designs either at your machine or in your software. Resizing software is also helpful. The “Happy Holidays” design shown here will require some editing to build the design in software.
These jar covers are variations on machine embroidered appliqué and require no additional sewing once the embroidery is complete. You can easily adapt this technique for other designs for any season or perhaps to reflect the jar’s contents (buttons, candy, nuts).
This project requires two hoopings. The first stitches the design, and the second stitches the layers together. The appliqué design was created to fit the jar I used and it can easily be resized to accommodate a jar of your choosing. If you resize, you’ll need to adjust your template. The easiest way to do that is to open the design in customizing or editing software, Save As a new ile name, then delete all but the first color change. Print the design at 100% and you’ll have a perfectly resized template.
Hoop fabric with tearaway and sew “Santa” design. Remove from hoop, remove stabilizer.
Cut 1 circle of fabric according to template for bottom. Cut a circle of polar fleece somewhat smaller (about 1/8” inside guides). Cut a rough circle of the embroidered piece about 2” larger for top.
Hoop washaway stabilizer, sew first color of appliqué circle (outline).
Remove the hoop from the machine. While it is possible to perform the following steps with the hoop in the machine, it is much easier if you remove it. Mist back of polar fleece, center in on top of stabilizer within sewn outline.
Mist back of embroidered piece with TESA, then center design area over center of fleece and smooth the fabric into position. Return hoop to machine.
Back up one color change (to beginning of design) and resew color 1.
Mist back side of bottom appliqué lightly with TESA, stick to bottom of stabilizer within sewn outline.
Place hoop on a flat surface and carefully trim away excess fabric Do not use your fingers to push the fabric up from behind to make trimming easier! If the hoop tension is disturbed, your stitching will be off.
Note: An alternative method of layering the pieces is to layer all the pieces on top by placing the precut circle face down on the stabilizer within the placement stitches, then the fleece/batting on top, and the larger embroidered piece over the top and then restitching color one. I chose the previos method because then I don’t have to deal with removing the stabilizer on the back side.
Continue sewing color 2 and manually stop the machine after the zigzag tack down stitching completes a full pass around the design. Inspect the design (front and back) to see if any fabric extends beyond the stitching. If so, trim it off now.
Finish sewing the design. Remove from hoop. Trim off stabilizer close to stitching. Remove remaining bits with a paint brush dipped in hot water (sponge works well also).
If you choose to remove the washaway stabilizer by rinsing it out, keep in mind that most TESAs become a gummy mess when wet. Most TESAs dissipate over time when applied to natural fibers, however, fleece, which is not a natural fiber, will hold TESA for a very long time. Although you can force dissipate most TESAs with a hot dry iron, you may also melt your fleece in the process!
Set the embroidered cover on top of the flat part of the two-piece lid, then screw on the ring. A small dab of white glue or double-stick embroidery tape will hold the lid in place if it slips around
These instructions have been broken into two parts. The first part covers editing the design to extract parts and recombine them. The second part is the embroidery process.
Learning to edit designs will give you much more flexibility with the designs you already have and permit much more creativity. If you’ve never done any design editing, the steps below may seem cumbersome. Work through them several times until you are comfortable and you’ll find yourself looking at designs in a whole new light!
If you have edited designs before, you’ll find these steps very basic. While I’ve provided screen captures, my intent is not to teach you how to use Embrilliance Enthusiast but to give you ideas of what your design should look like and what you might look for in your own program.
Open the continuous border design in your editing program. Select the design and rotate it 90° counter clockwise.
Delete all the colors except green (or whatever color the holly leaves are) leaving just the holly leaves.
Currently the leaves are one bunch of stitches, not two separate leaves. You can see that there is just one object in the Objects pane
Go into stitch edit mode and select all the stitches in one of the leaves. (I chose the one on the left). Your software will have some tool that will let you drag a marquis (box) around the stitches or a lasso tool to draw a free hand selection around the desired stitches. When selected, choose cut and then paste. This will separate the two leaves making them easier to manipulate as objects instead of stitches. Save this file.
Merging will add another design to the current file. If your software can’t merge, open the design in another window and then copy and paste it into your holly leaves design. Position the text between the holly leaves.
Move and rotate the leaves around the lettering until you are happy with the design. Select all the objects and choose Group to combine them into one object. Save your design.
Open the circular appliqué design. Enlarge the design so the circle will nicely cover the jar lid. I enlarged the original design only slightly (105%). If you resized the appliqué, measure the size of the first color area. One way to do this is to select the first color object, and copy and paste it into a new file. This will guarantee you are measuring just this part and not the entire design. Mine is 70.35 x 70.35mm.
Open the circular baste design (originally the same size as the tack down stitch in the circular appliqué) and size it to the same size as placement line and then copy and paste it into your Holiday Greetings file.
Originally I demonstrated how to lengthen the stitches by disabling the stitch processor and enlarging the design without adding any more stitches then turning the stitch processor back on and shrinking the design to its original size, which maintained the stitch length and reduced stitch count eftectively making the stitches basting length. However, not all editing programs will alter the stitch length on running stitches when resizing no matter how you do it. (EmbroideryWorks and Embrilliance won’t) so I’ve digitized a basted circle and added it to this collection. It’s also available as a freebie download at LindeeGEmbroidery.com.
Use your program’s alignment tool to center the grouped text and leaves with the circle both horizontally and vertically.
The final step before saving and sending your design to your embroidery machine is to resequence the design. The basting stitch needs to sew first, then the lettering, then the leaves. The leaves sew last so that if your machine doesn’t trim and you forget to, the letters won’t sew over the jump thread.
If you resized your appliqué, you will need to print a new template. You can simply print the design file you just created using the outer basting stitch as a template pattern.
The following “hoopless” method of sewing works well on low-intensity designs on stable fabrics that may not be large enough to fully hoop within the rings. It is an easy method of getting designs centered without a lot of precision hooping. It’s probably overkill for this simple little project so if you have another method for hooping, go for it.
This project requires two hoopings and no further sewing. As with the previous jar topper, the first hooping sews the design area and the second stitches the layers together.
Hoop tearaway stabilizer. Sew basting stitch onto hooped stabilizer.
Draw vertical and horizontal center lines on the stabilizer with a pencil and ruler to aid in placement.
Fold one square of fabric in quarters on point and lightly finger press to mark center. Spray back with TESA. Align in hoop.
Back up one color change (or to beginning of the design) and restitch the basting line to attach the fabric to the hooped stabilizer. Sew design for top layer. Remove from hoop and remove stabilizer. Do not remove basting stitches yet.
If you are using a fill-stitched design with running stitch outlines, you may want to sew on the grain for the top layer and have the lower layer be on point otherwise you risk registration problems with your design.
Hoop another piece of tearaway, sew the placement line, and mark as you did for the first part of the design.
Fold the second fabric in quarters (square), finger press to find center, spray back with TESA, position on hooped stabilizer.
Resew color one of appliqué to attach fabric to stabilizer and provide a placement guide for the fleece or batting and top layer
Mist back of polar fleece with TESA. Using the outline as a guide, center polar fleece within stitching.
Mist back of embroidered square and smooth over top centering design over polar fleece. The points of the square should be offset from the first one (top square will be on bias)
Remove the basting stitch on the top piece and sew rest of design. Remove from hoop, remove tearaway.
Since perfect alignment is not critical on this project, you could just remove the basting before placing the top piece. The basting stitch is a good trick to know when absolutely precise alignment is required
Secure around jar with elastic cording or rubber band with a ribbon over it.
I’ve saved the easiest one for last! No editing, no fabric to cut, no funky sewing directions. Just hoop up a doily, stitch a single design as is in the center, and lace some ribbon through. What could be easier?
Hoop doily with tearaway. Embroider design. Remove from hoop, remove stabilizer, lace ribbon through edging, tie over jar and you’re done!
Remember those delicate fragile family heirloom Christmas ornaments that you were never allowed to touch as a kid? Now you can get that same shiny look with your embroidery machine and a small bit of Mylar. And they can't shatter on the floor!
All That Glitters Mylar Christmas Designs was thoughtfully designed for the creative embroiderer. It includes 11 round ornaments and 9 "add-on" embellishments plus a bonus ornament. These embroideries are designed for maximum flexibility! You can stitch them with or without Mylar.
You can stitch them as standard applique with or without the background fill. You can stitch them as direct embroidery or free-standing applique. You can combine the add-ons to the Mylar filled versions or the plain applique. You can even mix in other designs from your stash to extend the designs even further. The following sample uses one of the included monogram fonts with Essentials combined with a bow add-on and the center feature ornament.
To make them fast and easy, they have few color changes and low stitch counts. Also, since all but one ornament use the same applique shape, you can easily mix and match fabrics. If you have a digital cutter, you can really go to town and still whip up a batch before Christmas! In addition to the designs, the collection includes applique templates for hand or machine cutting. All the round bulbs use the same shape so cutting enmass is simple. There is also the circular pattern for the center feature and the shape for the "mint" shape, which is somewhat of an extra with this collection.
Sometimes it's the simpler designs that offer the most creativity and flexibility!
The center feature design offers quite a bit of possibilities. I've fussy cut a piece of fabric from my stash as an insert. You could also you a photo printed fabric insert or a pretty holiday colored fabric with a monogram or short word.
With a little more work, you can drop out the Mylar fill and replace it with a standard applique fabric. Then with your lettering software, arc some text into the area. How about a fabric print of your child's school picture with the year underneath for the grandparents?
If you're observant, you'll notice that this design was digitized in StitchArtist. I had hoped to release these as BX design library but that part of the program is not functioning yet so I'm just releasing the standard stitch file formats I usually support. The highlighted object in the Objects panel on the upper right is the Mylar fill section. Just delete it if you don't want it for your edited version.
These designs have been programmed with multiple color stops to make customizing easy. For example the light fills intended to stitch over Mylar can easily be deleted in software or skipped at the machine. Likewise, the second color on the ornament cap—which I've run in the same color as the rest of the cap—is only necessary if you want to do free-standing applique. Otherwise you can skip or delete it. I've included multiple Mylar fills so you can select one you like. Here's one that doesn't have any Mylar under it so you can see the stitches:
If you've never sew machine embroidered applique, there can be up to 3 color stops in the design for each applique. First is the position stitch, which is most often a run that outlines where the applique goes. Second is the tack down stitch. In my designs, I most often use a zigzag here because it catches the fabric better and is less likely to push a little pleat into the fabric. Finally the cover stitching—usually a satin—runs. When you look at your actually stitch file, these all need to be separate colors if they run consecutively, otherwise your machine won't stop. Therefore you need to refer to the color sequence list. I do understand there are people who think this might be too difficult—skipping colors or using software—so I have included a plain applique ornament. I promise you though, simple modifications like this really are simple once you try it!
The add-ons can be combined with any of the Mylar fills or the plain applique. You can combine them either at your machine or in software. While all the designs and individual add-ons will fit a 4x4 hoop, if you add a bow to the top of an ornament, you'll likely need a larger hoop or you can rehoop or use a multi-position hoop. (Instructions not included for that!)
Of course, the add-ons can work stand alone and feel free to sort through your stash for other suitable designs you can combine. The basic round ornament and the Mylar fills are perfect for that!
I've done all my designs on the first few ornaments on top of the curved fill variation. Depending on the color of thread and Mylar you use, the various background fills may be more or less prominent. If you decide you like the swirly design on Swirls 2 and the meandering fill on Mylar Fill 6, it's not terribly difficult to isolate and copy the color block for the swirls and paste it into the right place on the other design. For the designs on the first few ornaments that are more "finished" it was important that the designs be a little more integrated than just dropping in an add-on at the end of the design. But that doesn't mean it's major surgery to extract them and use them on one of the other ornaments.
These designs can be stitched with any colors you like. In fact, when I started stitching them, I chose entirely different colors from what I picked when digitizing. On Swirls 2 I used a light blue Mylar and stitched over it with white to soften it a bit. I was going for a wintry, cold look here. The white softened the blue color even more and the stitches breaking up the Mylar gave it almost a crystalline appearance.
Mylar works best when stitched under a light fill. The lighter the fill, the more the Mylar can sparkle through. All the sparkle in the designs you see here comes form the Mylar. Of course you could add even more with metallic thread. For these designs I've created curved and motif fills use Embrilliance StitchArtist. I have two YouTube videos on how to create the curved fill and the stitch carving you see on the caps of the ornaments. If you have StitchArtist Level 3 you can duplicate these techniques.
Mylar is available in colors from Nancy's Notions. I sprung for the mega pack because I couldn't decide which colors to order. According to the description, this product is machine washable but I haven't actually tried that.
Another alternative to Mylar that I've used for years and years is party balloons. I think these fill densities might be a little too open for the printed side of the balloon but the inside is silver and looks just like those old family heirloom ornaments. Below you can see some early samples, one that was modified and two that didn't make the cut for various reasons. These are stitched on the "wrong" side of the happy face balloon shown following. Ask for damaged balloons at the party store and you can often get them for free!
hese designs are set up as standard appliques. Sew the first color to get the placement line.
Then lightly mist the back of a 4x4" square of Mylar with TESA (I use KK2000) and smooth it over the stitching line.
Sew the design up through the background fill then stop the machine and carefully tear off the Mylar. If you tear toward the stitching line you'll get a nice clean finish.
Don't forget the middle!
Then complete the rest of the stitching. This design has a second applique for the center. Place the precut fabric and then stop the machine after the zigzag tack down (if it doesn't stop automatically) to inspect your work. The zigzag should just cover the edge of the fabric and there shouldn't be any excess extending out beyond the edge.
I usually precut all my appliques before placing them in the hoop. However, Mylar is a bit tricky to work with and since it is so easy to tear off after stitching it in place, I just use the "blob method" of applique in this case.
If you're doing actual applique with fabric, then use the pattern pieces to precut your fabrics. You can either cut by hand or by machine as long as it's accurate. I also like to use a fusible web on the back of my fabrics for a smooth, long lasting great appearance. Instead of placing the Mylar, position your pre-cut applique exactly within the sewn lines. The next color will zigzag tack it in place. If any fabric is extending beyond the zigzag you either incorrectly cut or placed your fabric and you'll likely have fabric extending beyond your applique. Carefully try to trim off any excess without cutting any stitches or disturbing your fabric tension in the hoop.
All That Glitters Mylar Christmas Designs includes 21 designs in all the supported formats usually found in my shop. The collection also includes color sequences, templates, and instructions for standard applique and a reprint of this blog post as a PDF for off-line reference.
The designs are also available individually. Please note that instructions are not included on individual designs. I'll be posting videos on how to use these designs on YouTube so go there and subscribe and you'll get an email notification of when they're available.
Appliqué with your embroidery machine is fun and easy once you know a few tricks! In this tutorial you’ll learn how to use PDF templates included with appliqué designs to precut pieces for accurate and professional machine embroidered appliqué.
Some collections may include an SVG file or an FCM file (Brother ScanNCut format). These are designed for use with a digital cutter. Follow the directions with your cutter to use these files. Prepare your fabrics as for hand cutting and apply a fusible web product. Pressure sensitive (double or single stick) fusible web products may not be suitable for cutters; the sticky web adheres to the mat too easily and comes off the fabric. Test various fusible web products to find one you like. Fuse it securely to your fabric but avoid overheating that can melt the adhesive. You can leave the paper backing on or peel it off for cutting. Test to make sure the web stays fused to the fabric and doesn’t remain on the mat. After cutting the pieces, placing and stitching are no different.
Machine embroidered appliqué is one of my favorite techniques! I love the added texture, dimension, color, and pattern that fabric adds to the embroidery that simply cannot be achieved by thread alone. It’s easy, it offers design variety, and it works on a wider range of fabrics and textures than standard embroidery. How else could you embroider a white snowman on a fluffy red towel and not have it turn out pink? (White embroidery thread is not opaque and any high contrast fabric can show through.) Plus, appliqué with the embroidery machine comes out with perfect curves and corners every time!
You may have stitched machine embroidered appliqué by placing a patch of fabric over a stitched outline, stitching the fabric over the outline by running that stitch a second time, and then removing the hoop and trimming away the fabric. Once I learned the method described here from the professional embroidery world, I never went back to that method again when working with smooth, firm fabrics. This way of creating appliqué will give a clean, professional look with no “pokies” that scream “amateur!”
There are times when the stick/sew/snip method works (I’ll use it when working with dimensional effects like putting batting under a large, simply shaped appliqué). To accommodate this method with Lindee G Embroidery designs, simply back up one color after placing the fabric to sew the placement line again. Remove the hoop, trim away excess fabric (keep in mind the satin stitch only extends beyond this line 1mm so trim closely!), replace the hoop and continue sewing. Whenever using this method, you must take extreme care not to distort the hooped fabric when trimming the excess appliqué away. This becomes increasingly more difficult with intricate shapes and/or multiple appliqués
If you’ve previously done appliqué with your sewing machine, you likely lraced a pattern onto fusible web, applied it to the back of your fabric, and then stitched it out. This meant you were actually tracing a reversed (mirrored) version of the design.
Templates for machine embroidered appliqué are not reversed and are designed to be applied to the front of your fabric. Some fusible web products can be run through an ink jet printer to save you the step of applying a product to each side of the fabric. If you choose to print on the web, then you must mirror image either the design or the templates.
Tracing templates onto fusible web is not recommended. You need accurately cut appliqués for a successful result with machine embroidered appliqué. Besides, tracing is far too tedious.
Fusible web products require heat to activate the adhesive. Some fabrics are not compatible with heat. The advantage of using a fusible web is that it reduces wrinkling and is added security to reduce raveling if the stitches don’t adequately cover the edge of the applied fabric. Fusible web also adds body, which can be great on some projects like wall hangings but less attractive when you want a softer result such as on quilts or baby clothes. Different fusible webs provide varying degrees of stiffness. There are very stiff versions that work great on a canvas banner and there are very soft ones that are barely apparent once stitched and fused.
You’ll want to experiment to see what products work best and are readily available. Start by experimenting with what you find in your local sewing and craft stores. Products can also be ordered online so if your local area is very limited, look to the internet.
For items that can’t take the heat, use TESA to temporarily hold the appliqué in place during stitching. If you don’t want to use a spray adhesive, then a glue stick may be an effective substitute. Some TESAs are deactivated with heat (KK2000 is one) so skip the tacking iron step or you will lose the adhesiion.
Ultimately the stitches secure the appliqué to the fabric. If you cut and place your fabric accurately and your fabric is not prone to excessive raveling, you should have a good result. Keep in mind that if you shrink the design, then the satin cover around the edges shrinks and so does your security. Heavy laundering and/or use may also increase the tendency to ravel if a fusible web is skipped.
If you want the security of a fusible around the edges with the loft and softness of no web in the center, then you can “window” the fusible. This involves leaving an outer edge of about 1/4” web applied to the fabric with the inner portion cut away.
To do this, apply the template to the front of the appliqué piece in the usual manner (full details to come). Cut a piece of fusible web and place it behind the piece. Using your mini iron, fuse the web by pressing from the front along the outer edges and in about 1/4”. Cut out appliqué and then trim away excess fusible from the inside of the design on the back.
You may want to try this technique on larger pieces for quilts. Fusible web doesn’t allow the appliqués to “puff up” like hand stitched needle-turned appliqué. While machine embroidered appliqué is unlikely to loft as much and needle-turned, you’ll have a more authentic appearance.
Your appliqués will stay smooth and crisp if you preshrink both the appliqué fabrics and the background fabrics. Pre-shrinking all the fabrics will help avoid any uneven shrinkage after your project is assembled. Be sure to smoothly press fabrics before the next fabric steps. I also find that starching the fabrics (both background and appliqué) makes them easier to work with and reduces shifting during the sewing process.
Print out PDF appliqué templates, making sure to print them at actual size. Notice that each piece has the design file name (if large enough) and possibly a number. On multiple piece appliqués this number is the sequence number for placing the appliqué. If several pieces have the same sequence number, it means they are placed at the same stop.
Do not let Acrobat resize your template to fit the page. Page Scaling must be set to None for accuracy!
The template pages may vary per collection. A design with just one appliqué may have the element repeated multiple times whereas a more complex multi-piece appliqué design may show the pieces as they combine in the design plus another set that is separated for easy cutting. Some collections may have multiple arrangements per design.
I prefer to print my templates on a lightweight fusible tearaway or you can use freezer wrap. (I don’t use freezer wrap for embroidery stabilizer, only for templates.) I cut an 11” piece of stabilizer from an 8” roll (about the size of a sheet of paper) and lightly fuse the top and bottom edges to a sheet of printer paper to help it move through my ink jet printer smoothly (and to make sure I print on the non-fusible side!)
I find that using heat fusible pattern pieces provides more sticking power over a longer period of time than templates printed on plain paper and held in place with TESA. If your pattern shifts during cutting, you will not be able to cut out an accurate piece and this technique definitely requires precision. I also find that I get more accuracy with this method than when tracing onto the fusible web. Some fusible webs have a waxy coating on the protective sheet and often shift around easily, especially when working with larger or more intricate shapes. With this technique, accuracy is definitely the name of the game.
These templates are created from the placement stitch in the embroidery design and are therefore intended to be applied to the front of the fabric. Some fusible webs can also be run through an inkjet printer. However, these products are applied to the back of your fabric and won’t work as a shortcut unless you mirror the embroidery design.
Separate your paper template pieces by cutting loosely around the outlines.
Press the cut out pieces, right side up to the right side of the corresponding appliqué fabric.
I prefer double-stick pressure-sensitive fusible web (Pellon EZ Steam II). Remove the looser paper sheet and arrange your appliqué fabrics on the web. Cut out around the web. I like to very lightly press them with a dry iron to help the fusible stick to the fabric.
One disadvantage of the regular weight EZ Steam II is that it leaves the appliqué feeling somewhat stiff. You might try Pellon EZ Steam II Lite, which is a thinner, lighter weight version. Other fusible web products are available but most of these are only sticky on one side. If you aren’t using a double-stick pressure sensitive fusible web, you will need to press a bit more. Avoid over pressing. If you completely melt the adhesive there will be nothing left to fuse the piece to the hooped fabric.
Don’t use steam when pressing fusible web and don’t over heat! Use a Teflon™ pressing sheet or parchment paper to protect your iron and ironing surface from the adhesive.
Carefully and precisely cut along the outside edge of each appliqué piece. If I’m preparing for a design I will sew immediately, I like to lightly stick the pieces to a plastic sheet protector in which I’ve place a printout of my design information. (If you haven’t used a double stick pressure sensitive, this won’t work.) Otherwise, I keep them in snack size zipper-type plastic bags. This is especially useful if you are cutting a number of pieces for a large project or multiple projects.
Don’t firmly press the piece to the plastic; the fusible web sticks to it very easily and will hold faster to it than the fabric.
If you’re embroidering on quilt-weight cottons, a medium tearaway should be sufficient for embroidery designs that are composed of predominantly appliqué that may also have additional light detail stitching. These types of designs are generally “low impact” and do not require extensive or heavy stabilizing. Make sure your fabric is secure in the hoop and that it will not slip during sewing. If your fabric slips, raw edges of appliqué fabrics may be exposed.
As your design sews, the machine will stitch a running stitch guideline for you to place your fabric and then stop to allow you to position the fabric.
Many machines may move the hoop forward to make it easier for you to do this while others will simply stop. If your machine just stops, you may wish to remove the hoop to place your fabrics. Be careful not to disturb the hoop tension and make sure your hoop is correctly attached each time to avoid registration problems (where stitches don’t line up with previous ones).
Carefully place the fabric within the stitched line and lightly fuse the center of the appliqué with an appliqué iron. If you fuse the edges too tightly, you will not be able to trim them off later if they extend beyond your stitching. (If you’ve cut your pieces with a digital cutter, then your pieces will fit exactly within the stitched guides.)
Continue sewing and the machine will zigzag around the edge of the fabric. Many other digitizers will use a straight stitch for this step; I find a zigzag more forgiving of slight miscuts and misplacements and less likely to push the fabric out of place.
I often slow the machine down for the tackdown to make it easy to stop if the fabric should shift.
Stop after the tackdown and inspect your work. If you see that fabric is sticking out beyond these stitches, stop the machine and carefully trim the fabric away or it will be exposed after the final satin stitching is complete. Also check for any “pokies”—raveled fabric threads that may have been freed by the action of the needle.
Continue placing each piece as called for in the color sequence until the design is complete.
Press embroidery from the back to complete the fusing.
Note 1: Printable templates only work with designs sewn at actual size. If you resize your embroidery designs, you will have to make your own templates. One way is to use a customizing program like Embrilliance Essentials to extract the placement line and print it just like the PDF is printed. A second option is by sewing the positioning outlines on template stock and cutting them out for tracing pieces. To embroider on template stock (mylar quilter’s template or card stock), tape a piece of the template material to the bottom of your hoop and sew without thread in the needle. The perforations are the “outlines” you see on the actual size printed PDF templates. Cut out the template and trace (template face down) on the fusible web paper on the back of your prepared fabric. Mylar quilter’s template will retain crisp edges and corners—and therefore accuracy—with more uses than card stock. Be sure to label your template with a design name, sequence order, and a guide arrow to denote the top.
Note 2:These instructions are for medium-weight woven fabrics that can tolerate heat. Loftier fabrics such as polar fleece may need to be cut slightly further away from the template line to accommodate their thickness and will also melt when pressed with an iron. Instead of using fusible web, use a temporary embroidery spray adhesive to hold in place during the sewing process. While a fusible web will permanently fuse an appliqué in place and reduce raveling puckering over washing and wearing, polar fleece, which is a knit, doesn’t ravel and due to the stretchy properties, will not pucker if sewn smoothly in the first place.
Appliqué is a very versatile machine embroidery technique. Creating free-standing ornaments is fun and easy! 
These instructions assume that you already know how to work with templates printed on fusible tearaway, a method I use most often for machine embroidered appliqué. If you’ve never used this technique, detailed instructions are included in the Appliqué Basics pdf that is included with most Lindee G Embroidery appliqué collections
This technique works best when the satin cover stitching that finishes the appliqué sews last, as it so happens in the gingerbread designs on Gingery Christmas. There are 4 small ginger cookie appliqué designs and 4 larger ones that work well with these instructions.
You’ll also want to select a design that does not have any stitching extending beyond the fabric appliqué area. If you’re using the “bitten cookie” versions, the crumbs will be lost during the finishing process.
If you are using other appliqué designs, you may want to resequence some stitching or wind matching bobbins for each color change in your design so that the back looks as good as the front.
1. Prepare templates.
Print templates onto fusible tearaway and loosely cut around shapes to separate. (See technique in the Appliqué Basics instructions if aren’t familiar with this process.)
2. Prepare fabrics.Fuse a piece of cutaway to the back of each piece of appliqué fabric using fusible web. Press one template to front of one fabric and one to cutaway of other fabric to make a reversible ornament.
While the cutaway isn’t strictly necessary, it adds extra body and dimension to the design.
Cut out appliqués just to the outside edge of the pattern lines
Hoop 2 pieces of washaway stabilizer. Sew first color of design (outline).
Fold a loop of ribbon in half, place cut edges within top outline about 1/2”. Tape in place out of range of needle.
Spray back of top piece with TESA. Remove template from piece and position in hoop within outline.
Inspect the design to see if any areas extend beyond the tack down and trim off.
Don’t sew last color! The last color attaches the back of the ornament.
Remove the hoop from machine. Spray cutaway side of back appliqué with TESA, remove paper template, position appliqué in place, reset the hoop, replace the bobbin with the matching thread, and sew last color.
Trim off excess stabilizer close to the stitching. Remove remaining bits with damp paint brush or sponge. It is not necessary to soak out the remaining stabilizer
Crafting with Your Embroidery Machine Use your embroidery machine to punch out a design on paper or metal! While paint adds color to the design, vegetable oil renders parts of the design translucent allowing an eerie glow from the battery operated tea-light within. Fun project for kids of any age! I used ordinary brown paper lunch bags for this project. After experimenting with brown craft paper (also known as postal wrap), I found the bags “glow” better than the heavier craft paper. You can get prettier bags at the craft store but if you want to use them as luminaries, do test one first to see how you like the effect.
Note: These designs are specifically digitized for punch work and are not intended to be sewn with thread.
Please read all instructions before beginning
Open up the paper lunch bag by cutting down next to the seam and carefully peeling apart the bottom. (A smooth edge steak knife is helpful.) Press with medium hot dry iron to flatten out. Fold down a 1 1/2” cuff on the top edge of the paper bag.
While these designs are sized for 100mm x 100mm hoops, it’s easier to work with the paper bags in larger hoop. Depending on how your hoop attaches to your machine, you may have to get creative with hooping to prevent the paper from getting mangled during the sewing process.
The paper needs to be taped to the hoop with painter’s tape. Secure the inner ring of the hoop inside the outer, position the hoop and tape the paper to the hoop using. One strip at the top and another at the bottom should be sufficient. Since you aren’t using thread, there is no pull so you just need to a small amount of tape to keep paper attached to the hoop. Gently press the painter’s tape to the paper so that it can be easily removed without damaging the paper.
If you only have a small hoop, the paper will need to laid on top of the hoop and taped from the bottom. Take care not to crease the paper. The following photo shows the paper hooped upright.
With a larger hoop, the paper can be placed underneath the hoop. I found that a minimum 150x150mm hoop allowed me to hoop the paper sideways with the cuff folded down and on the left without having the paper under the pantograph of the machine. I could then move the design at the machine to the right to get the design positioned where I wanted it. With this placement, the design is rotated 90° counter clockwise.
Insert a large needle. This can be any kind of needle and it doesn’t have to be new. The larger the needle, the more prominent the holes (and the less likely they are to fill in with paint).
Load the design into the machine and rotate or move the design as necessary.
Adjust any settings to permit your machine to sew without thread (turn off the needle thread sensor). You will probably still need to have a bobbin inserted in your machine.
Advance to the first stitch in the design. Many machines will sink the needle in the center of the hoop before moving to the first actual stitch. You don’t want a needle hole in the middle of the design! You may want to test your machine first by stitching on small square of paper to see if there is a beginning and/or ending stitch in the center of the design.
Sew the design.
4. Paint the design.
All the luminaries are shown on the last page of these instructions. Refer to the color sequence PDF if you are unsure which areas are painted. If you plan to skip the oiling step to create the translucency, you can skip the painting step if desired.
Tip: You may wish to connect the dots lightly with a pencil to make it easier to see where to paint!
The paint serves several functions. In addition to adding color when the luminary is not lit, the paint serves as a resist to keep the vegetable oil from seeping into undesirable areas. The untreated paper will wick up the oil very quickly. The paint also adds a little contrast and some color when the luminary is lit. You can get fancy with your painting or just fill it in solidly as I’ve done here.
When painting, avoid getting the paper too wet because it will wrinkle. It is better to paint in two or more more lighter coats than one heavy one. Avoid filling in the holes with paint. Apply paint to both sides of the paper. Allow to dry between layers and sides.
Use a pin to clear any holes that get filled in with paint before the paint dries.
Since the acrylics double as a resist, you need to coat the paper well enough; however, it doesn’t have to be heavy. Markers or other products may provide color but are unlikely to protect the paper from the oil seepage.
When the paint is dry, sparingly and carefully paint in a small amount vegetable into the areas you want to be translucent. Blot up any excess oil with a paper towel. The paint should protect the areas around the illuminated details. Avoid getting any oil outside of the design area.
Hold the finished piece in front of bright light to make sure the oil is evenly distributed. The oil will sink through the paper quite easily so it’s not necessary to paint both sides unless you are really stingy with the oil. The oiled areas will appear darker when unlit and will glow when lit from behind.
Using cellophane tape, reattach the back side of the bag. Glue or tape can be used to hold the refolded bottom together. The bags I used measured 3” x 5” across the bottom and I found it easiest to insert an index card and just glue the refold botttom sections to that.
