Blog posts tagged with 'applique'

Be honest. We all know the perfect person for the “Perfect Man” apron and that person may be either male or female! I’ve also stitched this on sweatshirts without the doily and every time I give one, I hear a chorus of “will you make me one too?”

Shown here, the project can be sewn in a 5x7” hoop with three hoopings. If you have a larger hoop, you can consolidate a few hoopings.

The doily is not embroidered, it is simply a purchased one that I’ve zigzag stitched with my sewing machine using invisible thread. To keep the project moving along quickly, I used a purchased apron, which you can find easily on-line.

There are four variations on the appliqué gingerbread guy design and there are variations of the lettering to include “The Perfect Woman.” Also, there is a version of the phrase that uses the word “grief” instead of “crap” for those sensitive to the latter word. (What can I say? I’m not…)

Skill Level

Basic embroidery skills.

What You’ll Learn

• How to plan and layout a multi-placement design project.
• How to appliqué using templates.
• What order to sew combined designs.
• Why you should avoid color sorting. Supplies
• Gingery Christmas design collection by Lindee G Embroidery
• Purchased or pre-made apron
• Purchased doily (can be any shape desired; mine is square). The large gingerman is about 4.5” tall so find one the size you like.
• Temporary embroidery spray adhesive (TESA)
• Scissors, sharp double curve embroidery scissors best
• Embroidery threads as desired for designs
• Mono filament thread to stitch doily to apron
• Fusible web product for appliqué (I prefer double-stick pressure-sensitive products like Pellon Easy Steam or Steam-A-Seam II)
• Printed templates from collection for selected appliqués
• Appliqué tacking iron
• Ruler
• Stabilizers: Tearaway (I used washaway tearaway because it isn’t as crisp so it rehoops better), fusible tearaway for template printing
• Chalk marker or other tool for temporary marking
• Embroidery software to print designs for placement
• Cellophane tap

General Instructions

These instructions assume you already know how to appliqué using the template method. If you’ve never done machine embroidered appliqué using precut pieces instead of stitching down a larger piece of fabric and then trimming it away (what I call the “blob” method), please read the included Appliqué Basics first! Applique Basics will cover how to prepare your appliqué pieces for use in this project as well as explain the full process for machne embroidered appliqué.

Project Instructions

1. Select designs and prepare.

Start your project by selecting the designs you’ll be using.

Print your embroidery designs from your software with cross hairs for placement. I printed mine in gray scale on a laser printer; you don’t need color for this step. Cut them out so they can be used for placement planning.

Print the appliqué template and prepare and cut out your appliqué design

2. Mark vertical center on apron.

Using your chalk marker and ruler, draw a line down the vertical center of your apron. I like chalk because it is fine enough, visible enough, and temporarily permanent enough for staying visible no matter how long it takes to complete the project while being easily removable when the time comes. Also, pressing with an iron does not impact its removability.

3. Plan placement and mark horizontal guides.

Arrange your cut out embroidery patterns along with your doily on your apron using the vertical line as a guide. You may wish to tape the templates temporarily at this point to keep them from shifting during the next step

Notice in the photo that the horizontal center of my ginger guy aligns with the horizontal center of the doily. Don’t be surprised if your doily is not perfectly symmetrical!

While you can combine designs in your software if you have a large enough hoop, I didn’t. I simply sewed each design individually as you’ll see in the next few steps. (It’s actually easier!)

4. Mark horizontal guides.

Using the cross hairs on the printed design patterns, draw horizontal lines with your ruler and chalk. Remove the pieces from your apron and connect the lines through the center.

5. Prepare the apron for embroidery.

Baste a large piece of stabilizer to the back of the apron using your sewing machine. This piece should be large enough to fully hoop with the apron and accommodate all the designs.

I used tearaway for easy removal. Although there is quite a bit of stitching, it is spread out over a wide area and there is no dense stitching. Also, purchased aprons are quite stable. If you are stitching on another fabric that may not be as stable, consider a different stabilizer.

6. Attach doily to apron.

There are several ways to attach the doily to the apron. I first fused the doily in place using fusible web and hen I zigzagged around the outer edge with my sewing machine using invisible thread in the needle. This gives the best of both worlds and keeps the doily looking sharp over laundering without eventually peeling off. You may choose to do one or the other, however, the fusible web may not fully secure the crocheted edges of the doily.

7. Position designs for this hooping.

Replace the templates you removed earlier and tape them into place, only using the ones that will fit your hoop. I have a fairly large hoop shown below and have arranged the top lettering and the ginger guy. The bottom lettering will be sewn in the next hooping and I’ll position that when ready.

If you have a 5x7 hoop, you’ll need to plan 3 hoopings and rotate the hoop for the center appliqué

8. Hoop for first stitching.

Center your hoop over the center of the design and hoop making sure the apron guides align with the center marks on your hoop.

To keep the ties from getting caught in the stitching. I’ve tied them up. You may also want to tape or pin them out of the way.

9. Turn on your appliqué tacking iron.

You’ll need your mini iron in just a few minutes. Turn it on now to make sure it is hot when you are ready to fuse the appliqué

10. Align needle over design center.

Load the ginger guy design and using the arrows on your machine’s control panel, move the hoop until the needle is over the center of the intersection. You can manually drop the needle and sink it into the paper to be sure.

Remove the ginger guy template before stitching!

11. Sew first color.

The first color in all of the gingerbread appliqués in this collection is the placement line, which is simply a running stitch to define where to put your pre-cut fabric. Notice in the photo below that the top lettering paper template is still in place

12. Place appliqué.

Remove printed template from front of appliqué piece and back protective sheet from fusible web. Carefully and precisely align the precut appliqué within the stitched guides.

13. Fuse the appliqué in place.

With your tacking iron, lightly fuse the appliqué into place to prevent it from shifting during the tack down stitching. I fuse the center areas more firmly and the outer edges lightly enough to be able to peel up in case I need to trim off any excess.

14. Continue sewing the tack down then stop machine.

I prefer to slow my machine down during this step in case there is any fabric slippage. The tack down stitch is a zigzag, which I feel secures the fabric better while avoiding any pleats and puckers that are more likely to occur with a straight running stitch tack down.

Manually stop the machine when the tack down has completed a full pass around the design.

15. Inspect your design.

Now is the time to check for any fibers that may have raveled off or for any fabric that extends beyond the outside edge of the zigzag stitching. Trim those off now for a professional result when the satin cover sews later. It is nearly impossible to cleanly trim them close enough later.

16. Align needle for lettering.

When the first design is finished, load the design for the top lettering and align the needle over the cross hairs on the paper template. Remove the template and sew the design.

17. Prepare second hooping.

Remove your project from the hoop and tape the template for the bottom lettering into place. Rehoop aligning the apron’s guide marks with your hoop’s center marks. Position the needle and sew the final design.

Because I have a large hoop, I was able to place the hoop so that the top was between my two areas of stitching rather than over previous stitching. Although the ideal position for sewing is the center of the hoop, I was not concerned about registration issues on the letter so chose this position to protect previous stitching.

If you watch the lettering sew, you’ll see that one line goes from left to right while the next goes back from right to left. Keyboard lettering does not do that but you can certainly digitize letters that way!

18. Embroidery is complete

Tips & Cautions

1. Do not color sort!

If you are combining designs in software or at your machine, you’ll get the best results if you sew each design individually. There are some machines that will automatically “color sort” designs for you at the machine and this “feature” cannot be overridden.

Color-sorting will look through your designs and combine repeated colors where it thinks it’s a smart thing to do. In my opinion as a digitizer, color sorting is seldom a smart thing to do because it can often increase registration problems while reducing finished quality. I’d rather spend a few extra minutes changing colors than end up with a project that I’m not happy with!

2. Sew larger designs first and lettering last.

Larger more intense designs put more distortion on the fabric and can pull the fabric out of square. If you sew lettering first, the baselines may end up crooked from all the pushing and pulling from the dense stitching. Although that’s not an issue in this project, it’s a good thing to know.

3. Sew from the center out.

You may already know this from quilting or other crafts. Working from the center of the project to the outside tends to reduce puckering. If you followed these instruction, you’ll notice we started with the ginger guy, who not only is in the center but is the largest element in the design. Again, not a big deal in this project but a useful tip in other ones with more intense designs.

Remember those soft plastic oval coin purses with the slit down the front that you squeeze to open? I saw one recently and had a flash back to one I had as a kid that was a ladybug. That memory inspired me to create this in-the-hoop zippered version that will work in a small 100 x 100mm (4” x 4”) sewing field. Also included are a soccer ball, a plainly quilted round mini zip and a square one. Add a small design pr monogram to these more basic ones or sew in a sumptuous fabric and embellish with beads or other trim.

Each project is fully quilted and uses an appliqué technique for finished seams on the inside. Precision templates are including for a professional result. Instructions are basically the same for all three; the ladybug version just has an extra appliqué step on the front piece that is skipped for the others.

In-the-hoop projects are popular because they require no additional sewing. A zipper can be inserted perfectly (and painlessly!). In-the-hoop projects, while not difficult, do take attention to detail. These little mini-zips have some rather unconventional steps when compared to standard embroidery. Take your time to read and follow each step. Once you’ve made one, you can breeze through the next one. If you cut and place your pieces accurately and you’ll have a professional looking result!

Featured Techniques

• In-the-Hoop Zipper
• Machine embroidered appliqué
• Programmed quilting

Please read all instructions before beginning!

Abbreviations

• TESA - Temporary Embroidery Spray Adhesive
• ITH - In-the-Hoop
• WSS - Water soluble stabilizer

Supplies

General

• 6” (or longer) zipper to coordinate with fabrics
• Small bits of fabric from your stash or purchase fat quarters
• Low loft batting, fleece, or just flannel for dimension (I used Warm & Natural)
• 3/8” wide ribbon for loop, 3” long or make a fabric tube for a matching loop
• Embroidery thread to coordinate with fabric
• Coordinating bobbin thread
• Tape (cellophane, double stick embroidery tape, and sew-through wash-away)
• TESA
• Appliqué tacking iron
• Soft, lightweight (non-stiffening) fusible web (I used Steam-A-Seam II Lite)

Stabilizers

• Hoopings 1 - 3: No show fusible mesh cutaway
• Fourth hooping: Either a cleanly tearing crisp tearaway or water soluble fiber based washaway
• Fusible tearaway for printing templates
• Scraps of water soluble to hold batting in place for front pieces

Using fusible fusible products and tapes reduces the need for TESAs. If you don’t have a fusible product, use TESA sparingly. Your machine will thank you!

Optional

• Narrow ribbon to embellish zipper pull, 3-4” long
• Beads or small buttons for eyes

About the Designs

The two round mini zips are exactly the same size and their templates are the same. The ladybug has identical front pieces; they are just mirrored. For the other mini zips, all the fabric front template pairs are identical, the stitching is not; be sure to use the correct embroidery design for each side.

These designs have multiple color stops to facilitate the various processes and offer design flexibility to choose colors that better coordinate with your fabric selections. Individual pieces are quilted (both sides visible on back section) via the embroidery machine and you may wish to choose your bobbin threads accordingly. Even if you sew the entire design in the same thread, do not set your machine to sew single color or it won’t stop when needed.

Select a thread color that coordinates with your project—in most cases you can use the same color for all the color stops of both the zipper and the lining. If you are sewing on a multi-needle machine, please be aware and program your color changes accordingly.

Because these designs use precision templates, resizing the designs is not recommended.

Ladybug Mini-Zip

• lgp00501 - Back
• lgp00502 - Right Side
• lgp00503 - Left Side (mirrored version of lgp00502)
• lgp00504 - Zipper

Soccer Ball Mini-Zip

• lgp00505 - Back
• lgp00506 - Right Side
• lgp00506 - Left Side
• lgp00508 - Zipper

Quilted Round Mini-Zip

• lgp00509 - Back
• lgp00510 - Right Side
• lgp00511 - Left Side
• Uses same zipper design as the soccer ball

Quilted Square Mini-Zip

• lgp00512 - Back
• lgp00513 - Right Side
• lgp00514 - Left Side
• lgp00515 - Zippe

Preliminaries

1. Print templates making sure they are printed at actual size. This project is digitized for precut appliqué pieces.

2. Press all fabrics and starch if desired. Press zipper tape if it is not smooth and flat.

3. Cut out fabrics and batting using provided templates. Each piece is labeled. “Lining” means the fabric will end up on the inside; “outside” means the fabric will end up on the outside. All mini-zips in this collection use the same rectangular pieces, which are repeated on each template page. The larger square piece is the outside of the back piece while the narrow rectangles are the lining pieces for the front sections.

You’ll notice that some pieces are shaped to the design and others are rectangles. The shaped pieces are to be cut precisely. The rectangles offer a more generous shape for the steps involving trimming. Batting pieces are cut smaller to minimize seam bulk. These designs were digitized and tested with a low loft batting intended.

All right and left front templates are identical and are provided for ease in cutting. Print the desired template page twice to have all the patterns required for all the necessary fabric and batting pieces.

How to Appliqué with Templates

Here’s my favorite method for working with precision templates:

1. Cut a piece of fusible tearaway to standard printer paper size and lightly fuse top and bottom edges only to paper.

2. Print templates at actual size onto tearwaway side using an ink jet printer. (Or photocopy if you have a suitable copier that prints at true size.)

3. Peel off tearaway from carrier sheet. Cut template pieces apart to separate. Fuse to front of fabrics.

4. Recommended: For red wing area of ladybug, apply a soft lightweight fusible web to the back before cutting. Choose one that does not add any stiffness.

5. Cut fabric templates just barely to the outside edge if the printed guides. Cut batting templates just to the inside edge. Accuracy is important!

6. When ready to place during embroidery, remove printed template, and position. Fusible pieces are fused before stitching. Pieces that did not have fusible web are held in place with a light misting of TESA. Oversized rectangles may need no TESA and often stay placed as is.

If you cut your pieces accurately, they will match stitching placement lines.

First Hooping: Back

This piece is quilted all the way through and both sides of the fabric will be visible when the project is unzipped. You may wish to use a matching or contrasting embroidery thread in the bobbin. If so, wind a bobbin for this hooping. Pay attention to the fabric placements. I like this approach because there’s no exposed stabilizer within the design to remove.

1. Hoop fusible mesh cutaway fusible side down and sew placement guide. (Color stop 1.) Two guide lines will be stitched. The outer guide is for aligning fabrics, the inner guide is for placing batting

2. Remove hoop and fuse wrong side of lining to bottom side of stabilizer (underneath hoop, right side down) using the outer stitching line as the placement guide. To fuse, use an appliqué tacking iron from the front side of the hoop to avoid disturbing the tension.

3. Position precut batting shape within the inner stitching guide on top of the hoop. Using a piece that fits this placement guide will reduce bulk in the seams

4. Layer top fabric rectangle over outer most placement guide, return to machine, stitch down. (Color stop 2.)

5. Remove hoop and trim off excess fabric to stitching line.

6. Stitch zigzag overcasting around outside. (Color stop 3.)

7. Stitch next color (quilting or soccer ball pattern). (Color stop 4.)

If you wish to customize your project, merge in your own design here.

8. Remove from hoop, trim stabilizer as close as possible to stitching.

Second Hooping: Front (Right Side)

See separate instructions for ladybug. Color stop numbers in brackets are for ladybug.

1. Hoop fusible mesh cutaway fusible side up and sew placement guide. (Color stop 1.) Two guide lines will be stitched. The outer guide is for aligning fabrics, the inner guide is for placing batting.

2. Place outer fabric over guides and fuse in place with tacking iron. Align batting under the hoop and positioning the batting within the designated guidelines. Hold the batting in place with a layer of stabilizer taped or pinned to the hooped stabilizer out of range of the stitching (beyond the rectangular placement stitches.) I use scraps of water soluble stabilizer for this. The stabilizer will keep the batting from going down the throat plate. Return hoop to machine. Sew color stop 2 to tack down appliqué pieces to stabilizer.

3. Sew decorative stitching. (Color stop 3 [5].)

4. Place the lining fabric rectangle face down over the hooped design and stitch the seam. (Color stop 4 [6].

5. With an appliqué tacking iron, press lining open and towards seam allowance.

6. Return hoop to machine and sew stay stitching. (Color stop 5 [7].)

7. Remove from hoop and trim off excess stabilizer as close as possible to the stitching. Trim or tear away water soluble in open areas over batting.

8. Turn lining to back and press along seam edge. To hold lining in place for last hooping, you can use some short pieces of strategically placed sew through wash-away tape or fusible web (make sure it won’t add noticeable stiffness). I used small bits of Steam-ASeam II Lite.

9. Trim seam allowances off excess lining fabric to match the top. Set aside.

Ladybug

1. Follow steps 1 & 2 for front side.

2. Stitch placement guide for wing. (Color stop 2.) Place wing section taking care to align piece precisely along the curved edge on the inside of the body fabric.

3. Return to machine. Sew color stop 3 to tack down appliqué pieces to stabilizer.

4. Color 4 is the satin cover on the wing. You may wish to use a different color for this step.

5. Align batting under the hoop and positioning the batting within the designated guidelines. Hold the batting in place with a layer of stabilizer taped or pinned to the hooped stabilizer out of range of the stitching (beyond the rectangular placement stitches.) I use scraps of water soluble stabilizer for this. The stabilizer will keep the batting from going down the throat plate.

6. Continue with step 3 for front side to finish.

Third Hooping: Front (Left Side)

Ladybug: If your machine has a mirror function, simply mirror this design for the other half, otherwise load the mirrored version of the design. Repeat steps for first half for this side.

Others: Load the left side design and sew, repeating the same steps for first half for this side.

If you have a larger hoop, both front sides can be combined and sewn in one hooping.

After this hooping, your front and back pieces are completed and are ready for final assembly.

Fourth Hooping: Zipper and Final Assembly

Although the inside is only partially visible, you may wish to use a matching bobbin thread. The last color change is a seam finish, which will be partially visible when opening the case.

1. Hoop stabilizer. Use either a crisp tearaway that can be torn away cleanly or use 2 layers of water soluble fiber.

2. Sew placement guide for zipper and front pieces. (Color stop 1.)

3. Position zipper and hold in place with tape. Place each front half, matching edges with the stitched guide on the stabilizer. The folded edge should be near the teeth. The top stitching will be placed along the guide on the zipper tape so make sure your front piece is between that guide and the zipper teeth. Hold in place with TESA or tape.

4. Tack section to stabilizer and top stitch each side. (Color stop 2.)

5. Test zipper to make sure it opens and closes and then open it to about 3/4 open with the zipper tab flipped upward along zipper teeth.

If you fail to open the zipper before stitching the ribbon and attaching the back, you will not be able to turn your project right side out or open the pouch!

6. Position ribbon or self-fabric tube for loop if using. Fold ribbon in half, wrong sides together, raw edges together. Align ribbon over zipper opening with raw edges to seam allowance and folded edge inside. Tape in place at for desired loop size. Stitch to secure. (Color stop 3.)

7. Position quilted back piece right sides together (right side down) matching the pieces and stitch guides. Hold in place with tape. (I removed tape as I got close to it.) Stitch seam and satin stitch the outer edge. (Color stop 4.)

8. Remove from hoop. Remove stabilizer taking care to not tear any stitches. A seam ripper can be used to skim along next to the stitching. If you used a water-soluble product, a small paint brush dipped in hot water can dissolve any exposed remnants.

9. Turn right side out.

10. If desired, add a small piece of ribbon to the zipper tab for a decorative pull. Add breads or buttons for eyes on ladybug.

Piecing in the hoop replicates the process of foundation piecing, also known as paper piecing. If you’ve done foundation piecing with the sewing machine, you will immediately grasp the concept. While a little more intensive than regular embroidery, this technique really only requires attention to detail.

Use the patterns to pre-cut all your pieces. You can spray templates with TESA, swipe with a glue stick, or print on fusible paper and apply to the front of your fabric pieces for cutting. Be sure to keep the pattern piece attached until ready to place the fabric in the hoop to avoid using the wrong piece.

Skill Level

Basic embroidery and rotary cutting skills

All squares finish the same even though their dimensions may vary slightly due to some stitching lines extending beyond the finished seam line. Similarly, all small triangles finish to the same size and large triangles are the same size.

What You’ll Need

• Suitable fabrics for blocks, pre-washed and pressed (Tip: If fabrics are especially soft, starching can reduce distortion when stitching.)
• Printed block patterns and templates
• Rotary cutter, quilting ruler, and mat
• TESA (Temporary embroidery spray adhesive) or water-soluble fabric glue stick
• Stabilizer—I used Sulky Soft n Sheer. You’ll be using heat to press the pieces in place and water-soluble fiber stabilizers can shrink with heat.
• Appliqué tacking iron
• Double curve appliqué scissors
• An embroidery machine with a minimum sewing field of 5.75” x 5.75” for the blocks

What’s Included with the Collection

• Twenty-two designs digitized for piecing in the hoop
• Full size patterns and templates for each block
• Color sequence PDF with images of sample block
• This instructional PDF
• Quilt-As-You-Go Basics ebook
• PDF for making a journal cover
• Basic notes for

Watch How-Tos on YouTube

If you’ve never done piece-in-the hoop or paper piecing before, the process can seem overly complicated.

You can watch me stitch the heart from this set in the following YouTube video:

• How to Stitch Victorian Crazy Piecing In-the-Hoop
Also, please check the website for new projects using these designs as well as specials and informative blog posts. At the time of this writing, there are two blog posts on this set:
• How To Embroider Victorian Crazy Patch In-The-Hoop
• How To Make An Embroidered Journal Cover

Preliminary Notes

If you’ve done foundation or paper piecing, you’ll notice there are a few variations:

1. In paper piecing, fabric is applied to the back side of the printed pattern and the sewing is done on the printed side. When embroidering pieced blocks, all sewing is done from the fabric side.
2. In paper piecing, excess fabric is trimmed off as you go by folding back the pattern and rotary cutting. When embroidering pieced blocks, excess fabric is trimmed off as you go with double-curved appliqué scissors.

Understanding the Patterns

Each design in this set except the border has a PDF pattern sheet.

For the border, cut 22 pieces 8” x 1”; the pieces are applied from the top down.

All pattern pieces are numbered with an arrow pointing to the side that will be initially attached.

This number indicates what order the pieces will be applied.

The first piece has a reminder to place it face up; all other pieces will be placed face down (right sides together)

Exact cutting is not required but I recommend not getting too sloppy about it. The outer edges have a ½” seam allowance while all the inner seam lines are ¼”. This extra bit gives you some “fudge factor” around the outside.

There are no digital cutter files included with this set, only the PDF for hand cutting. Because of the variety of fabrics you’ll be using and the simple straight line shapes and the fact that these aren’t appliques that require precise cutting, I found it easier just to cut these pieces with a rotary cutter or scissors.

Understanding the Color Sequences

All the designs except the border sew in generally the same order:

1. A placement line is sewn that indicates the seam line for the finished blocks. This line will only be seen from the back of the project.
2. Color 2 sews a numbered guideline for the placement of all the pieces. The seam lines will be sewn directly over these lines.
3. Color 3 is an “edge guide” to help you with placing the fabrics. This line is set at a 1/4” offset from the seam lines. This is a handy reference particularly if you aren’t very precise with cutting or placing your pieces as it can tell you right away if you’re fabric isn’t going to get caught in the next seam.
4. Color 4 will tack down the first piece of fabric in the design. This piece is always placed face up.
5. Before color 5, place piece 2 face down along the indicated line. (Refer to the included pattern guide.) Color 5 sews the seam line.
6. Before color 6, flip the fabric over and finger press the fabric smooth and flat. You can hold the fabric in place with a bit of glue stick. Color 7 will sew a tack down that will get covered by subsequent pieces or be enclosed within the seam allowance.

Repeat steps 5 and 6 until all the pieces are placed. Although I’ve set different colors in the design, I typically sew all of this first part in 1 color. The extra colors are to force the machine to stop.

It’s totally possible to stop the design at this point; all the piecing is done and your block can be used as is (exception is the heart, which requires the next to last color to stitch the appliqué).

The remainder of the design is all the decorative stitching. I’ve used a variety of colors here for flexibility. Color stops not only make it easy for you to match threads to your fabrics, they also make it easy to skip or delete areas.

Refer to the included color sequence guide for additional color information.

All seams are double pass so there is no need to use construction thread for the piecing steps. You may want to use polyester embroidery thread instead of rayon for strength.

Preparation

1. Print the pattern pieces.

Open the corresponding design PDF in Acrobat and print the full size pattern and corresponding pattern templates. Make sure Acrobat does not scale the pattern. For your convenience, a 1” square is printed on the first page of each block’s templates for easy verification.

You might want to print 2 copies: 1 for cutting and 1 for placement reference while stitching.

2. Cut your fabrics.

Loosely cut out the patterns, swipe the back with a glue stick and press it to the front of your fabric. Cut out neatly.

While absolute precision is not required, avoid getting too careless with your cutting and making the pieces too large or too small.

3. Hoop the stabilizer.

Piecing in the hoop is a floated technique. Because of all the extra embellishments, a tearaway may break down during stitching in some areas. And, since the designs are relatively open and delicate, tearaways can be difficult to remove.

On similar projects I’ve used heat fusible to hold the pieces after stitching but I didn’t for these designs.

Hooping a thin stabilizer may not be secure in your hoop. If it isn’t use some method to make sure it won’t slip. I prefer duct tape for this.

4. Stitch the placement lines.

The first 3 colors are placement guides.

Color one outlines the seam line. Use this as a reference for cutting your finished pieces. Note that after stitching it may no longer be straight due to push and pull.

Color 2 defines the stitching lines along with sequence numbers and color 3 indicates a ¼” seam allowance.

Sew these in color that won’t bleed through your fabrics but can still be seen. The numbers are within seam allowances and will be covered by several layers of fabric. Indeed, they are likely to be covered by the time you have to place the corresponding piece to having a copy of the pattern by your side as you stitch is a handy reference.

Note that none of these colors are required and can be skipped, which is why they are all separate colors.

5. Place piece 1.

On all designs in this set, piece one is placed face up. On the border design only, piece 2 is also placed at this time, face down (noted on color sequence guide)

The next color will do a zigzag tack down to secure this piece in place

6. Place piece 2.

All subsequent pieces will be aligned, placed face down, and stitched along the seam.

After stitching, the piece will be flipped over, pressed into place and then secured by a tack-down stitch via the next color.

7. Continue with the remainder of the pieces.

All remaining pieces are applied in the exact same manner: check alignment, place face down, stitch, flip, press, and tack down.

8. Sew the decorative stitches.

Once again you’ll have many color changes. Choose colors that work well with your fabrics.

Extra color changes mean more flexibility. It’s easy to skip one at the machine delete them in software.

9. Trim to size.

When the design is complete, remove from hoop, place face down on a cutting mat and trim to size using the seam reference (color 1) as a guide.

Exceptions

The first and last design have a few differences.

The first design is a heart and is finished as an appliqué. The last two colors of the design are the finishing edge around the heart. Before those colors sew, remove the hoop from the machine and trim off any fabric beyond the tack down.

The last design in the set creates the striped border. All the pieces are identical and numbered placement guide is omitted. The guides for this design are the raw edge of the seam allowance.

Because this design is simpler, pieces one and two are placed together with piece on the bottom face up and piece two on the top face down. Only the seams are stitched and are double pass as in the other blocks.

Project Notes

Full instructions are included for the journal covers.

For the quilt, I stitched all 5 of the squares, the 4 large triangles and 4 small triangles. I stitched each one through the batting.

For the borders, I stitched two hoops of the border, stitched them together on the sewing machine to form one long strip and then rotary cut them in four 1¾” strips.

The blocks were pieced together using a quilt-as-you-go method with 1” strips of sashing (½” finished) using the twin sashing strip method after adding a backing fabric to each block. See the included Quilt-As-You-Go Basics ebook for more details.

(Some items included with the set art not available with individual design purchases.)

Summary

Piecing in the hoop produces a highly consistent and accurate result provided you follow the steps precisely!

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.

Skill Level

What You’ll Learn

• How to use simple yet creative techniques to expand your embroidery options
• How to use a template for hand-cutting appliqué pieces
• How easy and versatile appliqués are with embroidery

What You’ll Need

• Appliqué design with a template file (PDF)
• Fusible tearaway stabilizer or freezer wrap (I use the tearaway since it is sized to my paper)
• Computer with Adobe Acrobat Reader and an ink jet printer
• Temporary embroidery spray adhesive (“TESA”) and/or fusible web (I prefer a double-stick pressure sensitive web like Pellon EZ Steam II)
• Embroidery threads
• Tweezers
• Double curve appliqué scissors
• Appliqué tacking iron

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.

Why Appliqué?

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

Some Preliminary Notes

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.

Step 1—Prepare Fabrics

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.

Step 2—Print Appliqué Templates & Any Guides

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.

Step 3—Loosely Cut Out Template Pieces

Separate your paper template pieces by cutting loosely around the outlines.

Step 4—Apply Templates to Fabric.

Press the cut out pieces, right side up to the right side of the corresponding appliqué fabric.

Step 5—Apply Fusible Web

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.

Step 6—Cut Out Appliqué Pieces

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.

Step 7—Embroider Design

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.

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.