Blog posts tagged with 'machine embroidery'

These cute little ornaments are quick and easy to make. They’re perfect little extras to stuff into a greeting card or use as a package tie. They’ll fit a 100mm square sewing field and can also be used as direct embroidery.

Skill Level

Simple. Just follow the steps!

Please read through all instructions before starting your project! This project has multiple steps that must be done in a certain order.

Getting Started:

Print the worksheet. It has full instructions that will make more sense after you make just one.

What You’ll Need:

• Good quality white felt
• NOTE: this deisgn is not recommended for vinyl (too dense)
• Stabilizer: ( I tested with cutaway and washaway tearaway)
• Opalescent Mylar film
• Coordinating embroidery threads
• Ribbon for hanging (I cut mine to 5”)
• NOTE: the last stitch is a triple stitch and may not secure really thin cords well. Knotted the end of the cord will minimize the chance of it pulling out.

Instructions:

These designs are digitized to be used with Mylar behind the white areas. They can be stitched as free-standing ornaments or used as “normal” direct embroidery.

The process is similar for all designs in this set. Individualized steps can be found on the design’s worksheet.

Stitching:

• Only the last color is visible on the back if you want a matching bobbin color.
• Not all designs have placement line as the first color
• Some designs have fringed pompoms

• For direct embroidery, stitch up to the stop before the last color. The last color attaches the back to the front for a clean finish

Finishing

1. Remove from hoop and tear off stabilizer carefully right up to the design outline.
2. Carefully trim around the design taking care not to cut through the hanging loop.

This lovely lace angel is a masterpiece of creativity and with a little bit of time, you can easily make one for yourself! The angel is approximately 8.5” tall and will stand without support or grace the top of your Christmas tree.

Supplies

• Designs
• Minimum 13x180mm (5x7”) sewing field
• Embroidery thread (I prefer Rayon for lace but polyester, cotton, or even metallics can be used)
• Wash-Away stabilizer (non-woven fiber based)
• TESA (temporary embroidery spray adhesive, I prefer KK2000)
• Double-stick embroidery tape
• Sewing machine, hand needle and thread, or glue for final assembly
• Twist ties
• Styrofoam cone wrapped with plastic wrap (I trimmed off the top and bottom sections)
• Wire cookie cooling rack

Please read all instructions before beginning

The Designs

You’ll notice this lace angel differs from many of the free-standing lace designs widely available on the internet these days. Those designs are often created by laying down a mesh of fill stitches as a fabric substitute and then stitching satin elements over the top. Such designs are quicker to digitize but they don’t capture the elegance of the old time hand punched lace. This angel more closely reproduces that old-style look.

Don’t let the open, airy look deceive you! This project is high stitch count—well over 200,000 total stitches depending on how you choose to make her. On the other hand, she has no jumps, no trims, and is sewn in only one color. So while the machine time is long, your interaction is minimal until assembly time. Plan on this as a two day project: one day to embroider, overnight to dry, and a little time the following day to assemble.

There are several versions of this design. If you have a machine with a 200x300 sewing field, you’ll be able to sew the design in two pieces:

• Skirt (200x300 hoop) [lgp00102]
• Wings and head (200x200 hoop) [lgp00101]

If you have a 130x180mm sewing field, you’ll have the following:

• Head (fits 100x100mm hoop) [lgp00103]
• Left wing (mirror for the right wing) [lgp00104]
• Interlocking skirt panel [lgp00105]
• Left skirt panel [lgp00106]
• Inside skirt panel [lgp00107]
• Right skirt panel [lgp00108]

I’ve provided two ways to create the skirt for these smaller sewing fields, which I’ll cover in a bit.

General Instructions

The quality of your lace depends heavily on proper hooping and machine tensions. If the thread tensions are too tight, the stitches will be pulled more and sections may not align properly, underlay may be exposed, and your design may fall apart in areas when the stabilizer is removed. You can also experience these problems if the stabilizer slips in the hoop.

Sometimes there are just a few errant stitches hanging out and these can be trimmed away with small thread snips.

For optimum results, hoop two layers of wash-away in the hoop. Make sure both layers are smooth, taut and fully gripped between the rings of the hoop.

Do not use a film type water soluble stabilizer. These stabilizers—even the very heavy ones—will perforate during stitching causing a loss of stability!</p<>

For added security and slippage prevention, I used duct tape on the bottom side. Cut long strips of tape and rip them in half lengthwise. Tape along the edges of the stabilizer and wrap over the hoop. Use the smallest hoop that will accommodate each design. Slippage and push/ pull problems are the greatest in the largest designs and in larger hoops (no matter the design size).

Test your process by sewing the interlocking skirt panel in a 5x7 hoop. Rinse and dry and check for exposed underlay or any places that are not holding together. I have noticed that on some machines, the underlay is exposed on inner curves only in one area of the curve, say from 1:00 to 3:00 position. If the design is mirrored, and the underlay is still exposed in the 1-3 o’clock position. This would indicate a machine issue.

After sewing, cut away stabilizer close to the design and then rinse out excess stabilizer in warm water. Simply rinse until you don’t see any stabilizer remaining, the extra remaining stabilizer will help your angel keep her girlish figure.

Lay out wet lace on a thick towel and roll towel to soak up excess moisture. Do not wring the lace. I let my lace dry flat until just slight damp before shaping. Refer to shaping and assembly further on.

Sewing Instructions

Machines with 200x300mm sewing fields

Sew the skirt design in a 200x300 hoop and the wings and head design in a 200x200 hoop. It is particularly critical to hoop and stabilize securely for the skirt!

If you want to adjust the angle or placement of the wings, you may want to use the separate pieces designed for the smaller sewing field.

Machines with 130x180mm (5x7”) sewing fields

The easiest sewing method is to simply sew five of the interlocking panels. A second advantage is that this allows you to sew more manageable pieces and if you goof one up, you haven’t messed up the entire skirt. This is also a good way to get a multi-colored skirt, if desired.

This was my original method and while it requires no multi-piece alignment during sewing, it is a little harder to assemble and results in a higher stitch count project. Furthermore, the interlocking connector buttons make the angel bulkier.

The second method is to sew the multi-piece skirt. Here you’ll sew the left skirt panel first and trim away stabilizer closely. Next, load the inside skirt panel and sew to the applique stop. Align the first panel along the left side matching the connector stitches. Hold the first piece in place with double stick embroidery tape outside the range of the needle. You may wish to hold the connectors in place with a light mist of TESA.

When the second panel is finished, you’ll repeat the process. Ultimately you will sew one left panel, three center panels, and finally the right panel. This process requires patience and attention to detail!

The wings and head are all sewn individually and are assembled afterwards.]

You may find that you get significantly better results with the smaller pieces in smaller hoops than sewing the full size pieces in a large hoop. There is less distortion when sewing the smaller pieces. The trade off is your time. Only you can decide what works best for you.

Shaping & Assembly

Before your angel dries into a stiff flat form, do a little shaping. Refer to the full-size versions to see how the pieces should look if you’ve sewn them in smaller segments.

You’ll notice the skirt is designed so that it bells out slightly a little ways below the neck. The openings near the top allow the wings and head to fit into the body/skirt section. I found it easiest to form the skirt around a cut-off styrofoam cone. Interlock the connectors on the skirt back (connector will be on the inside of the skirt). Although the connectors are floppy and difficult to keep connected when damp, they will be quite sturdy when dry. I looped twist ties through the upper sections to shape the skirt as it dried.

If you sewed the individual interlocking panels, it will be easier to form the skirt when the sections have dried. Then, interlock the connectors, slip it over the cone, and if shaping is necessary, mist with a water bottle until damp enough to form. Pins are also helpful for shaping and can be pushed easily into the styrofoam.

If you find you are fighting with the connectors in the upper section of the skirt, just cut them off to match the full size skirt and hand sew. Alternatively, you can glue the connectors along the neck edge.

If you sewed skirt as one piece, once it is dry, the middle three upper sections can be sewn together. Leave the end segments open at the top to attach the wings. You can sew the segments together by abutting the edges and hand stitching or machine multi-step zigzag. I found it easier to do this stitching by hand.

The head on the smaller version is attached to a “shoulder.” The wings are attached to the front side of the shoulder ends on the front and behind the hair on the angel. This design is to allow more support for the head to keep it from flopping over. These pieces can be attached with glue, hand stitches, or on the sewing machine. Before attaching, do a little fitting on your skirt piece to make sure you like the shape and placement.

The wings and head are set into the space between the first and second skirt panels on the left (as you look at the angel) and the fourth and fifth panels on the right. You may be able to just leave these panels open or you may need to add a few hand stitches to keep your angel together. If you can avoid the stitches, it will make it much easier to store your angel since she’ll unfold to almost flat. For the sample shown on the first page, I simply set the wings into place— probably not a smart thing if I leave it within kitty reach!

Other Notes:

Although I sewed my angel in a traditional white, she would look lovely in other colors as well. I do not recommend trying to scale these designs to fit smaller sewing fields.

Looking for a small wallhanging project you can update each month? How about this quilted and pieced in-the-hoop calendar block?

I designed this calendar block to just ft my max square stitching area on my machine and to work with the 175mm blocks from some recently digitized sets, Halloween Scenes 1 and Halloween Scenes 2. I’m just wrapping up a few more sets that will also work for Thanksgiving and winter months (snowmen) that are similarly designed.

I haven’t found suitable designs for every month yet but do have November and December plus a couple of spring blocks. Of course, you can work in any design you choose simply by inserting it after color 5.

For October, I chose the multi-color Kitten and Pumpkins design from Halloween Scenes 1. There are two sets of Halloween scenes that will work perfectly for this project.

Each set has 10 designs in multi-color and 10 as single color and each one of those is available in multiple sizes. I used the 175mm version so I could stitch the month name onto the attached borders without rehooping.

I stitched through the batting but not the backing for this project. It fnishes out at about 12” square. The center is stitched frst, then the side borders are pieced on and embroidered, and fnally the top and bottom borders are pieced on and embroidered.

I foated all the pieces onto hooped stabilizer. I chose to color in the center embroidery with InkTense colored pencils for additional interest.

SKILL LEVEL

Basic embroidery and customizing skills. If you’re working with one of the calendar blanks to create your own version, you’ll need to know how to combine designs by inserting a design after a specifc color change.

WHAT YOU’LL NEED

• Suitable fabrics for blocks, pre-washed and pressed (Tip: If fabrics are especially soft, starching can reduce distortion when stitching. Rotary cutter, quilting ruler and mat
• Stabilizer: I used Sulky Soft ‘n Sheer. Other suitable choices are washaway backing and washaway tearaway.
• Appliqué tacking iron
• An embroidery machine with a minimum sewing feld of 11½” x 9¾” for the blocks
• Suitable embroidery threads and sewing threads
• Optional: InkTense colored pencils or other media for coloring

WHAT’S INCLUDED WITH THE COLLECTION

• Twelve ITH “calendar blanks” digitized for piecing in the hoop (preset for each month)
• One block with a ready-made design already inserted (Halloween block for October)
• 12 “month name” designs
• This instructional PDF

SUPPLIES

I worked from various fat quarters in my fabric stash. The measurements listed below are for the calendar block designs in this set; adjust accordingly for how the sizes you’ll be using and the hoop(s) you’ll be using if they vary.

• Batting: 14” square (I used Floriani’s Quilter Select)
• Fusible Fleece: 14” square, optional (I used Pellon Fusible Fleece)
• Center block: 8” square (I used white Kona Cotton)
• Sashing: 2 strips 2¾” x 8” (Sides) + 2 strips ) 2¾” x 13” (top & bottom)
• Backing: 13” square
• Binding: I cut mine on the bias at 2¼” wide.

SETTING UP THE DESIGN

If you’re stitching this bonus October Halloween block, just load the design to your machine.

Otherwise, use one of the 12 calendar block “blanks,” which includes the basic ITH steps for each month and insert the design of your choice after color #5, which can be done either in software or at your machine. The center area is designed for a 175mm square design.

The month names are also included separately in case you have a smaller hoop and are unable to do the project in the hoop. You’re on your own for working that out.

WHY AREN’T THERE DESIGNS FOR EVERY MONTH?

This set is designed to make it easy for you to select your own monthly designs. Not everyone celebrates the same holidays and while we in the northern hemisphere experience winter in December, my Aussie friends are enjoying summer.

Another reason there aren’t designs for every month is I haven’t found artwork for every month yet. I will be posting similarly styled designs as I fnd them and get them done. In the meantime, you’re able to create your own calendar blocks with your own designs.

HOW TO SEW

Start by hooping the stabilizer. I used Sulky Soft ‘n Sheer. Other good choices would be washaway fber or wash-away tear-away. Because I’m using a large hoop and my stabilizer is thin, I used duct tape on the back to prevent slippage between the rings.

I foated the batting for this project because I didn’t have enough to hoop all the away around. Hooping would have made the top and bottom month names easier to stitch.

The first color sews the placement guide for the center area. Use any color for this step; it will be covered by batting and won’t be visible. You can use the same color for the frst 5 color changes if it works with your center block fabric.

Center the batting over this guide. I layered on a piece of fusible feece, fusible side up on top of that. Sew the tack down stitch.

Layer the center fabric so that it extends evenly on all sides of the tack down stitch and press lightly to tack it to the fusible feece. Sew the second tack-down stitch.

When I was testing this design, I found it easier to accurately place the center block in a separate step rather than with the batting.

Sew the central design.

Attach the Side Borders

Using the tack-down stitches as a reference, align your side borders right side down making sure they extend beyond the tack-down stitches about ¼”.

Sew the side seams. Trim seam allowances if needed, fip the borders open, fnger press the seam and then press in place to tack to fusible feece. Pins can also help secure the side borders. Stitch the month names for the side borders.

Attach the Top and Bottom Borders

Repeat the process to add the top and borders. Make sure the borders extend to the outer edges of the side borders. Stitch in place, trim seams if needed, press open, stitch month names.

Remove from the hoop. Square up the block and trim borders to size. Mine are trimmed to 2¼”.

COLORING THE CENTER AREA (OPTIONAL)

One of the reasons I love redwork and color line designs is that I can embellish them with other media. For this project, I used InkTense colored pencils. I’ve tried a variety of media and these are by far the easiest, no mess, and most permanent media I’ve found that still leaves the fabric soft.

I lightly colored in areas and then used clear aloe vera gel thinned with water to a bit thinner than egg whites to blend and activate the ink in these pencils. The aloe vera will prevent the water from wicking into other areas causing the ink to bleed. When dry, the color is permanent.

Do apply the liquid carefully, brushing by area. If you get sloppy, colors can run together. Colors can be blended until they are set after drying.

FINISHING

I chose a fall print for the back, created a label using Adine Script, added a sleeve for a hanging rod, and fnished with a bias binding. Most quilters know how to do these things. If you don’t, do a search on YouTube for video step-by-steps.

EXTRA TIPS

If you don’t have a large enough hoop to complete the full project, hoop your center fabric, batting, and stabilizer and manually attach the borders. You’ll need to rehoop for the month names. You may need to cut your stabilizer and batting larger to allow for adequate hooping area for the month names.

USING OTHER DESIGNS

Another good choice for a monthly calendar project are the Birth Month Flowers of the Year. These designs come in filled, appliqué, and redwork versions and while optimized for a 200mm square sewing feld, these designs have been split and can be multi-hooped using a minimum 5x7” hoop. Just use the month names to create your own version.

SUMMARY

Projects don’t have to be elaborate. Yes, you could make a huge king-size quilt but small individual blocks like these are easy to turn into a seasonal mini-wallhanging or pillow covers.

Also, small projects like these make it easy to experiment with different media and techniques without a large investment in fabric, supplies, and time

This vibrant southwest quilt showcases 5 machine embroidered appliqués designed digitized by Lindee Goodall. The quilt was designed, pieced and embroidered by Lindee and quilted by Barbara Angerhoffer. The central piecing is framed with a turquoise 1” border surrounded by a dark 3” border of mini Kokopelli black on brown print and finally set off with a solid black binding. Finished size is approximately 36 x 36”

Skill Level

• Basic embroidery and computer skills
• Basic quilting skills (rotary cutting, piecing, applying borders, binding)

What You’ll Learn

• How to create professional looking appliqué using precut pieces and your embroidery machine
• How to quickly make perfect half-square triangles in the hoop

What’s Included

• Designs for appliqués and two sizes of half square triangles in the hoop
• Templates for hand or machine cutting appliqués
• Instructions for machine embroidered appliqué
• Project instructions (this document). Cutting and quilt assembly diagrams are at the end.

About the Pattern

The five machine embroidered appliqué designs were originally created to fulfill a request by my friend James Raymer at Dalco Home Sew. After researching many southwest designs, I drew the artwork to represent common elements in native artwork then digitized them. I was so pleased with them (I have a southwest decor theme in my home) that I decided I’d make a wall hanging to showcase them. I designed the quilt in Adobe Illustrator and with the help of my quilter friend, Jeanette Smith, we picked fabrics. Once I started printing out the pieces at actual size, I realized just how tiny some of those little triangles were! So to maintain accuracy, I digitized a grid for sewing half-square triangles with the embroidery machine. These designs are included with this pattern.

I didn’t start out with the idea that I would publish the pattern but after numerous requests, I dug out my Illustrator files, and here we are! The yardages are approximate but on the generous side; I mostly worked from my stash and pieces contributed by Jeanette.

Now that the license agreement with Dalco has expired, the appliqués are united with the quilt pattern and half-square in-the-hoop triangles as one project.

Foolish Assumptions

This pattern provides quantities and dimensions for the individual pieces and a visual guide for assembling.

Borders

These instructions assume basic quilting and embroidery knowledge. You should know how to rotary cut, piece, apply borders, and bind a quilt. No details are provided for quilting. Details are provided for machine embroidered appliqué in a separate document.

Seam Allowance

Scant quarter inch throughout.

Seam lines marked on pattern pieces are 1/4 inch, seam lines marked on grids are scant quarter inch.

Supplies

• Fabrics for quilt and appliqué (I used all cottons)
• Embroidery threads
• Stabilizer
• Wash-away fiber stabilizer or tear away
• Temporary embroidery spray adhesive (TESA)
• Heavy duty spray starch
• Construction thread
• Batting
• Supplies for appliqué (fusible web, tacking iron)

Appliqué Embroidery

Machine embroider blocks before piecing quilt. If you haven’t done machine embroidered appliqué before or haven’t done it using precut appliqué pieces, please refer to the separate instructions PDF, Appliqué Basics.

I recommend prewashing all fabrics used for the quilt and appliqués. I also like to prep them with starch to improve stability for both embroidering and piecing. Spray the fabric but don’t saturate, turn the fabric over and press until dry with a hot dry iron. Repeat with at least two sprays on each side always pressing from the side opposite of the one you sprayed. This will force the starch into the fabric fibers making them more stable.

I prefer hooping fabric so that it is secured between the rings of the hoop with the stabilizer. If you are cutting squares of fabric and basting them to the stabilizer for embroidery, be sure to cut them at least 1” larger. Embroidery tends to distort the fabric even when properly stabilized. Hoop the stabilizer, baste in the hoop directly onto the stabilizer, then smooth down your block securing with TESA and a second basting stitch. Hoop carefully so that embroidery is centered in the block. After embroidering, remove excess stabilizer and trim block to size, keeping design centered in block.

Half Square Triangles

There are many ways to piece half square triangles. If you have a favorite method, then use that one. This wall hanging has 24 very small ones (finished size 1 1/8”) and 32 small ones (2 5/8” finished size). Handling tiny pieces can be cumbersome so you may wish to try one of the grid methods explained below.

Grid Method, Automated: Half Square Triangles in the Hoop

If you have an embroidery machine with a larger hoop, this method is fast and accurate. Two embroidery designs are included for doing half square triangles in the hoop. The smaller half square triangles (lgp01006.*) can all be done in a 5 x 7 hoop at one time. The larger blocks (lgp01007.*) require a larger hoop (175 x 175mm). Each of these has 3 color stops:

1. Placement guideline for positioning fabrics in the hoop
2. Fabric tack down and cut lines for quilt pieces (this is a longer running stitch)
3. Seams (use regular sewing thread instead of embroidery thread

Embroidery Instructions

For stronger seams, use sewing thread instead of embroidery thread for needle and bobbin. You may also wish to adjust the tensions for a more balanced sewing type stitch rather than embroidery, where the top thread is pulled to the back. Although the entire design can be sewn in one thread color, you may find it easier to cut the pieces apart if you use a different color for the cut lines. DO NOT SCALE THE EMBROIDERY DESIGN OR IT WON’T WORK FOR THIS QUILT!

Do not scale the embroidery design or it won’t work for this quilt!

1. Hoop tear away or wash-away stabilizer.
2. Sew color one, placement. This placement line is slightly outside the cutting line.
3. Cut two pieces of fabric to the size of the cutting line. With right sides together, TESA the two pieces, TESA one side of the fabric sandwich and smooth into place within stitched guideline. It doesn’t matter if the fabric extends beyond the line but it must at least meet the line. Color 2 can stay the same as color 1. Color 2 will zigzag tack the fabric to the stabilizer outside the cutting line. Then the cutting lines will sew. The cutting line may not entirely trace the perimeter of the design but there will be enough of an edge to align your ruler for rotary cutting.
4. Color change 3 sews the seam lines. Choose a color that you would use for piecing.
5. Finish sewing the design.
6. Remove from hoop and use a quilting ruler and rotary cutter to cut along stitching lines of color number change 2 (make sure not to cut the seam lines…).
7. Press seams open or to one side as desired for project. Trim off points.

Half Square Triangles, Grid Method 2

Using the provided templates as a pattern, mark a grid on the wrong side of one of the fabrics you’ll be using.

Print the template pages at actual size for an accurate pattern. Acrobat may set the default Page Scaling to Shrink to Fit. Make sure to change it to None in the print dialog box.

Print on light-weight fusible tear away lightly fused to a piece of printer paper in an ink jet. Fuse pattern to back of fabric, sew on stitching lines, tear off stabilizer.

For the smaller half square triangles, the pattern will make all 24 pieces at once. Place fabric A and fabric B right sides together, sew as indicated by the dotted sewing line and then rotary cut on the solid lines. Press open and trim off points.

Use a light mist of TESA to hold the two fabrics together without shifting.

For the larger half square triangles, the pattern will make 8 blocks. Make 3 sets of color C with color D for 24 blocks. Make 1 set of color B with color C for 8 blocks. Cut, press, and trim as with the smaller blocks.

Assembling

Refer to the layout on the following pages for a visual guide to assembling the quilt.

Borders

Cut strips for inner narrow border 1 1/2” wide. Cut strips for wider border 3 1/2” wide. Measure the vertical center of the pieced top and cut the inner side borders to that length. Attach side borders. Now measure the horizontal center of the pieced top and cut the top and bottom inner border to that length and attach to top. Repeat in a similar fashion for the outer borders.

Once borders are attached, your quilt top is now ready to be quilted. After quilting, add a hanging pocket if desired, and bind. Remember to add a label!

Usage of this Pattern

You may sell sewn versions of this quilt as you wish. The copyright applies to sharing, selling, or otherwise distributing printed or digital copies of this pattern or the embroidery designs—don’t do it! You may also teach this pattern as long as each student buys their own copy of the pattern. All attempts have been made to ensure these instructions are accurate. These are the pieces I used to make the quilt shown on the cover. Never the less, no guarantees are made.

Add Borders

Grid Pattern for Small Half Square Triangles

Instructions

Layer fabric A and fabric B right sides together. Trace template onto fabric. Sew on the dotted lines. Cut on solid lines, press open, trim off points. This pattern will make all 24 of the small half square triangles.

If you print this page at actual size, the template is accurate. Measure the small squares. They should exactly 1 5/8” (1.625”).

Journal and book covers are quick and easy projects and are perfect for showing of your embroidery! They also make great gifts and can be customized for almost anyone of any age.

PROJECT NOTES

For these samples, I used designs from Victorian Crazy Patch in the Hoop. Related YouTube videos are available for stitching the designs and making the cover:

• How to Sew a Journal Cover
• How to Stitch Victorian Crazy Piecing In-the-Hoop

These links were correct at the time of this writing. If they don’t work, please visit my YouTube channel to locate them: https://www.youtube.com/ lindeegvideos

These covers were made for standard composition books but you can make them for just about any book by changing the measurements.

Mine are just basic covers with sleeves on the inside to secure the book covers. I’ve added a ribbon for a book mark, a narrow elastic to secure the book closed, and a wider elastic loop to hold a pen.

The inside sleeves ofer more real estate for extra pockets and personalizing. Plan for any extra embroidery because you may need to complete that before final cutting to size.

SUPPLIES

• Fabrics for project (you’ll need to determine what you need based on how many fabrics you use and how large your book is)
• Cove
• Lining
• Sleeves
• Pockets
• Interfacing. I just used Pellon ShirTailor for mine but you may want something stifer.
• ¾” wide elastic (or a fabric loop) for the pen holder (~2½” or circumference of your pen plus ⅝”)
• ¼” wide elastic to hold the journal closed (height of book + 1”)
• Ribbon for book mark (about 3” longer than height of book)
• Optional: charm for bottom of ribbon
• Basic sewing supplies

START BY MEASURING

You’ll need several measurements:

• Height of your book cover
• Width of book measured around the circumference of the closed book from front edge around the spine to the back edge (not a full circumference)

This book is 9¾” tall by 15½” wide. Add 1” to both the height and width for your cutting size. Cut one piece for the cover and a second one for the lining.

Although we’ll only be using ¼” seams, we’ll need a little extra room for ease. When cutting the front cover fabric, I added a 2” extension to the right side for hooping and an extra ½” on the other sides for squaring up after stitching.

• Inside sleeve depth, which will depend somewhat on how wide your book can open and how thick your book is. The wider your sleeves, the more difcult it will be to get the cover on your book. Also, you need at least a 3” space between the sleeves along the spine to turn the project right side out. (More if your fabrics are thick or heavily interfaced.)

I cut my sleeves to 14” wide by 10¾” tall. Fold each sleeve in half, wrong sides together for a 7” x 10¾ size, then edge stitch along the folded edge.

INTERFACING

While not strictly required, interfacing will make your project look more professional by adding structure and will help it wear longer.

Fusible interfacings are easy to use. Be sure to follow the pressing directions included with your project.

I interfaced the outer cover with Pellon ShirTailor, which is a medium light interfacing, before embroidering. I also interfaced the lining piece and one side of each sleeve. I didn’t interface any of my pockets.

The striped pocket was cut 10” wide and folded just like the sleeve and top stitched along the edge. The top pocket is narrower and was stitched to the striped pocket to form several smaller pockets. (Pockets weren’t interfaced.)

On other journal covers, I’ve just placed one small pocket for business cards. Consider making a larger, clear vinyl pocket for an ID pocket if you’re making a cover for a student.

PREPARING TO SEW

Cut all your pieces to size, interfacing as desired. As mentioned earlier, you’ll want to complete any embroidery before cutting to make sure you have enough fabric for proper hooping. Also, embroidery can distort your fabric so having extra fabric to square up is a good idea.

Sleeves and long pockets are folded in half right sides together and edge stitched along fold. Attach any pockets to the sleeve panels.

Patch pockets are edge stitched in place. Pockets that extend into the seam allowances can be stay-stitched into place.

If you want curved corners, use your book to trace the corners in place. Remember to trace them on the seam line and not just around the book itself.

ASSEMBLING

When I took these step-by-step photos, I was working from the front cover. However, in the video, you’ll see me working from the lining side.

Working from the lining side seems a little easier because you are layering all the elements face up with only the outer cover face down. Plus, you can do all the stay stitching in just one pass. It really makes no diference to the fnal project which way you work.

STAY STITCHING

Stay stitching is another thing the pros do to reinforce various areas that are likely to get more abuse, such as the bookmark ribbon, elastics and pockets.

Stay stitching is done within the seam allowance. On the ribbon and elastics, I stitched forward, back and then forward again for extra security. On the pockets I just stitched them down once Stay stitching in this manner has the added beneft of holding everything in place when you have so many layers to stitch through.

Place your ribbon pretty side face down if applying to the front, face up if working from the lining side.

I only inserted one piece of elastic to hold the book closed. However, you could add a second to the back and then use the elastics to hold the book open to a specifc page.

Finally, layer on the lining, face down and then stitch around the outside edge using a ¼” seam allowance, leaving an opening on the bottom edge between the sleeves for turning.

Trim the corner seam allowances to reduce bulk. Turn right side out through the opening, taking care to push out the corners smoothly. Press well, tucking in the seam allowances at the opening; edge stitch closed.

WHOOPS!

Did your sleeves or pockets end up on the outside instead of the inside? Don’t panic! This can happen during turning. Simply flip them over to the inside.

OPTIONAL

Add a small charm or bead or just tie a knot at the end of the ribbon.

THE MOMENT OF TRUTH!

Now all we need to do is dress our book. Fold back the covers and slide them into the sleeves, then pull on the cover.

NOW THAT YOU’VE MADE ONE, MAKE ANOTHER!

Once you’ve got your measurements worked out, making multiples for books of the same size is pretty speedy.

Having an embroidery machine along with some basic sewing skills makes it easy to make a gift stash so that you always have some little something on hand. Finger tip towels, kitchen towels, and journal covers are perfect for stocking that stash because they’re small, quick and easy to make, and can appeal to a wide range of people without having to deal with sizes!

Recycle a plastic container with screw on lid for button storage that doubles as a pin cushion. This easy project requires only minimal sewing to attach the binding and the buttons; your embroidery machine does the rest!

Using embroidery designs to quilt makes it easy for anyone to create intricate designs quickly and easily. An important difference with embroidery designs is how the machine is tensioned. In normal sewing and quilting, the needle and bobbin threads are evenly balanced. This is not the case with embroidery. Here the top thread is pulled to the back and the back is likely to look rather messy—especially if your machine has automatic trimmers that pull all the thread tails to the back. To minimize this, match your bobbin thread to the top thread and choose a busy fabric for the back that blends well with your thread color. You may also wish to adjust your tensions for a more even balance. The back of this project is not prominent but neatness is always a good thing!

Most quilting motifs are continuous and will only have one pair of tie-offs.
Redwork designs with many distinct elements will have more tie-offs.

The Bluework Sewing designs collection from Lindee G Embroidery includes 10 decorative, redwork style designs with a sewing theme. Each design is available in 2 sizes: one for smaller hoops) and one for 5 x 7” hoops. Due to the amount of detail in these designs, I don’t recommend shrinking the smaller size, which all have shorter stitch lengths.

Additionally, I’ve included the design used in the jar wrap for your convenience. This design is a resized version of an existing design in the collection and it has had two additional basting runs added for placement. I’ve added custom digitized lettering and provided “Buttons” as a stand-alone design for other use.

These instructions are for machines with a 5 x 7” sewing field. If you have a smaller sewing field, adjust accordingly.

Skill Level

Basic sewing skills are required to piece binding strips, apply the binding (standard method used in quilting), and sew on buttons. Instructions are included for mitering corners on binding.

Designs Used

• Bluework Sewing lgs01205 Buttons
• Bluework Sewing lgs01221 Button Jar Bonus design

Fabric Requirements

I used scraps and bits from my stash. While this project doesn’t need much, depending on the circumference of your container, fat quarters may not be wide enough. I used two colors: solid white and a blue print.

Supplies

• Batting—Choose one that is not too lofty; I used a fusible one for quilts.
• Wash-Away stabilizer
• No-Show Mesh stabilizer
• Small amount of thin or round elastic for button loops
• 3 buttons
• TESA (KK2000 or similar temporary embroidery spray adhesive)
• Construction thread
• Embroidery thread
• Matching bobbin thread for embroidery, if desired
• Rotary cutter, ruler, and mat
• Plastic container with screw on lid (pick one with straight sides). This one is an Isagenix container.
• Tape measure
• Rotary cutter, ruler, mat
• Hot glue gun
• Heavy cardboard (I used a scrap of matte board)
• Basic sewing supplies
• 5 x 7” hoop
• 4 x 4” hoop

Preparation

1. I used matching thread in the bobbin. The back won’t show on the lid and the back will only show on the wrap if you remove it. This is your call. You won’t even need to wind a full bobbin if you choose to match your thread.

2. Measure your container to determine the fabric requirements for the wrap. My wrap just meets at the back and is slightly taller than the straight part of the container. (15-1/2” by 4-1/4”).

For the wrap, you’ll need:

• 1 front
• 1 back
• 1 batting

Layer these into a “quilt sandwich” with your back fabric face down, your top fabric face up, and the batting as the filling in between. If you are using a fusible batting, fuse according to package instructions.

3. Measure the circumference and height of the lid rim. This one is 1” tall. I cut a 3” wide strip on the bias. You’ll be folding this in half. The folded edge will be at the bottom of the lid rim and the top raw edges will be hot glued to the lid. Make sure you have enough excess fabric to wrap over the edge of the lid.

The checked fabric I used was printed, not woven. By cutting it on the bias, I avoided any off grain stripes, matched the bias binding on the wrap, and had stretchy piece with a little give to it for a snug fit. Sew the ends together with 1/4” seams, press open and fold the strip in half.

4. Cut a circle from heavy cardboard to loosely fit inside the center of the lid.

5. Cut a generous square of fabric for the pincushion cover. You can trim this down later after you decide how full you want the puffing on the lid. Cut a piece of batting to be hooped with the fabric for embroidery.

6. The binding strips for the wrap are 2” wide bias cut strips pieced to the required length and folded and pressed lengthwise.

Embroidering

For the pincushion top, you’ll be using the 4” x 4” hoop. Sandwich your batting between the top fabric and a piece of no-show mesh stabilizer and hoop together.

1. Load design lgs01205 and embroider.

For the wrap, you’ll be using the 5 x 7” hoop. The Baby Lock Ellisimo I’m using doesn’t come with this size hoop and I recommend getting one if one is available for your machine and you don’t have one. Many designs are sized for this hoop and best embroidery practices dictate using a hoop that most closely fits the design being sewn.

1. Hoop a piece of wash-away backing.

2. Load design lgs01221. The project design has been customized to sew a basting stitch as the first color stop. This is a shorter than normal basting stitch and it has four indents to help you with perfect placement.

3. When the machine stops, lightly mist the back of your quilt sandwich with TESA and smooth into place. In the following photo you can see I’ve used pins to mark the center. Line the pins up with the stitch markings, which should coincide with the center marking on your hoop. This technique will work on any machine. Be sure to remove the pins before sewing.

4. Sew the second round of basting to attach the fabric securely to the stabilizer. These basting lines mark a 4” wide area that can later be used as guides when trimming your fabric to size after embroidering.

5. Finish sewing the design.

6. Remove from hoop and trim way excess Wash-Away. Use a rotary cutter and ruler to trim the wrap to the desired size. You don’t need to add any extra for seams if you are binding the edges. Remove basting stitches.

Finish the Wrap

The wrap is held onto the container with buttons and elastic loops. The elastic loops allow for some give and require less precision (and work!) than normal button holes. Other options for fastening include ties. I used 3 mismatched buttons from the button jar.

1. Position the elastic loops at one short end of the wrap, matching raw edges. The top and bottom loops are 3/4” in from the closest edge and the middle one is centered. Stitch over your loops to secure. A shortened zigzag stitch works very well. Give a tug on the open ends of each loop to make sure they are secure.

2. Attach the binding, mitering the corners. If you don’t know how to miter corners, see separate steps below.

3. Press the binding open and fold over to back covering the raw edge. I prefer to hand stitch on the back; choose any method you prefer, such as top stitching or fusing, if desired.

4. Attach buttons, positioning them along the binding seam line to match the loops.

5. Soak out the Wash-Away stabilizer while you finish the rest of the project.

Be sure that all the TESA has dissipated before wetting your project. To force dissipate, press with a dry iron.

How to Miter a Corner when Binding

1. With raw edges matching and right sides together, sew binding to the edge of the wrap using a 1/4” seam. Start on a long edge at least 1” from the corner.

2. Sew to 1/4” from the next corner, back stitch and cut threads.

3. Rotate the fabric for the next seam and fold back the binding fabric so that it’s at right angles to the previously stitched binding.

4. Pin at the previous seam line.

5. Fold the binding strip straight down matching raw edges of the wrap. The fold line matches the raw edge of the previous seam.

Repin to mark the starting point 1/4” from the top edge and at the edge of the diagonal fold of the miter. Remove pin before sewing. Sew to within a quarter inch of the next corner and repeat.

Finish the Lid Rim

1. Stretch the rim cover you made in step 3 of Preparation over the lid. The folded edge is at the bottom of the rim and the raw edges should be sticking up beyond the top. Using the hot glue gun, squirt glue in between the fabric and rim and press in place.

I tried applying the glue before stretching the fabric on and this proved to be a mess. The glue just cooled too quickly and I couldn’t get the fabric positioned ideally.

2. Apply hot glue to the lid and wrap the raw edge of the rim wrap over the lid edge and glue to lid. You’ll need to glue each layer of fabric individually.

Finish the Pin Cushion

1. Cut a stack of fleece circles to pad the lid. The amount is up to you as to how padded and pouffy you want the lid.

2. Cut your embroidered lid cover into a circle large enough to cover the padding and wrap under the cardboard. I used a soup bowl (6-1/2” diameter) to trace a circle. Trim back the stabilizer and batting as required for your lid to allow a smooth gathering.

3. Run a basting stitch 1/4” or so from the edge. You can do this by hand or machine.

4. Layer the batting pieces on top of the cardboard, cover with the embroidery (face up), and then tighten the gathering thread over the cardboard side, adjusting fullness evenly.

5. When the cushion is covered, secure the thread and hot glue the fabric to the cardboard.

6. Hot glue the pin cushion to the lid by applying glue to the lid and the firmly pressing the assembled pin cushion into place.

Fill Your Button Jar & Enjoy

These little container covers are easy to make and are perfect for gift giving. With simple modifications and a design change, you can cover boxes and jars for all sorts of storage containers!

Endless or continuous hoop designs are specially digitized for creating borders and other long connected designs seamlessly. Some collections may have corner connectors included to permit easier continuous borders around a corner.

Sewing these designs is quite easy, especially when using one of the specialty hoops that are available for most home embroidery machines with a minimum 5” x 7” sewing field. This How To covers tips for getting good results with specially digitized continuous designs and an appropriate hoop.

Many embroidery programs provide tools for building continuous designs. These instructions only cover working with pre-made designs intended for this use.

Supplies

• Design specifically digitized for continuous hooping by Lindee G Embroidery
• Appropriate hoop
• General embroidery supplies
• Fabric cut into strips and pieced if necessary
• Suitable stabilizer
• Starch (optional)

Design Notes

Continuous designs are easier to align when a registration stitch is included. I’ve found a line of basting stitches in the form of a “Z” is much more accurate than a single stitch point. The Z provides more stitches to verify placement, while a single point only provides a start point that is also a pivot point allowing the design to more easily get off track.

Each continuous design has a starting Z stitch and an ending Z stitch to make perfect connections easy. Some designs may have a pair of Z stitches at each end. These registration marks are longer, set as a separate color change, with one at the beginning of the design and a second at the end of the design. These stitches are meant to be temporary and removed after the embroidery is complete.

These stitches also make it easy to combine elements in software if you have a larger sewing field. The Z stitches are set in a different color for utility reasons. A color change will force the machine to stop and it makes it easy to skip these stitches or delete them in editing software, if desired.

I usually just sew the first registration stitches using the first color of the design (color #2) and the last set of registration stitches using the last color of the design.

While these designs are intended for a specialty border hoop, they can also be used with standard hoops. With standard hoops, you’ll need to pay a little more attention to hoop and aligning.

About the Hoop

Most specialty border hoops use a clamping mechanism to allow for easy rehooping. Simply release the clamp, slide the fabric to the next place, align the needle, and sew. Due to the clamp mechanics, it’s important to understand where you can place the embroidery—and that is within a few inches of the hoop side where the clamp hinges.

Fabric Preparation

When cutting your fabric, you’ll need to allow a few extra inches at each end to allow for hooping. Depending on your project, you may want to piece strips together either before or after embroidering.

For best results, plan your design to sew from one end to the other. If you try sewing from the center out, you’ll need to mirror one half for the pattern to match.

You also need to consider how you will stabilize the fabric. On washable fabrics, starching the fabric helps tremendously. For backing, I prefer to use a softer stabilizer like fusible mesh cutaway or wash-away fiber. Crisp tearaways will be creased by the hoop making it harder to rehoop without pressing. If a tear-away is needed, slide a smaller piece under the hooped and stabilized fabric.

When using a non-fusible stabilizer, I sometimes machine baste strips of stabilizer to the fabric (using a sewing machine, not a baste in the hoop feature), especially when working on extra long pieces or strips that will require a long period to embroider.

I also like to mark guide lines on the fabric using dressmaker’s chalk to keep the design from skewing over multiple repeats. I generally draw these guides to align with the Z stitches rather than the actual design center. Test any marking aid you use to make sure it can be completely removed.

If the strip is quite long, roll the fabric around a cardboard tube and use clips or pins to secure the tail around the tube. This keeps the fabric clean and reduces additional wrinkling. It will also reduce the possibility of the fabric tails becoming caught while sewing.

Sewing

Sew from the top of the strip to the bottom. When rehooping, the bottom of the previous design needs to be just within the upper edge of the sewing field so that the Z stitches can be aligned. This means the upper edge of the hoop will be over an embroidered area, which translates to uneven hoop tension all the way around. If you are using a standard hoop, make sure it is not too tight to avoid damaging the embroidery.

You can skip the first Z on the first pattern and the last Z on the last pattern unless you plan to connect the ends to each other. When the embroidery is complete, remove the Z stitches and stabilizer.

Other Notes:

If you want to mirror designs, be sure to test first to make sure they will connect properly. Also, you may need to edit the designs to add extra registration stitches.

Towel toppers are popular and easy to make—and even easier when stitched in the hoop. Use them with ready-made towels or ones you embroider.

This set includes 3 sizes and each topper requires two hoopings to quilt the front and back. I finished mine with magnetic snaps. Other options are Kam Snaps or buttons and buttonholes.

To the right you can see the small version both open and closed. With the magnetic snaps, you only see the closures when the topper is open. When closed, you just see the fabric.

All 3 toppers are the same height; only the width varies.

Watch the Video

There is a full video on how to make the in-the-hoop towel topper on YouTube: In-the-Hoop Towel Toppers with your Embroidery Machine.

You’ll also see samples using the Dessert Recipes designs that I’ve colored with InkTense Pencils. To learn more about that technique, watch Coloring Embroidery with InkTense Pencils.

Skill Level

Simple. Does require finishing with a sewing machine to edge the towel in place.

Please read through all instructions before starting your project! This project, while complex, is not really difficult because the embroidery takes care of all the construction. Cut and place carefully and you’ll have a successful result!

Resizing is not recommended

Getting Started

Print the worksheet for the sizes you intend to sew. These include color sequences, cutting instructions, and basis sewing steps. Once you’ve followed these instructions once, the steps listed in the worksheet will be easy to follow.

What You’ll Need

• Suitable fabrics, pre-washed and pressed. I used quilt-weight cottons
• Stabilizer: I used wash-away tearaway
• Batting: I used Warm and Natural (batting is optional)
• Snaps: I used magnetic snaps
• Scissors used:
• For trimming batting
• Thread snips
• Heavy scissors for final trim
• Suitable embroidery thread

Cutting Requirements

All three towel toppers are the same height; only the width varies.

If you’re using the same fabric front and back, you can cut the front, back, and batting to the same size using a rotary cutter and ruler.

• Small : cut 2 6.5” x 10.5” of fabric & 1 of batting
• Medium : cut 2 8” x 10.5” of fabric & 1 of batting
• Large : cut 2 9.5” x 10.5” of fabric & 1 of batting

I used the small size on purchased kitchen towels and the largest one on the my embroidered recipe towels. These towels are 38” square flour sack towels. For both sizes, I cut the towels in half.

General Process:

The towel topper is stitched in two hoopings:

1. The back must be stitched first and is essentially appliqued to the hooped stabilizer and the quilting stitches are sewn. I did not use any batting on the back.
2. The front is sewn second. Batting is attached to the stabilizer first and trimmed back. Then the front fabric is placed and quilted. Finally the back is attached.

Let’s get started.

Stitching the Back

1. Hoop appropriate stabilizer and sew color 1 for placement. This placement line includes seam allowances and is slightly larger than the front panel

1. Place the back fabric face up over the placement guides allowing it to extend evenly on all sides.

1. Stitch the rest of the design, which is a diamond quilting pattern.
2. Remove the design from the hoop and cutout following the placement guide.
3. Fold in half vertically and clip a small notch at the center top and center bottom for placement guides

Stitching the Front

1. Hoop appropriate stabilizer and sew color 1 for placement.
2. Place the batting over the stitching line and sew color 2 to attach.
3. Remove the hoop and trim back the batting to the stitching line. This will minimize the bulk in the seams. Notice that there is extra space between the bottom of the batting and the bottom of the fabric. This area will be turned up for the “hem.”

1. Place the front fabric face up allowing it to extend evenly beyond the outer placement line on all sides. Sew color 3 to attach the fabric.
2. Color 4 is the quilting.
3. Color 5 is a placement line for the back panel.

1. Align the back piece right side down over the embroidery. Secure with tape or spray as desired. Sew the last color to attach the two pieces. (The back is slightly larger than the front for a “fudge factor.”

Finishing

Trim seam allowances and clip curves.

Turn right side out and press. Turn up the hem at the bottom of the batting, making sure the bottom folded edge is straight and even; press.

Add Snaps

I added the snaps only to the front panel so they are only visible when the topper is open.

There are placement guides stitched for positioning the snaps.

Place the male snap at the top and the female one on the bottom. Follow the instructions with the snaps you are using.

• Tip : A small square of cutaway placed on the inside can add strength to the snap area and make it more durable.

Preparing the Towel

Depending on your towel size, you may want to cut it in half. This way you can have a matching pair from just one towel. Pleat or gather the top of the towel to fit the width of the topper.

Insert the top edge of the towel into the topper about 1/2”. Pin in place and edge stitch the top-per

Hang it Up

About the Sizes

The smallest size is perfect for standard sized purchased towels. The larger ones work best with larger towels. I used the largest size for these recipe towels, which were made with 38” square flour sack towels. Embroider one design on each end and cut in half for two finished toppered towels.