Tag... You re It! In-the-Hoop Felt Tags

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Marvin Paul
6 years ago
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1 Tag... You re It! In-the-Hoop Felt Tags by Pamela Cox This time around...you want to be tagged!!! These quick-to-stitch, in-the-hoop projects are just too cute to pass on, or avoid being tagged by having one given to you!! Presenting a wintery theme, a wool-felt ornament is a welcomed ornament on any Christmas tree. They can also serve as a unique accent on gift packages, allowing the receiver to decorate future Christmas trees! Use the felt ornaments to accent wreaths, a welcome banner or to simply hang as a seasonal picture or accent a door knob.

2 Project Overview Fabric & Stabilizer: Wool Felt - assorted colors of your choice Sulky Tear-Easy Stabilizer Thread: Sulky 40 wt. Rayon Embroidery Thread Sulky Sliver Metallic Thread #8040 (for snowflakes shown on snowman disk) Sulky Metallic # Pewter (snowflake shown on mitten) Supplies: 100/16 Schmetz Topstitch Needle Sulky KK 2000 Temporary Spray Adhesive Scrap yarn and/or ribbon for snowman s scarf as well as hanging loops Snowman and Mitten Embroidery Designs: Free downloads, available as member of the Sulky Embroidery Club (Membership is free.) Snowman Design Mitten Design 2

thicker with a richer texture. And, therefore, a great value for the price point.

3 Introduction: Wool felt is a wonderful material for many applications but it is especially popular for many Christmas craft projects. Although wool felt is more expensive than its commonly used counterpart, acrylic felt when compared, you will find that wool felt is thicker with a richer texture. And, therefore, a great value for the price point. Wool felt is very easy to cut and stitch with no frayed edges! For additional information about working with wool felt, read Machine Embroidery Series Felted Wool or is it Wool Felt? 3

In other words, if you are only stitching one

than one ornament it might be wise to use a

4 General Tips for This Project: Use the appropriate size hoop. In other words, if you are only stitching one snowman, securely hoop the stabilizer in a 100mm (4 x 4) hoop. However, if you know that you ll be making more than one ornament it might be wise to use a larger hoop, securing one piece of stabilizer, and covering the entire inside of the hoop with one large piece of felt. 4

every medallion is stitched individualy.

5 General Tips for This Project - continued Initially it would Initially it would appear that there will be a lot of thread changes, and that will be the case if every medallion is stitched individualy. However, by combining thread colors (color sorting), time and materials will be saved since all the same steps are done at the same time. 5

Step 3 Stitch color stop #1, outlining the bottom of the mitten, directly on the stablizer.

6 Instructions for Mitten: Step 1 Download and transfer the Free-Download Embroidry Design, in the needed format to your embroidery machine. Step 2 Securely hoop 1 layer of Sulky Tear-Easy Stabilizer in the appropriate hoop. Step 3 Stitch color stop #1, outlining the bottom of the mitten, directly on the stablizer. STEP 4 Cover the shape with a piece of red felt and stitch color stop #2. Trim just the top edge of the mitten about 1/16 outside of stitching on the cuff side. Helpful Hint Cut all the felt pieces larger than the shapes stitched on the stabilizer by at least a 1/2 in all directions. 6

A mininum of 5 allows the ribbon to be folded in half, giving ample lengths for both securing it into the ornament, plus hanging.

7 Instructions for Mitten - continued STEP 5 Change your thread to white, and stitch color stop #3, directly onto the stabilizer. STEP 6 Place the hanging ribbon in the upper right corner. The length of the hanging loop is individual, and may depend on the tag s intended use. A mininum of 5 allows the ribbon to be folded in half, giving ample lengths for both securing it into the ornament, plus hanging. (If you re making a door hanger, you will want more length.) Step 7 Lightly spray the back side of the felt pieces and the ribbon ends with KK 2000 Temporary Spray Adhesive to hold the pieces in place until stitched. 7

8 Instructions for Mitten - continued STEP 8 Cover with the off-white felt; and stitch color stop #4. STEP 9 Trim only the lower edge of the cuff, 1/16 outside of stitching that overlaps the red felt. 8

9 Instructions for Mitten - continued STEP 10 Stitch color stop #5 which applies a decorative stitch to the cuff s edge. Change to a metallic thread of choice (# Pewter is shown) and stitch the snowflake design. STEP 11 Change to a red bobbin thread. Sulky PolyLite thread is perfect for bobbin use since it is a 60 wt polyester thread, available in 36 solid colors. (But a matching 40 wt. Rayon could also be used.) STEP 12 Remove the hoop from the machine, and place a piece of red felt on the back side of the hoop, covering the entire shape of the mitten, including the cuff. Stitch the final color stop #7 in red thread. Helpful Hint If you have never worked with metallic threads, it might be helpful to read Machine Embroidery Series: Metallic Thread June 15, 2017 found on Sulky s Blog. Helpful Hint I slowed my machine down to its slowest speed for this step just because of the multiple layers of felt. 9

Cut through both layers of felt except at the cuff s top edge by the ribbon.

10 Instructions for Mitten - continued STEP 13 Tear the excess stabilizer from the mitten prior to the final cutting. Cut 1/16 to 1/8 outside the mitten s outline. Cut through both layers of felt except at the cuff s top edge by the ribbon. Protect the ribbon with your finger and only cut through the front, off-white felt. Turn the tag over and cut through the red backing. 10

STEP 2 Securely hoop 1 layer of Sulky Tear-Easy Stabilizer in the appropriate hoop.

11 Instructions for Snowman Medallion STEP 1 Download and transfer the Free-Download Embroidery Design, in the needed format to your embroidery machine. STEP 2 Securely hoop 1 layer of Sulky Tear-Easy Stabilizer in the appropriate hoop. STEP 3 Stitch color stop #1 directly onto the stabilizer. STEP 4 Center the hanging element at the top of the circle, and cover the circular stitching with a piece of the foundation felt. 11

12 Instructions for Snowman Medallion - continued STEP 5 Stitch color stop #2 to secure the circular shape and anchor the hanger. STEP 6 Place a piece of white felt over the circle. The piece needs to cover inside the circle, plus match the lower edge of the foundation fabric. 12

13 Instructions for Snowman Medallion - continued STEP 7 Stitch color stop #3 to anchor the white felt, outlining the snowman. Trim the snowman about 1/16 outside of the stitching line. Do not trim the bottom edge. Helpful Hint Use a piece of painter s tape to pick up any stray white fibers that might have been shed onto the foundation fabric during trimming. 13

14 Instructions for Snowman Medallion - continued STEP 8 Stitch color stop #4 to apply the decorative stitches to the snowman. STEP 9 Stitch color stops #5 (eyes and mouth), #6 (nose) and #7 (snowflakes) with Sulky Sliver Metallic # Helpful Hint You may need to slow down the machine for this stitching, and slightly lower your top tension. Make sure the thread is coming off flat and staying as flat as possible through the tension. On most machines, this means you would position it on a vertical spool pin with a felt pad underneath. STEP 10 Before stitching color stop #8, drape a piece of ribbon, or yarn across the snowman s neck. Allow it to gently curve, rather than lay straight across. Color #8 will tack the scarf in place at the snowman s neck. Helpful Hint Even though color stop #8 is part of a digitized embroidery design, it can still be stitched by using a foot pedal, rather than pushing the start button on the embroidery machine! This is true of any color stop! 14

However, when more control is desired, such as floating materials over a secured stabilizer, or, in this case, applying an accent to a

15 Instructions for Snowman Medallion - continued Helpful Hint Using the automatic speed ( start button ) when embroidering helps maintain even speeds and, therefore, more uniform stitches. However, when more control is desired, such as floating materials over a secured stabilizer, or, in this case, applying an accent to a design, stitching with the foot pedal affords total control. STEP 11 Once the scarf has been anchored, change the bobbin thread to match the top thread color. Add the backing felt piece using KK2000 to secure the felt piece. 15

This step requires careful monitoring to keep the scarf ends out of the path of stitching. Go slowly.

16 Instructions for Snowman Medallion - continued STEP 12 Stitch color stop #9, which applies the decorative stitch to the circular shape of the medallion. This step requires careful monitoring to keep the scarf ends out of the path of stitching. Go slowly. Pull the ends toward the left as the program stitches around the right side of the circle. As the stitching begins to round the bottom of the circle and head back up towards the top, pull the scarf ends towards the right. 16

Cut 1/16 to 1/8 outside the stitched circle - cut through both layers of felt, except at the top edge by the hanger.

17 Instructions for Snowman Medallion - continued STEP 13 Tie the scarf ends together. Cut the excess length. Gently tear the excess stabilizer from the ornament. Cut 1/16 to 1/8 outside the stitched circle - cut through both layers of felt, except at the top edge by the hanger. Protect the twine (or whatever) with your finger and only cut through the front layer. Turn the tag over and trim the backing. It doesn t matter how you initially decide to share or display the wool felt tags, because, they are sure to be brought out every winter season for many years to come!!! 17

Pumpkins. by Pamela Cox

Pumpkins. by Pamela Cox Pumpkins by Pamela Cox Project Overview Fall is here! This seasonal change brings, crisp air, colorful leaves, hand-picked apples and pumpkins! Pumpkins always decorate our front door steps lighting a