Embroidered Holiday Ornament December 06 2016 1 Comment

Embroidered Ornament Closeup

Do you need a last minute gift?  Or are you looking for ideas for your annual ornament exchange?

This tutorial shows you how to finish an embroidered design into an ornament to give as a gift or even to hang on your own tree!

Feel free to use this poinsettia redwork design or substitute it with one of your own. 

Finished size: 4 inches in diameter

Materials you will need:

Optional

  • Printable, self-adhesive, water soluble stabilizer (Sticky Fabri-Solvy) to transfer embroidery design
  • 1 yard red bias tape

Step 1: Download and print the poinsettia design

Once you have downloaded and printed the poinsetta design, use the 1 inch guide on the printout to ensure that snowflake has printed to the correct scale.  

Step 2: Prepare hanky linen for embroidery

I like to line the back of my embroidery fabric as it helps to keep fabric from puckering when you stitch, and it also helps to hide loose threads.  Following the manufacturer's instructions, iron your fusible interfacing to the backside of the hanky linen.  I use Shape Flex (SF101) by Pellon.

Step 3: Transfer the poinsettia design

Using your preferred method, transfer the poinsettia design to the hanky linen.  For smaller projects, I like to use Sticky Fabri-Solvy to transfer embroidery designs as I can simply copy the design directly onto the self adhesive, water soluble stabilizer using my home printer.  Once the design has been printed onto the stabilizer, I cut out the design leaving a border and then stick it directly on the front of the hanky linen, centering it as needed.

Step 4: Embroider the poinsetta design

Once the design has been transferred, embroider as desired using the recommended stitches or your favorites.

Take the finished piece out of the hoop and rinse the water soluble stabilizer off in warm water.  Once dry, press with a warm iron from the back of the embroidery.  Set aside.

Step 5: Bind the hoop (optional)

In addition to being decorative, did you know that binding your embroidery hoop also has other benefits?

Binding your embroidery hoop before you embroider helps keep stitches even and well-formed, keeps fabric from slipping and taut for longer and provides extra protection to your project from the rings of the hoop.

You may bind both rings but in the case of decorative binding, I decided to only bind the outer ring.

To bind your hoop, you will wrap the bias tape at a 45 degree angle along the edge of the ring starting at one side of the hardware. Wrap the bias tape around once, wrapping over the starting point.  Stitch a few stitches or use a glue gun to secure the end.

Continue wrapping , overlapping as you go.  Be sure to wrap the bias tape tightly and evenly.

When you arrive to the other side of the ring, trim away any excess bias tape and tuck the end under.  I used a binding clip to hold the end tightly in place while I applied glue with a glue gun to secure the end.

Binding a Hoop

Step 6: Mounting the ornament

After you have bound the embroidery hoop, take the finished embroidery and put it back onto the hoop, creating as tight of a finish as you can.  Make sure the hoop screw is at the top if your design is directional.

Turn the hoop over and trim the excess fabric to within 1 inch of the edge of the embroidery hoop (Fig a).

Using the inner edge of the inside hoop, trace a circle on the cardboard square.  Cut out the circle and drop it into the back of the hoop (Fig b) to protect the back of the block.

Secure the excess fabric by finger pressing over the top edge of the inner section of the embroidery hoop onto the cardboard.  Use a glue gun or Roxanne Glue Baste to hold in place (Fig c).

Finally, Using the outer edge of the hoop, trace a circle on the felt square.  Cut out the circle and glue the felt in place over the secured fabric and cardboard to hide the raw edges of fabric.

Finishing Hoop

Step 7: Finishing the ornament

To finish the ornament, take your holiday ribbon and tie a simple bow at the top of the ornament around the hardware and use an ornament hook to hang.  You can also create a loop instead, using the ribbon, in order to hang your finished piece on a tree.

Embroidered Ornament

You can use this method to finish and mount virtually anything from fabric to embroideries to decorate a room or a wall or even a tree!