Embroidery Library Urban Threads The Study

💫Get 10 Designs for $20!

SHOP ELIGIBLE SINGLE DESIGNS

Wear It. Stitch It. Love It. 🌟 Apparel & Accessory designs are 60% off!

Applique Pillow Set Placement

Applique Pillow Set Placement

Make a big impact with multiple applique machine embroidery designs, arranged to create a square pillow! Read on to learn how to precisely place your designs to create an arrangement that goes beyond the limits of your embroidery hoop.

Supplies & Materials:

Supplies

Note: The links below are affiliate links. We may earn a commission if you make a purchase using these links.

· Fabric for applique

· Fabric for pillow cover

· Pillow form

· Quilter’s ruler

 pens )



·  Temporary spray adhesive

· Scissor or rotary cutter

· Embroidery thread

· Paper templates

· Medium weight cutaway stabilizer

· Fabric marking tool (we use heat erase

The designs used in this tutorial include:

Birdhouse Pillow Pair (Applique)

Gather Materials:

When you download the design, you will find multiple files. Some are embroidery files, and others are dielines files marked with DL that we will use later. Pillow pairs are made of up of 2-4 embroidery designs. One is a feature design that is often placed in the center and the others are designs meant to embroider around the feature design.


This tutorial will walk you through using templates of the designs to make a fully embroidered pillow. A template, or printout, of a design is an excellent tool to help with placement. Print a template of the design using an embroidery software. Some designs may need to be mirrored or rotated to fit around the design.


We recommend Wilcom's Hatch software which comes in different levels depending on what you'd like to use the software for. Hatch Organizer works well to view your designs, print dielines and templates, change design colors, and create basic design layouts. (This is an affiliate link. We may earn commission on purchased made through this link.

Embroidered design placement on white fabric shows a central beige birdhouse with black trim surrounded by four yellow, pink, and white birds on leafy branches, with two birds on paper templates above.

To start, determine which size of pillow blank you will be using. In this example ours is 18" by 18". This will help determine the size of the pillow pair embroidery designs you can use. 

White pillow on a gray surface next to several printed paper templates featuring yellow and black applique designs, including a birdhouse and swirling floral patterns.

Use a fabric marking tool to draw a box on the right side of the fabric indicating the edges of your pillow cover's front piece. Ours will be 20" by 20" to account for the fullness of the 18" pillow form. Our measurement also includes seam allowance.

Square piece of white fabric with blue marked border lines on a dark surface, a clear Omnigrid ruler with yellow grid lines placed diagonally, and a blue pen near the center.

Pillow pair placement is easiest when starting with the feature design. If it will be in the center of the pillow, find the placement for the feature design by dividing the box in half vertically and horizontally. Use a quilting ruler to draw the crosshair.


If you do not want the feature design to be centered, position the template on the fabric & mark the axis lines on the fabric. Then extend the axis lines to make a crosshair.

White fabric square with blue grid lines drawn on it, a clear rectangular ruler with yellow grid markings, and a blue and white pen on a gray surface.

After drawing the crosshair for the featured design, cut a piece of stabilizer larger than your hoop. Spray the stabilizer with temporary spray adhesive and smooth in place on the wrong side of the fabric behind where the design will sew. Using a separate piece of stabilizer for each of the designs helps to limit the amount of puckering. 

Hand holding and lifting a transparent white sheet from a light gray or white fabric beneath, against a plain white background.

Start Embroidering:

Hoop the fabric and stabilizer together matching the drawn crosshairs up with the marks on the hoop. Make sure everything is hooped tightly and that there are no wrinkles or puckers in the fabric.

Square embroidery hoop placed on white fabric marked with blue vertical and horizontal alignment lines forming a cross inside the hoop.

Dieline files (marked with the letters DL) are used to cut the fabric to the correct shape and size for applique pieces. Open each dieline file using an embroidery software, and print them out.

Several sheets of white paper with bird and abstract shapes outlined in thin black lines and marked with red cross lines, next to folded cream and beige fabric pieces on a gray surface.

To make the applique pieces, spray a piece of cutaway stabilizer with temporary spray adhesive. Smooth the stabilizer onto the wrong side of the fabric piece. Also spray the wrong side of the paper dieline with temporary spray adhesive, and smooth it onto the right side of the fabric.

Paper template with black outline and red center lines placed on a square piece of textured tan fabric, which rests on a larger white fabric square, all on a gray background.

Cut the dieline shape out of the layered fabric and stabilizer. Then remove the paper dieline.

Beige fabric piece cut in a symmetrical shape resembling a birdhouse or lantern, placed on a dark gray textured background.

Repeat to cut out the other applique pieces in the designs. For best results, cut every piece out of both fabric and stabilizer.


Beige fabric birdhouse applique and four white fabric bird appliques arranged above on dark gray fabric background.

Attach the hoop to the embroidery machine and load the design on to the machine. Using the machine's controls, move the needle until is it right above the center of the drawn crosshair. Then begin to embroider the design.


For some embroidery files, some embroidered details may sew first. Follow the color change sheet and stop after embroidering the "dieline" (or outlines stitch) for the applique piece. This dieline marks the area where the applique piece will be placed.

Close-up of a sewing machine with fabric hooped in an embroidery frame. The machine is stitching a black outline of a teddy bear shape with registration cross lines on the white fabric.

After the dieline has sewn, remove the hoop from the machine, but do not unhoop the fabric. Spray the wrong side of the applique piece with temporary adhesive. Place the applique on the hooped fabric inside of the sewn dieline shape.

Beige applique fabric of an abstract geometric shape centered and pinned on white fabric with blue crosshair alignment lines, held in a gray embroidery hoop.

Then place the hoop back on the machine, and embroider the tackdown for the applique piece that was just placed. A tackdown holds the fabric piece in place for the remainder of the design.

Close-up of a sewing machine stitching a beige fabric applique with a dark zigzag border on white fabric, held in an embroidery hoop.

Embroider the rest of the design. If the design has multiple applique pieces, repeat the steps above to sew the dielines, place the fabric piece, and embroider the tackdown.

Close-up of a sewing machine embroidering a beige and brown birdhouse applique on white fabric held in an embroidery hoop with grid lines for alignment.

After the design has finished embroidering, remove the hoop from the machine. Unhoop the design and carefully trim away the excess stabilizer. 

Gray-handled scissors resting on an embroidered appliqué of a birdhouse with black, gold, and gray thread, on white fabric and paper backing.

To determine the layout for the other embroidery designs, arrange the printed templates around the feature design until you like their placement. You can play with how close to the feature design they are to fill more or less of the pillow.


For best results, we recommend printing a template of every additional design even if they are duplicates. That way you can see how all the designs fit together on your chosen pillow size. Some designs may need to be mirrored or rotated to fit around the design.

Four embroidered bird designs on paper templates surround one embroidered birdhouse applique placed on plain white fabric with light blue quilting lines.

Once you've decided where you would like these designs to be, use the fabric marking tool to mark the horizontal and vertical axis line of one of the designs, and use a quilters ruler to extend and connect the crosshairs for the first corner design.


Be careful not to bump or move any of the other paper templates.


White fabric with blue grid lines has three bird applique pieces and one birdhouse applique piece placed on it, a clear ruler and blue pen nearby.

Repeat the previous step to mark the vertical and horizontal axis lines of all the remaining designs. Then use a ruler to extend them into crosshairs.

Beige and brown applique birdhouse on white fabric marked with a blue grid. Yellow quilting ruler and blue pen nearby on the fabric.

Decide which designs you would like to embroider next. Spray a piece of cutaway stabilizer with temporary spray adhesive and smooth on the wrong side of your fabric behind where it will embroider. Make sure to rotate or mirror designs as needed.


Then the fabric and stabilizer together matching the drawn crosshairs up with the marks on the hoop.

White fabric with blue grid lines hooped in a gray embroidery hoop showing a partially embroidered yellow and brown birdhouse applique design.

Attach the hoop onto the machine, load the design, center the needle over the center of the crosshairs. Then repeat the embroidery steps above to embroider all details and applique pieces.

Embroidery machine stitching a yellow, brown, and pink bird with black outline on white fabric with gold leafy vine design, framed by blue alignment grid lines.

When the design has finished embroidering, remove from the machine and unhoop the design. Trim away the excess stabilizer. 

Pair of scissors lying on white fabric with an embroidered bird in black, white, and brown atop a yellow leafy vine design, partially cut out from a paper backing.

Repeat to embroider the rest of the designs. Make sure to rotate or mirror designs as needed.

White fabric square with four embroidered small birds with yellow wings and pink chests sitting on beige leafy branches. In the center is a beige and black birdhouse. Light blue grid lines mark placement. Fabric edges are frayed.

Now that all the embroidery is complete, cut out the pillow's front piece along the drawn square.

White fabric square with a central embroidered birdhouse and four birds in each corner, each bird surrounded by beige leaves; scissors and ruler partially visible.

Press the designs as needed using a pressing cloth. Then follow the marking tool's directions to remove the drawn markings.


Close-up of a blue iron pressing the edge of a white fabric with an embroidered brown and yellow bird and beige leaves.

Create a back piece and finish the pillow cover in your preferred method. 

Square white pillow with embroidered design featuring a central beige birdhouse surrounded by four small birds, each perched on leafy branches, on a gray background.

This completes the applique pillow pair! Create beautiful pillows, decor, or other projects using these fun design sets. They make great decor for your home, and lovely gifts for friends and family.

White square pillow with central embroidered golden birdhouse design, surrounded by four embroidered birds and gold leaf accents, placed on wicker chair.

SHOP APPLIQUE PILLOW SETS