Embroidery Library Urban Threads The Study

💎 Buy 4+ Hidden Gems, Save 65% 💎

SHOP NOW

🎃 Spooktacular Savings on Halloween Designs - 60% Off!

Build A Snowman

Completed embroidered snowman project featuring Build-a-Snowman design

Creative fun for all ages!


Your can sew one variety or all 10, to make hundreds of snowman combinations. The book format keeps everything together, so this activity book can even go on the road with you for hours of fun.


With a wide variety of heads, midsections, and bottoms, you can build thousands of unique and interesting snowmen and snowwomen. Here is a demonstration of how to build a snowman with individual pieces.


If your embroidery machine's hoop accommodates the finished size, then you may not need to rehoop the fabric. Additionally, if you have the capability of combining designs in embroidery software, then you can combine the three pieces into one design, and avoid rehooping the fabric.

The designs used in this tutorial include:


A Build-a-Snowman Design Pack - Lg

Start Embroidering:

Hoop the fabric with the appropriate stabilizer.

Hands holding a wooden embroidery hoop with white fabric stretched inside. Background shows wooden spools with colorful threads mounted on a wall.

Begin by sewing the head. The design will begin and end in the center of the design.

Close-up of hands holding an embroidery hoop with white fabric stretched, showing a small snowman face with red hat and purple scarf stitched.

Remove the outer hoop and slide the fabric up, being careful not to twist or rotate the fabric.

Hands with wedding rings holding a piece of beige fabric with a small embroidered airplane in red, white, and blue. Background shows a speckled surface.

Rehoop the fabric, and load the midsection into the embroidery machine.

Hands hold a wooden embroidery hoop secured around white fabric with a small embroidered snowman face wearing a red hat with blue and purple feathers.

The midsection will begin sewing on the top of the midsection, in the center. Position the needle so that the midsection overlaps the head by about one-quarter inch.

Hands holding an embroidery hoop with white fabric showing a small stitched snowman wearing a red hat, purple scarf, pink mittens, and brown stick arms.

After sewing the midsection, remove the outer hoop and slide the fabric up to make room for the bottom section. Be careful not to rotate the fabric.

Close-up of a person's hands holding embroidery hoops and fabric with partially completed snowman embroidery. Red and purple threads visible.

Rehoop the fabric, and load the bottom section into the embroidery machine. The bottom section will begin at the center of the top of the design. Position the needle so that the bottom overlaps the midsection by about one-quarter inch.

Hands hold an embroidery hoop with white fabric stretched inside, showing a partially embroidered snowman head with red hat, carrot nose, eyes, and pink mittens.

With ten heads, midsections, and bottoms, thousands of combinations exist.


You can sew snowmen that are traditional, or unique - the choice is yours!

Embroidered snowman with black top hat, red band and holly, orange carrot nose, red bow tie, black vest with buttons, coal shoes, stick arms, and a pipe.

To make a mix-and-match playbook with individual pieces, begin by sewing all of the pieces. Cut all of the heads to the same size; all of the midsections to the same size; all of the bottoms to the same size.

Embroidered snowman with an orange carrot nose, purple eyes, a red hat with a purple feather, purple scarf and mittens, and brown stick arms on beige fabric.

When cutting, leave an extra half-inch of fabric to the left of each design for the book binding.

Several white fabric pieces with various colorful embroidered winter-themed designs, including snowmen, hats, mittens, and presents, arranged on a dark mat.

Remove the cat from your work area. This step may need to be repeated over and over again, depending on the persistence of the cat. Of all the steps involved in making a playbook, this step is the most tedious one.

Tabby and white cat sitting on a table covered with red and white craft felt pieces, a cutting mat, and scissors, in an indoor setting.

You can use any materials for your book covers and binding: fabric, cardstock, cardboard, thread, yarn, rings, etc. For our book binding we used craft foam, available at craft stores. We used pipe cleaners to bind the book together.


Cut two holes on the left side of the snowman piece, and two coordinating holes in the book covers. Because we used pipe cleaner to bind the book, we slid the swatches onto the pipe cleaner and cover at the same time. If you are using yarn or rings to bind the book, you may use a different process.

Red felt piece on a black grid surface with green pipe cleaners arranged like stick arms and legs, and a small white square with a drawn face.

Get Inspired:

We decorated the cover with an assembled snowwoman, a pipe cleaner frame, and tiny wooden snowmen.

Hands hold a red fabric square featuring an embroidered white snowman wearing a purple hat and skirt, with glittery snowmen and green pine tree appliqués.

Now you can flip through the book and mix-and-match the sections to come up with some fun and interesting snowpeople. This arrangement features a cowboy hat, sports jersey, and Scottish kilt.

Hands hold an open fabric book showing embroidered panels depicting colorful traditional clothing and small decorative motifs on cream fabric.

This combination features a scarf and mittens, and tutu!

Hands hold an open fabric book displaying embroidered images: snowman in a hat, scarf, and mittens, snow boots, a shovel and rake, and a purple skirt.

This combination features a Santa cap, floral shirt, and patchwork bottom.

Hands hold an open beige felt booklet with embroidered pieces: a snowman's head with a red Santa hat, an elaborate green sweater, a snowball with shoes, and small wrapped gifts.