How to Make a Candy Bag (In-the-Hoop)

This design has been digitized for tear-away stabilizer. After the stabilizer is removed, beautiful fabric and embroidery remains.

When you download the design, you will find multiple files. Some are embroidery files and some are dielines files (marked with "DL") that are used to cut the fabric to the correct shape.

Open and print each dieline file using an embroidery software. If you do not have an embroidery software, take a look at our helpful video on using dielines

Spray a piece of cutaway stabilizer with temporary adhesive and smooth it onto the wrong side of the first fabric piece.

Then, spray the back of the printed dieline with temporary adhesive and smooth it onto the right side of the fabric.

Cut the front piece out of the adhered fabric and stabilizer. If the piece has an opening, also cut that following the printed dieline using a craft knife and cutting mat. Remove the paper dieline after cutting.

Repeat to cut the back piece out of fabric and cutaway stabilizer glued together with spray adhesive.

If the chosen design has any felt accents, repeat to use the dielines to cut them out of a piece of stiffened hard felt. These felt pieces should not have stabilizer on the back.

For clear vinyl pieces, do not use spray adhesive as you will see it permanently on the vinyl. Instead, lay the paper dieline on the vinyl and tape it in place around the edges of the paper.

Then use a scissor to carefully cut out the vinyl piece following the dieline.

Hoop a piece of tear-away stabilizer tightly.

Attach the hoop onto the machine and load the first embroidery design. For best results, use a 75/11 sharp sewing needle as it will make smaller perforations in the stabilizer.

Embroider the "front piece dieline". This will mark on the stabilizer where the front piece needs to be placed.

After the dieline has sewn, spray the stabilizer side of the front piece with temporary adhesive. Smooth it in place inside of the sewn dieline on the front side of the hooped tear-away stabilizer.

Embroider the "front piece tackdown". This tackdown will hold the fabric in place for the remainder of the design.

Then, embroider the "window dieline". This dieline will show where to place the vinyl piece. To make it easier to see, sew this step in a thread color that is visible against the fabric and front piece tackdown colors.

For vinyl, do not use spray adhesive. Instead, lay the vinyl piece in place inside of the sewn window dieline. Then place a piece of clear tape on the left and right side to hold it in place.

Embroider the "window tackdown". This tackdown will hold the vinyl in place for the remainder of the design.

Before embroidering the rest of the design, carefully remove the tape. It is okay if some of the tape is trapped under the tackdown as it will get covered by the finishing borders later.

Embroider all of the inner details of the design. Stop before sewing the "back piece tackdown".

Before sewing the back piece tackdown, flip the hoop over on a table so the back side is facing up. Spray the felt accents with temporary adhesive only where they overlap the embroidery and place them on the back side of the hoop. Also add tape them in place where they do not overlap the embroidery.

Spray the stabilizer side of the back piece with temporary adhesive. Smooth it in place inside of the sewn dieline on the back side of the hoop.

As the rest of the embroidery will be visible from both sides of the finished candy bag, wind a bobbin to match every remaining thread color.

Place the hoop back on the machine and embroider the rest of the design. Use a matching bobbin for each of the remaining thread colors.

After embroidering, tear away the excess stabilizer. Also make sure to remove the stabilizer from the window opening. If the piece has small openings between the fabric pieces and the embroidered tabs, use a small pair of scissors or tweezers to remove the stabilizer there as well.

Repeat the previous steps to also embroider the second embroidery file. Simply skip any steps referencing the vinyl window or felt accent pieces.

Some pieces have fabric folds where the fabric piece continues over the different sides of one piece. This leaves a small channel of fabric between two sewn satin lines where the pieces will be folded.

These designs are designed to use glue and embroidered tabs for assembly. If preferred, you can also hand sew all the pieces together in the same order as listed below. Simply use thread matching the embroidery.

To help with gluing the candy bag together, glue tabs have been added to the file and embroider out with the rest of the design. These tabs are either long rectangles or small squares along the edges of the design.

To use these tabs, place a generous amount of hot glue on the tab.

For best results, glue long tabs in small sections, so the glue goes not dry faster than you can line up the pieces. Also glue small tabs one at a time, so the glue does not dry out too fast.

Since the pieces will fold where they meet, make sure to leave a small gap between the finishing edges, so you can just barely see the connectors of the glue tab.

To place the glue tabs, add the glue onto it and line it up against the wrong side of the adjacent edge or fabric piece.

To begin assembly of the candy bag, first fold over all the fabric folds on the back piece (file "b") and crease them using a bone folder or other tool.

Place glue on one of the bottom glue tabs on the back piece.

Fold in the sides, match up the corners, and glue the tab onto the bottom section of the back piece. This will make the box shape start to form.

Repeat to glue the second bottom glue tab to the bottom section of the back piece as well.

Then, take the front piece (file "a"), and place glue on the long bottom glue tab.

Glue this tab onto the wrong side of the back piece along the bottom edge. Make sure to match up the corners and leave a small gap for folding.

For the sides, gluing from bottom upwards works best. Place glue on the bottom left glue tab.

Fold up the back piece so it is a box on the back of the front piece. Glue this tab onto the wrong side of the back piece along the adjacent edge. Make sure to match up the bottom corners and leave a small gap for folding.

Place glue on the middle left glue tab.

Glue this tab onto the wrong side of the back piece along the adjacent edge. Make sure to leave a small gap for folding.

Then, place glue on the top left glue tab.

Glue this tab onto the wrong side of the back piece along the adjacent edge. Make sure to leave a small gap for folding.

Then, place glue on the top left glue tab.

Glue this tab onto the wrong side of the back piece along the adjacent edge. Make sure to leave a small gap for folding.

Repeat to glue the three glue tabs on the opposite side of the front piece on to the back piece. For best results, start with the bottom tab and glue each tab one at a time moving upwards.

Once assembled, the square shape allows for more room to hold different candies or even small presents.

Make a collection of these adorable candy bags to give as gifts to family and friends. They even make cute holiday decor to store sweet treats for yourself in your home.