Layer light and delicate cameo backgrounds behind bold embroidery for a beautiful, lacy effect! These combined designs make lovely embellishments for throw pillows, purses, and more. We'll show you how!
Supplies & Materials:
Supplies & Materials:
- Printed templates of all designs
- Air-erase pen
- Fabric
- Medium weight cutaway stabilize
The designs used in this tutorial include:
- M18574, Delicate Daisy Cameo
- L9193, Blue Rose Butterfly in Watercolor
- F8068, Fancy Flourish Capital Letter K - 4 Inch
Special notes:
Designs with filled-in areas or satin stitch columns will work best when paired with the cameos. Light-stitching designs like redwork or vintage stitch designs are not the best choice as they will get lost in the background stitching.
Choose overlay designs with dimensions slightly smaller than your cameo background to create a well-proportioned effect. In this example, a 4" x 4" butterfly is stitched on top of a 6" x 10" cameo background.
When you download the design, you will find multiple files. Some are embroidery files, and others are dieline files marked with the letters "DL". Dielines are used to cut the fabric to the correct shape and size. 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.
We also 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 purchases made with this link.)
e program to use.
Cut around the edges of the top design and place it within the cameo shape where you want it. Make sure the top design fits well within the cameo. Then set the templates aside for now.
Hoop a piece of fabric with medium weight cutaway stabilizer (I used linen). Attach the hoop to the machine, and embroider the entire cameo background design. When the design has finished, remove the hoop from the machine but do not unhoop the fabric.
Position the top design template where you want it. Using an air-erase pen, mark the center point of the template.
Remove the template and attach the hoop back onto the machine. Load the top design then move the needle directly over the center point on the fabric.
Embroider the design. Since the cameo background is so light, this butterfly design stitches over it perfectly -- like they were made for each other!
After the design has sewn, trim away the excess stabilizer on the back side of the embroidery. And your design pairing is finished!
You can add multiple designs to the cameos by following the steps above. However, be careful to not overlap any of the top designs, as this would get too thick for the machine to sew.
These cameos are also perfect for monogramming.
