3D Fabric Houses (In-the-Hoop)

Craft charming decor with unique 3D freestanding fabric house designs! Whether you choose to stitch a birdhouse, or prefer a Christmas mailbox for Santa instead, simply stitch each piece of your chosen in-the-hoop motif, then hand-sew together to assemble. Your choice of colors and fabrics makes each item unique. Follow these step-by-step instructions to make your own!

Freestanding fabric house designs have been specially digitized for water-soluble stabilizer. After the stabilizer is removed, beautiful fabric and embroidery remains.

These designs also have cutaway stabilizer placed in between the front and back fabric pieces, creating more structure and stability after the houses are assembled.

When you download a 3D fabric house design, you will find multiple files. Some are embroidery files, and the 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.

First spray one side of a piece of cutaway stabilizer with temporary adhesive. Smooth the stabilizer onto the wrong side of a fabric piece.

Then spray the backside of a printed front piece dieline (you can choose any dieline that you like at this point) with temporary adhesive and smooth it onto the right side of the fabric.

Cut the front dieline shape out of the adhered fabric and cutaway stabilizer. If the dieline you are working with has a hole or opening, be sure to cut out and remove these pieces as well. A craft knife and cutting mat can help cut out any holes more easily. Once all elements your chosen dieline have been cut out, you can then remove the paper dieline.

Then repeat to cut out the back piece for your chosen dieline with cutaway stabilizer on the back of the fabric.

For this design the front and back fabric pieces for every file will have cutaway stabilizer on them.

There are a couple of different kinds of water-soluble stabilizer.

One is clear and plastic, and that brand is Sulky Ultra Solvy. The other is soft and fibrous, called Vilene. Both will work very well. Vilene is used in this demonstration.

Use a size 11 or 75/11 sharp sewing needle. A sharp sewing needle has a smaller, finer point than an embroidery needle. That means it will make smaller holes in the stabilizer.

Hoop the stabilizer firmly. Make sure it is nice and tight with no wrinkles.

Attach the hoop onto the machine, and load the embroidery file (not the dieline files).

Embroider the design. The first thing to embroider will be a dieline (or outline stitch). This marks the area on the stabilizer where the fabric piece will be placed.

After the dieline has sewn, remove the hoop from the machine, but do not unhoop the stabilizer.

Spray the wrong side of the front fabric piece with temporary adhesive. Smooth the fabric piece onto the stabilizer inside of the sewn dieline.

Then place the hoop back onto the machine and embroider the tackdown for the front fabric piece. The tackdown will hold the fabric piece in place for the remainder of the design.

After the front fabric piece is in place, all of the inner details of the embroidery will sew out. Stop before sewing the "back piece tackdown".

Before sewing the "back piece tackdown" step, remove the hoop from the machine, and turn it over so the back side of the embroidery is facing up.

Spray the back side of the back fabric piece with temporary adhesive, and smooth it into place on the back side of the embroidery.

As all the embroidery from here on out will be seen from both sides, wind a bobbin to match each of the remaining thread colors used into the design.

Place the bobbin into the machine, and follow the color change sheet to embroider the remaining "back piece tackdown" and the "finishing border".

Some fabric house pieces may also have freestanding lace details, and those will also sew after the back fabric piece tackdown.

After embroidering, trim away the excess stabilizer.

The stabilizer's packaging should give instructions for removing the excess. For Vilene, soak the embroidered lace for a few moments.

Allow the lace to air dry, and then press it with a pressing cloth on top.

Repeat the steps above to embroider the rest of the and fabric pieces.

Make sure to sew out two copies of the roof piece (file "f") to make a complete house.

To assemble your house, first take the base piece (file "e"), and hand sew it onto the bottom edge of the front piece (file "a").

Use thread matching the finishing border for best results. If desired you can also sew these pieces together with a wide zigzag stitch on a sewing machine.

Then repeat to hand sew the two sides (files "c" & "d) as well as the back piece (file "b") onto the other three sides of the base piece. If desired you can also sew these pieces together with a wide zigzag stitch on a sewing machine.

Next, take the two roof pieces (file "f") and match them up with the top point of the front piece (file "a").

Hand sew both roof pieces onto the front piece starting at the top point and sewing down until you reach the next corner of the front piece.

The roof pieces will hang past the edges of the front piece on either side. If desired you can also sew these pieces together with a wide zigzag stitch on a sewing machine.

For curved roofs, like on the barn birdhouse, sew the roof pieces on in the same order. Match the top point of the barn and the corners of the roof pieces, and sew them down along each side. Look carefully at the edges of the front piece of the barn, and locate the corner where the curve stops and the straight side starts. This will be where you stop sewing the roof onto the front piece, so the roof has an unsewn portion at the bottom which will create an overhang.

Fold up the one side and the front piece, and hand sew them together along the adjacent edges. This creates the first corner seam of the house. These pieces should be hand sewn as it will be hard to fit under the needle of a sewing machine.

Repeat to fold up the remaining side piece and back piece and sew the remaining three corner seams of the house together.

This will mean everything but the roof is completely sewn together. These seams should also be sewn by hand and not on a machine.

Match up the top edges of the two roof pieces (the sides with the loops), and hand sew them together using thread matching the roof finishing border.

Make sure to also sew the two loops together around the outer edge for best results.

Then match the roof pieces up with the top point of the back piece, and sew them together from the point downwards.

To attach the side pieces to the roof where it overhangs, thread your needle with the same embroidery thread color as used on the roof details. Reach through the hole in the front piece, and push the side outward until it is straight and no longer bowing inward. Then carefully slide the needle under the stitching at the center of the border on the side piece.

Then sew through the center of the roof piece to securely attach the side piece and roof piece together. For best results, hide this hand stitching by sewing into the embroidered details on the roof. Sewing in the same direction of the embroidery and directly on top of the embroidered details will make this hand sewing almost disappear. Sew them together with a couple stitches here for best results. Repeat for the other side.

If working with the birdhouse design, you can attach a hanger by cutting a piece of ribbon 8"-10" long, and threading it through the embroidered loops. The tie the ribbon into a loop to create the hanger.