Unique drink coasters are a great way to bring personal style or seasonal flair to your decor! These little creations stitch up entirely in-the-hoop, complete with embroidered embellishment. We'll show you step-by-step how to stitch your own charming coasters!
Supplies
Project Needs & Notes:
- Small pieces of fabric (felt and thicker fabrics work best for denser designs, quilters cotton and lighter fabrics are suitable for lighter designs)
- Embroidery thread
- Tear-away stabilizer
- Temporary spray adhesive (such as Gunold KK100)
- Scissors
Designs Used
When you download the in-the-hoop coaster design, you will find multiple files. Some are the 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.
Spray the back side of the first paper dieline with temporary adhesive. Then smooth it onto the right side of the chosen fabric.
Cut out the shape, and remove the paper. The repeat to cut out all the remaining fabric pieces.
Once all the fabric pieces are cut to the correct shapes, it's time to embroider the design.
Hoop a piece of tear-away stabilizer. Madeira E-Zee 1.5 oz or Floriani Tearaway Medium are good choices. Those brands are more fibrous, less like paper, and will tear more cleanly.
Attach the hoop onto the machine, and load the embroidery file (not the dieline files).
Use a 75/11 sharp sewing needle instead of an embroidery needle. The sharp sewing needle has a finer point, and it will make smaller perforations in the stabilizer.
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 first 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 fabric piece. The tackdown will hold the fabric piece in place for the remainder of the design.
Once the front fabric piece is stitched in place, embroider all the inner details. Make sure to stop before sewing the "finishing seam" step.
Before sewing the "finishing seam" step, remove the hoop from the machine, and turn it over so the back side of the embroidery is facing up. Then spray the back side of the back 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 rest of the design.
Make sure to match the bobbin to every thread color used in the top needle as the embroidery will be seen from both sides.
Some in-the-hoop coasters have a E-stitch finishing seam like on the design used in this tutorial. Others have a satin finishing seam instead. Both finishing seam types with embroider last with a matching bobbin.
Once the embroidery is finished, carefully tear the excess stabilizer away from the outside edges of the design.
If making a stemware coaster, carefully cut between the two satin stitch rows with scissors. This will create the opening for sliding in the bottom of the wine glass. Make sure not to also cut through the back fabric piece.
