Skate into the Christmas season with an in-the-hoop candy cane holder! Project instructions below will show you how to stitch and assemble this machine embroidery design in-the-hoop. It's a fun and festive way to decorate your tree or top off gifts.
Supplies
- Craft felt
- Tear-away stabilizer
- 1/4" wide elastic
- Ribbon, we used 1/8" wide
Tools
- Masking tape
- Temporary Spray Adhesive (like Gunold KK100)
Designs Used
This candy cane holder design will have three files. One is the full embroidery file. The other two are dieline files, marked with the letters DL. Dielines are used to cut the fabric to the right shape and size. Open the dieline files with embroidery software and print them. Alternately, you can stitch the dieline file on the fabric and cut it out - no software needed!
Cut out the paper dielines, leaving a small amount of room around the dieline edges.
Spray the backside of the front piece dieline with temporary spray adhesive. Smooth that onto your fabric.
Cut out the shapes and remove the fabric pattern dieline paper.
Now that the fabric pieces are cut to the proper shape and size, it's time to embroider the design.
Hoop a piece of tear-away stabilizer.
Attach the hoop to the machine and load the full embroidery design (not the dieline files). Use a size 11 or 75/11 sharp sewing needle, rather than an embroidery needle. A sharp sewing needle has a smaller, finer point than an embroidery needle, so that 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 for the front fabric piece.
Spray the back of the front fabric piece with temporary adhesive. Remove the hoop from the machine, but do not unhoop the stabilizer. Place the fabric inside the sewn dieline.
Reattach the hoop back onto the machine and continue with the design. A tack down stitch will sew next. This holds the front fabric in place for the remainder of the design.
All of the inside elements will sew next. On the color change sheet, look for the note that says "back piece tackdown."
When you get to this section, stop the machine and remove the hoop from the machine. Do not unhoop the stabilizer.
Cut two, 2" pieces of elastic to use as the loops to hold the candy cane.
Turn the embroidery hoop over. Color change 7 will be the elastic placement lines, showing where to place the elastic which will hold the candy cane in place. Fold each piece of elastic in half and place the folded side of the elastic outward between the placement lines with about a 1/2 inch of the elastic loop hanging inside the edge of the ice skate. Use masking tape to tape each elastic loop into place.
Cut a piece of ribbon for hanging your candy cane holder. You can make this as long or as short as you would like. We chose to use about 6 inches of ribbon for ours, resulting in a hanger that will be 3 inches long. Loop the ribbon and use masking tape to secure the loose ends to the backside of the fabric piece that is currently in the hoop. Make sure that the ends are positioned to be caught by the next tackdown and finishing stitches. The loop of the ribbon should be facing away from the top of the ice skate.
Once the elastic and hanger are securely placed, spray the backside of the back felt piece with adhesive. Place the back piece inside the shape on the backside of the embroidery.
The remaining steps will be seen from both sides. Wind a bobbin with the same thread used in the top needle.
Attach the hoop back onto the machine and continue with the design. A tackdown stitch and finishing satin border will sew. This binds all the layers together.
Remove the hoop from the machine. Unhoop the stabilizer, and carefully tear it away. The dieline will be removed with the stabilizer.
Simply slide a candy cane through the elastic loops of the holder and hang this adorable design on your tree this Christmas!
