In-the-Hoop Stuffed Fluffy Ornament

Fluffy fabric and stiff felt come together for an in-the-hoop machine embroidery design that is fun and one-of-a-kind. Our step-by-step project instructions will walk you through the process of re-creating your own stuffed fluffy ornament using pattern dielines for cutting out your fabric pieces.

When you download the 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, look at our helpful video on using dielines.

Spray the backside of the printed dieline pieces with temporary adhesive, and smooth them onto the right side of the fabric.

Cut the dieline shapes out of the fabric and remove the paper.

If the chosen design has felt accents, or other applique pieces, use the dielines to cut them out. In the case of this chic, we used stiff felt for the wings and cotton for the egg shell applique piece.

Hoop a piece of tear-away stabilizer firmly. Make sure it is nice and taut with no wrinkles.

Attach the hoop to 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 the dieline (or outline stitch) for the front fabric piece. 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 front fabric piece onto the stabilizer inside of the sewn dieline.

To prevent the embroidery from sinking into the fluffy fabric, cut out a piece of light weight water-soluble stabilizer that is larger than the design (we used Sulky Solvy).

Lay it over the front fabric piece and tape the edges down onto the hoop or stabilizer around the design.

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.

In some designs when the "tackdown" step sews out there will be "guidelines" that also stitch out, these will help with placement for the stiff felt pieces later.

Continue to sew the "Applique Dieline", and stop before sewing the applique tackdown.

Remove the hoop from the machine, but do not unhoop the design.

Spray the applique piece with the temporary spray adhesive, and then place it within the dieline.

Return the hoop to the machine and stitch out the "Applique tackdown" step.

Then embroider the inner details of the design onto the front piece. Make sure the water-soluble stabilizer stays in place while sewing. Stop before sewing the "tackdown" for the back fabric piece.

Once all the inner details are done embroidering, remove the hoop from the machine, but do not unhoop the stabilizer.

Carefully remove as much of the water-soluble stabilizer as you can. It is usually easier to remove now but can be left until later if preferred. For Sulky Solvy, it is quite easy to gently tear it off the design.

To add a hanger, cut a piece of ribbon or cord to 5-7 inches long.

Fold the ribbon in half and center the ribbon at the top of the design. Since this design is stitched and then turned right side out, the ribbon loop must be placed upside down.

The two ends should be taped to the stabilizer above the design, and the folded end of the ribbon should be taped to the center of the front piece.

If the design has felt accents, tape all of those in place as well.

Just like the ribbon, they will need to be placed upside down, so they end up correctly in place when the whole design is turned right side out.

Place them so they slightly overlap the outer edge of the front piece, so the final seam can sew over them, and hold them in place.

Next, spray the right side of the back fabric piece with temporary adhesive.

Smooth the back fabric place on top of the front piece with right sides together. Make sure to line up the edges of the two fabric pieces carefully on the front of the hoop.

Place the hoop back onto the machine and embroider the back piece tackdown. This will adhere the front and back pieces together. It will also leave a small opening along the edge for turning.

After the embroidering is done, tear away the excess stabilizer from around the piece.

If desired, you can also rip off any large areas of stabilizer from the wrong side of the front piece where it is not sewn under the embroidery. Removing this extra stabilizer can help the shape turn and stuff nicely.

To help the shape of the design look nice once turned, also clip the seams around any curved or pointed edges in the design.

Then turn the design right side out through the small opening.

Also remove all the tape remaining that was holding down any ribbon or felt pieces.

Fill the ornament with stuffing (such as polyester fiberfill) through the opening left along the edges of the design.

Finally, use a hand sewing needle and thread to sew the opening closed.