Wine Tag, In-the-Hoop

Complement a decadent gift of wine with these in-the-hoop tags! They're specially designed to celebrate a variety of occasions -- and there's even a blank tag that you can customize as you like. We'll show you how!

When you download the in-the-hoop wine tag 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.

First, spray the back side of the two paper dielines with temporary adhesive, and smooth them onto the right side of the fabric. For the front piece only, spray a piece of cutaway stabilizer with temporary adhesive, and smooth it onto the back side of the fabric piece. Label the pieces as front or back to help keep them from getting mixed up.

Then cut out the pieces, and fold back one corner of the paper to make it easier to remove later. Make sure to also cut out the circle opening near the top.

Now that the fabric pieces are ready, hoop a piece of tear-away stabilizer tightly. 

Attach the hoop to the machine, and load the full embroidery file. 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 where we'll place the front fabric piece.

After the dieline has sewn, remove the hoop from the machine, but do not unhoop the stabilizer. Remove the paper dieline, and spray the back side of the front fabric piece with temporary adhesive. Then smooth the fabric piece right inside the sewn dieline.

Then continue to embroider the design. The next thing to sew will be the front piece tackdown which will hold the fabric in place for the remainder of the design. Then all of the inner details will embroider. Make sure to stop the machine before sewing the "back tackdown."

Before sewing the "back tackdown" step, remove the hoop from the machine, but do not unhoop the stabilizer. Turn the hoop over so that the back side of the embroidery is facing up. Then spray the back side of the back fabric piece, and smooth it into place on the back of the embroidered area.

As both sides of the tag will be seen, wind a bobbin with the same thread that's used in the top needle. Place it into the machine. Once the bobbin is in place, embroider the "back tackdown" and "finishing border." 

Once the embroidery is finished sewing, tear away the excess stabilizer from around the design.

The wine tags have a channel under the round opening where they should be folded. Fold the tag with back sides together in between the two satin stitch lines. Make sure to crease the fold to help it keep its shape. 

Once folded, the tag slips over the top of a wine bottle, and hangs nicely.

There is also a blank wine tag which can have a hand-picked design or monogram added to it. You can do this in either of two ways: by stitching the decoration directly on the finished tag, or by editing the decoration into the design using embroidery software. We'll show both ways below. Start by choosing a decorative design no larger than 2.5" wide by 4.125" high. This letter V is 2.46" wide by 2.03" high. To stitch the design onto a finished tag, follow the directions above to completely sew out the blank tag, but do not unhoop it once it is finished embroidering.

Without unhooping the stabilizer, lay the hooped blank tag on the table. Then print out a template of the chosen design as explained above, arrange on the wine tag, and mark the center point with an air erase marker or chalk pencil. If you would like the design at a diagonal, mark the vertical and horizontal axis lines from the template as well. Then unhoop the design, and rehoop it, matching up the axis lines with the marks on the hoop.

As the design will be seen on the back, wind a bobbin with the same thread as used in the top needle.

Then load the design, and move the needle until it is directly over the marked center point, and embroider the design.

You can also add a design to a blank tag using embroidery software. This allows you to position the decoration precisely where you want on the tag before stitching, and makes it possible to hide the back of the decorative embroidery with the back fabric piece. To start, open the blank tag design in embroidery software. We're using Embird; other programs should be similar.

To add the decorative design to the tab, click the "File" menu at the top of the screen, the "Merge." Select the design you want to add, then click "OK."

Position the design where you would like it within the rectangle portion of the tag.

Once the decorative design is where you'd like it, it's time to rearrange the color stops. Right-click on the square for the first color stop, and select "Separate All Colors." Each color will be listed on a separate line. Move the last two color stops of the tag design to the very end of the list, so they are after the newly added decorative design.

In the top menu, click on "Manager" to switch to Manager mode. Then click on "Editor" to switch back. Doing this will combine all the colors back together. Save the design, and stitch out the in-the-hoop wine tag as described above.