More Than One Use for a Christmas Design


I think its time to start some of the projects I want to do for the holidays.  I usually wait too long to actually accomplish them as things get very busy as December draws near.


Dakota Collectibles has a new “Merry Christmas Ornaments” collection that combines free standing lace and appliqué for some very pretty ornaments.  When I read the instructions that came with the designs, an idea came to me about using them for name tags for gifts.  The appliqué part of the design is made double sided so the ornament is the same on both sides. Using water soluble stabilizer that is melted away after embroidering insures that the design is the same on both sides.

 


To make the design double sided, you simply iron a paper backed fusible web on the back of the appliqué fabric, peel off the paper and iron fabric on the back.  When this fabric is used for the appliqué in the design and your bobbin thread matches your top thread, the ornament is the same on both sides.

 

This was my idea – simply iron a piece of white fabric or some other light colored fabric to the back of the appliqué material sandwich instead of the piece that matched the front. 

Hoop two pieces of water soluble stabilizer and embroider the placement line.


Place fabric sandwich with colored side up on placement line and embroider tackdown outline.  Without removing from hoop, trim as close as possible to stitching.

 

 

Place hoop back on machine and complete the design.  Remove the design from the hoop and trim stabilizer close to the ornament. Also trim the stabilizer only from the inside of the outline stitching on the back of the ornament.

 

Rinse the remaining stabilizer from the ornament sides, and the lace part of the design (star). Lay the ornament aside to dry completely.

 

 

You can now use a permanent fine tipped marker to write on the light colored fabric and have an eye catching gift tag for those special gifts under your tree.  Or try them as place cards for a holiday party.  The Christmas tree, Santa’s bag, the angel, and several others would work well.

 

 If you are an experienced embroiderer, you could also make a template of the trimmed appliqué piece and use that template to embroider a name on the light colored fabric before ironing it on the back of the appliqué sandwich.  The template would ensure the name was in the correct position when you inserted it into your design.

Check out this new “Merry Christmas Ornaments” collection from Dakota!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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