This cute gingerbread man design would be a nice addition to sweat shirts and kitchen towels but I like using applique designs like this for Christmas cookies using the freestanding applique technique.

Hoop a layer of water-soluble fabric type stabilizer. Spray the back of a piece of felt with temporary spray adhesive and finger-press it in the hoop. Run the tack down stitch to tack it to the stabilizer (since you pretty much know where the body will be and felt takes up most of the surface of the hoop, you can skip the placement stitch if you like).

No need to trim the outline until the end. Float a piece of heavy tear-away under the hoop. I changed up the color sequence and stitched everything except the final satin stitching around the outside edges.



When all interior embroidery is done, remove the tear away stabilizer. Spray another piece of felt and place it on the back side of the hooped stabilizer. Reattach the hoop and run the tack-down stitch again. Remove the hoop and trim close to the tack-down stitches. Reattach the hoop and run the satin stitch sequence for the outside edges.

When embroidery is finished, remove all excess water-soluble stabilizer and use a cotton swab or wet cloth to remove the rest near the edges.



Plate it up for a cute Christmas cookie!

Debbie SewBlest

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