I've made 39 of these. I have one more to make for a total of 40. Then, I'm going to start in on some other designs. 36 of these are for the kids in my DD's and DS's classes. Thank goodness for snow days or I'd be behind! HEHE! This has been a lot of work, but I'm very happy to have done it!

Those are absolutely adorable!! How did you make them?

Those are so cute!

Seems like the pics didn't really turn out as well as I'd hoped. My battery was going dead, so I think that is why.

These are machine embroidery with and In-The-Hoop design. They have a back on them, so there are no strings showing. Most are made with felt. One Gingerbread Man and some of the snowmen were made with cotton fabric. I prefer to work with felt on these guys. I didn't have any brown felt, so I had to use fab on Gingy, but I found some at JoAnn's before Christmas.

I had a hard time with these guys because of several issues.

The June Tailer adhesive didn't want to stick. Maybe it is too old. I've had it a couple or so years. Maybe it just didn't like to stick to felt and/or the stabilizer I was using.

I bought 2 different kinds of stabilizer off eBay to work on these projects with.

Before I ordered the 505 spray from Connecting Threads (Thank you to those who recommended that!--it was a lifesaver!!!), I was using a gluestick. Elmer's! It works.

Before I got the better stabilizer, I was using some thinner kind that wasn't thick enough. The machine was embroidering the design right out of the hoop. A lot of stitches. So, I tried to use masking tape to be able to save the designs. Well, that gummed up the needle and caused tons of problems. I thought it was the gluestick, but it was the masking tape.

After getting the good stabilizer that worked, the designs didn't want to tear out without leaving a feathery, edge to the designs. Too bad! I left it at that! It was working. I think it gives them a little more character!

I found out, during these many designs, that my machine does NOT like Rayon thread! :( BOO! I ruined a few of these designs befor realizing what was going on. I stopped using Rayon, and I haven't had any problems. It was major. The top thread was going into the bobbin area and winding around the bobbin! THen, jamming into the feed dogs, and then it would all get tangled into the design. Some were saved, most were ruined. IT created huge holes in my designs and lots of problems. I broke several bobbins on these projects because it would wind around them and pop them up against the cover and pull until it messed up everything. I also wasted a lot of thread! :(

The day before yesterday, I was working on a few of the last ones. They were going smoothly without the Rayon, and the needle just fell out of the machine. I had broken one needle during the trouble with the thread, and I guess I didn't get it back in tight enough. I'd never had that happen before.

I tried embroidering the gingerbread man onto foam (the foam sheets?) once before I could find my brown cotton fabric and when I didn't have felt....it worked, but it didn't look really well. It also embroidered his eyes right out of his head. So, he needs beads for eyes. I'm not sending him to school with the rest of these guys, though.

Here they are COMPLETE! BTW, I forgot to tell you what they are! They are candy cane holder ornaments!!

more

Wow! You have been busy. They look great.

In the top picture on my last post...the third Gingy from left is the one made from cotton fabric.

Miranda,
They are the cutest candy cane holders, I have ever seen!! :D
You have done a magnificent job making them. I assume they are for Christmas next year? Too cute!! :thumbup: Thank you for sharing with all of us!!
:D :D :D :D

No. My kids didn't go to school for the two days before break because of the weather. (Snow days). So, our school missed their Christmas party, Santa, gift exchange, and all activities. They were supposed to go back Monday, but we've had snow days yesterday and today. They haven't been to school for 3 weeks!! The rest of the week does not look promising. ;) THanks for the comments. :D