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

THank you. See that huge post I made for more info.

OH, YEAH! I know! Busy is my new name. I worked on these a lot while folding laundry. I'd stop folding for a thread change...
Thanks!

Thank you!!

They are adorable.

Thanks!

Those are really cute!! You have been quite busy!

Thanks! I also did a doll quilt for the Nov./Dec. Swap. Then, there was that Christmas and New Year's thing! ;)

Busy keeps me sane.

They are adorable! What a nice thing for you to do.

Oh how cute and oh so much work!

So cute!

Awww these will be a big hit with the kids!!! :D:D:D

they are great... :-P

Thanks to everyone for all the compliments.

I'm wondering what something like this sells for at craft fairs and similar places. Any ideas?

Great job! Love all thedesigns.

Was all of the embroidery done on felt? Did you use stablizer on the back? After the embroidery was finished, is that when you cut the shapes out? Last,but not least, what kind of machine do you have?

Thanks.
Most of the designs were done on felt. Some of the snowmen and gingerbread men were done on cotton.

These designs have two sides. The back is just to finish the item and hide all the stitches. I embroider two (one for front, one for back) dielines onto (cut-away) stabilized (with temporary spray adhesive) fabric (of your choice) and cut them out. Then, I embroider the dieline (first step of the design) onto a tearaway stabilizer in the hoop. Then, place the front cut-out onto the dieline in the hoop after spraying with temporary spray adhesive. Embroider through all the steps until I get to "back piece tack down", then I take the hoop out of the machine and stick the back cut-out to the back/underside of the hoop. That is when I also add ribbon in the sandwich for hanging. Then, the machine will do back piece tack down and outer borders, then the candy holes, which are basically buttonholes. I don't cut them out, though. I use tear away stabilizer to embroider the designs on, so they just tear out.

I have a Brother SE-270D

They are delightful. I bet the kids loved them.

Thank you.
I can't seem to find out. We've had ANOTHER snow day. The kids had two weeks of vacation and missed 2 days before vacation. They were supposed to go back Monday, but we've been out all this week, too. We'll be lucky if they go back this week.

My goodness apart from being busy you are really artistic in getting all the colours right. That was a lot of work and I am sure you enjoyed every moment of it. It is such a good idea for the little ones. Have granddaughter who is turning six and you have given me an idea of what to do for her birthday party at school (she has one at school and then one at home). Obviously not so intricate, as I don't have a fancy embroidery machine and with difference characters. Must really put my thinking cap on... Thanks for sharing... ciao

These ornaments are so very cute. You did a fantastic job and I'm sure they will be the hit of the Christmas party.

So adorable!!!

I did enjoy it most of the time, but when the machine and thread didn't get along, it was disheartening. Glad I could give you some ideas! I think some designs would be good cut out with pinking shears (I got a pair for Christmas!). Good luck with your designs.

Thanks for more comments! :D

These are so cute and time consuming. You must have a real love for your class. They will always remember you for your kindness.

Yes, VERY time consuming. They are for the kids in my daughter's 2nd grade class and my son's Pre-K class. I thought the kids would really like them. I thought it would be something really special for them to keep forever. They're only little kids once, and I remember how I loved a special treat/keepsake as a child. :D

So very nice of you to do that for the kids. I do ME and can tell at a glance that you did an enormous amount of work ... even without the thread, needle, stabilizer problems. I'm happy that you (mostly) enjoyed doing them.

THose are just tooo tooo tooo cute! <wave>

LOL! Sometimes I wondered if I was really going to get that many done. I didn't have a lot of time to work on them, either! I figured out a way that made it go faster, though. I'd embroider enough dielines onto the felt for about 4 of them at a time. Then, while one was embroidering, I'd cut the others out between thread changes. If I finished cutting them out, I would fold laundry. Then, I had another ready to go as soon as the one in the machine came out! :D

Thank you, OMAK.

I love them.

they are great!!!!