BEE-LIEVE Embroidery Hoop Ornament Tutorial
I’m participating in the Riley Blake Designs “Hush Hush 2” Ornament Project Tour. This is the 2nd a unique collection of low volume prints made by a variety of Riley Blake fabric designers. They are great blenders for any project – and for ornaments!
Embroidery Hoop ornaments for the Christmas Tree are a fun was to use fabric scraps and make unique keepsakes.
An Embroidery Hoop Ornament can be great for gifts or things to sew and sell and craft fairs or online.
My contribution to the “Hush Hush 2” collection is the Humble Bee print. You might recognize the bees and honeycombs adapted from my Bee’s Life collection.
For my ornament I paired my Humble Bee with Reminisce – a beautiful script text print – by Jill Finley. For a pop of color perfect for a vintage Christmas or to use any time of the year I chose the Riley Aqua from the Confetti Cottons basics.
I can’t remember the last time I did any embroidery but it’s like riding a bike and came right back to me as I embroidered “bee-lieve” across the aqua fabric band. I chose “bee-lieve” as a nod both to the Christmas season and the bee at the top of the ornament.
STEP-BY-STEP DIRECTIONS
SUPPLIES
RILEY BLAKE DESIGNS FABRICS:
- Confetti Cottons Riley Aqua
- Hush Hush 2 Reminisce by Jill Finley
- Hush Hush 2 Humble Bee by Tara Reed
OTHER SUPPLIES:
- Fusible Fleece
- 3” embroidery hoop
- Embroidery floss – I used a gray (DMC 535)
- 12″ Coordinating pom pom trim (5 mm shown)
- pencil or fabric pen
- Hot Glue Gun & Glue
- Ribbon to hang the ornament
- FREE Text Pattern
CUT YOUR FABRICS AND TRIM
- Hush Hush 2 Humble Bee – FUSSY CUT 5” w x 3” h with the bee and honeycombs centered approx. ¾” from the bottom.
- Hush Hush 2 Reminisce – CUT a 5” w x 2” h piece
- Confetti Cottons Riley Aqua – CUT 5” & 4″ square pieces
- Fusible Fleece – CUT a 4″ square piece
- 5 mm pom pom trim – CUT 12″
- Ribbon to hang ornament – CUT 7″
MAKE THE BACKING FABRIC
- TRACE the outside of your closed embroidery hoop onto the non-fusible side of a 4″ square of fusible fleece.
- FUSE the fleece and the 4″ square of Riley Aqua.
- (optional) put clear nail polish or fray check around the edge of the fabric.
- CUT out the circle and set aside.
- If you prefer to use felt, TRACE the outside of your closed embroidery hoop onto the felt and cut out. Set aside.
MAKE THE BEE-LIEVE AQUA BAND
PRINT the “bee-lieve” text and trace it in the center of your 5″ square of Riley Aqua. Use a light desk or tape the word onto a window when it’s bright out, put the fabric over it and trace the word with a pencil or fabric pen.(fig. 1)
PUT the fabric in your embroidery hoop and tighten.
EMBROIDER the word using one or two strands of embroidery floss – I used 2 strands in the sample. If you want a more delicate look, use one. (fig. 2)
REMOVE fabric from the hoop and iron flat.
TRIM to 5″ wide x 1″ high, centering the text both vertically and horizontally. Make sure you have a little more than 1/4″ on the top and bottom of the embroidered text for the seam allowance – cut larger than 1″ if needed. (fig. 3)
SEW FABRICS TOGETHER
SEW the Hush Hush 2 Reminisce to the bottom of the blue band using a scant 1/4″ seam. (fig. 4) Pay attention to the direction of the text on the bottom fabric – it should be going up and to the right.
PRESS seam towards the blue fabric.
SEW the Hush Hush 2 Humble Bee fabric above the blue band using a scant 1/4″ seam.
PRESS seam towards the blue fabric.
FINISHING THE EMBROIDERY HOOP ORNAMENT
PLACE the fabric, centered, in the embroidery hoop. (fig. 5)
Turn over and TRIM the fabric around the back (fig. 6) so you can fold the fabric inside the hoop and attach to the wood with hot glue. (fig. 7)
HOT GLUE 5 mm pom pom trim (fig. 8) around the outside of the hoop – trim to fit.
PLACE hanging ribbon around the embroidery hoop screw and tie.
HOT GLUE the backing fabric or felt to the back of the hoop to hide the inner workings of your sewing and embroidery. (fig. 9)
It’s as easy as that! Of course you can play with your fabrics and colors to create a wide variety of looks using the same directions.
If you make and share any ornaments like this on social media be sure to tag me so I can see!
Happy Holiday sewing and crafting –
🎄 Tara Reed
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