Learn how to create applique with your embroidery machine. Hmmm. What does that have to do with serging? Nothing really, but my serger is busy working on another project that is not quite ready to share. So with Valentine’s day right around the corner, I thought I could spread a little holiday cheer with my colorful and cheerful conversation heart appliques.
My Inspiration
Are you familiar with those cute little heart candies with the words? Some people call them candy hearts and some call them conversation hearts. I’ve always known them as conversation hearts. Well, my daughter recently made these adorable conversation heart earrings for Valentine’s Day. Inspired by her earrings, I set out to make a conversation heart creation of my own.
February is National Embroidery Month
In the sewing machine world February is National Embroidery Month. Every year at the store we try to do something creative to celebrate this month. Since February also includes Valentines day, I thought a machine embroidery project that focused on hearts or love of sewing would be good. I recently learned how to “create” appliques using the built in frames in my embroidery machine. So I created my own machine embroidered applique conversation hearts.
I had so much fun making them that I put them on everything. Well maybe not everything, but a lot of things! I made several samples for inspiration and created free handouts to give out at the store. I thought that I would share them with you too.
Create Applique with your Embroidery Machine
Some embroidery machines are capable of creating new designs, but most can simply modify existing designs. I own a Baby Lock Unity sewing and embroidery machine. It’s a wonderful machine with good sized hoops, but it can not create designs, only modify them.
To “create” an applique on my machine I need to begin with a design or shape that already exists. There are many different built-in frame shapes in my machine. One of those shapes is a heart. And the heart frame is available with several different types of borders which can be used to create an applique.
There are several different steps to creating an applique on an embroidery machine. First there needs to be a placement line so you know where to place the applique fabric. Then there needs to be a tack down line that stitches the applique fabric to the background. The fabric needs to be trimmed. And then a line of satin stitches needs to be placed on top to cover up the raw edges of the fabric. And if you want you can add words or other designs on top of the applique. Even though there are several steps you need to do to create appliques this way, it’s really pretty easy once you understand the process.
This technique will work with all of the current Baby Lock embroidery machines (may not work with some of the older models). You can even do this on the entry level Baby Lock Verve. I’m not an expert on embroidery with other brand machines but if your machine has built in frame styles then you can probably do this with your machine too. The following link will take you to my instructions for creating applique with your embroidery machine using frames. https://overtheedge.blog/tutorials/conversation-heart-mug-rug/
Conversation Heart Mug Rug Free Pattern
After I created my conversation heart applique design on my machine, I tested it out on a plain piece of cotton fabric. The test was a success! So I turned the fabric with the appliqued heart into a mug rug. I added some decorative stitches and quilted it with my sewing machine. WIthout an embroidery machine you can still make this project. The only difference is that you would have to create the applique by sewing it instead.
The following link will take you to my instructions for creating your own Conversation Heart Mug Rug. https://overtheedge.blog/tutorials/conversation-heart-mug-rug/
Conversation Heart Bib
Isn’t my model a cutie pie?! Adding applique to a bib is another quick and easy project. I made my bib using flannel on the front and thin terry cloth on the back. But you could save some time by adding an applique to a purchased bib. I used a free bib pattern from MadeEveryday as the basis for my conversation heart bib. See the resources section of this blog post for the link to the free bib pattern.
Conversation Heart Table Topper
My conversation heart table topper was created from one piece of fabric which I embellished with appliques. After creating my quilt sandwich, I quilted the topper with a combination of echo quilting and small hearts using my sewing machine. A straight stitch, a standard presser foot and a lot of pivoting were used to quilt this project. The auto pivot function on my Baby Lock Unity is awesome!
Conversation Heart Tote
The final sample project I created was a tote bag. I used a free tutorial from SewCanShe as the basis for my bag, but added a few of my own special twists. The diamond quilted fabric was easy to make. All I had to do was to stitch lines across the polka dots! And I simply added a fabric strip with the appliqued conversation hearts on top of the quilted fabric. But instead of using traditional words on my conversation hearts, I used sewing themed words. Which means I still managed to work serging into my applique – Serge On! See the Resources section at bottom of this post for the link to the free tote tutorial.
Create Applique with your Embroidery Machine
The possibilities are endless. You can add these applique conversation hearts to just about anything! And you could have used your serger to make parts of these projects. My samples were all made with a sewing and embroidery machine because my serger was busy on another project…..
I hope you enjoyed my post about creating appliques using frames built into your embroidery machine.
Happy sewing, embroidering and serging!
Jen
Resources
Jen’s instructions for machine embroidery applique using built-in frames and conversation heart mug rug project: https://overtheedge.blog/tutorials/conversation-heart-mug-rug/
Free tote tutorial from SewCanShe: https://sewcanshe.com/2016-12-16-sweet-quilted-tote-free-sewing-tutorial/
Free bib pattern from MadeEveryDay: