Embroidering on Stuffed Animals: Part 1

These stuffed animals with embroidered names are adorable and I’ll show you how it is done! 

We hope that you all had a safe and merry Christmas and that your new year will be blessed!

Part of the appeal of machine embroidery is that we can customize nearly anything, right? The key is being able to get that thing hooped properly.

Unless you want to construct your own stuffie or tear out existing seams, embroider, and stuff an existing stuffie, the first step is to get an embroidery blank that is built for embroidering. I am using Cubbbies and Embroider Buddies, available from AllStitch (no affiliation). They have stuffing pods that are easily removed through a zipper.

The important part is getting everything centered in the hoop. That takes some time, but is well worth the effort.

Marking the Crosshairs

I hooped a mesh cutaway stabilizer with centering crosshairs marked.

Since I didn’t want to mark the stuffed animal and would need a topper to embroider the name, I drew crosshairs on a piece of the water-soluble topper and centered it on the front of the stuffie.

I aligned the vertical line of the crosshair with the center seams at the neck and belly of the stuffie. (Note: This is another time when using SewTites, no affiliation, magnets is extremely helpful!)

Make sure the horizontal crosshair line is equal distances from the neck and belly seams. If you want the name embroidered higher or lower than center, just be sure that the right and left edges of the horizontal crosshair is the same distance from the seams.

Matching Stuffie Crosshairs to Stabilizer Crosshairs

Using a straight pin (or flat-top thumb tack), press the pin through the center of the stuffie crosshair and push it through the center of the stabilizer crosshair. I added a SewTites Dot there to hold the center points in place.

Gently lay one side of the stuffie away from the hoop. Add a SewTites magnet back under the hoop. Add glue stick or spray a temporary adhesive to the back of the stuffie. Press the pin through one of the crosshairs of the stuffie and push the pin it onto the corresponding stabilizer crosshair. When both crosshairs are aligned, press the stuffie to the stabilizer.

Add a SewTites magnet top to hold the layers to the stabilizer. Line up the other three arms of the crosshairs in the same way.

Check back next week to see how to make sure your embroidery is centered and level and that magnets are out of the stitching field before hitting start.