Applique Embroidery Project: Easter Placemat

Marcia Socas
by Marcia Socas
2 Materials
$20
2 Hours
Medium

Applique Embroidery Project


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I love sewing, embroidering, and applique, but I’ve learned that (for me) my sewing ability for an entire project doesn’t come out as precisely as I’d like.

So, often it’s quickest, easiest, and looks best when I start with an existing product (like these adorable place mats I found at Home Goods) and simply personalize them.

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  • Products used in the Easter placemat applique embroidery project:Embroidery machine (I use a Husqvarna Viking Jake 35), but you can use a simple sewing machine as well! (steps for this are at the end of the embroidery machine applique tutorial)
  • Placemat
  • Polka dot fabric for applique bunny
  • Fabric scissors
  • Small scissors for more precise cutting
  • Stabilizer
  • Large embroidery hoop (I used 240 x 150)
  • Embroidery thread

Step by Step with photos of Applique Embroidery Project

How to do applique embroidery

I measured where I wanted the bottom left corner of the design to be. This way, once I put the project into the embroidery machine, I could line up the mark with the edge of the design. This allows for all the placemats to look uniform.

Once it was marked, I hooped the place mat.


Hooping for applique embroidery

To start, I cut a piece of sturdy stabilizer to add to the bottom of the hoop.


How to hoop for embroidery or applique: The bottom part of the hoop goes on the bottom, the stabilizer over that, then the placemat, and then the top hoop.


Be sure to tighten the screw completely, as this is a mistake I’ve made before and everything has come loose later in the process leading to frustration and a big mess!

Once you’re marked and hooped, you’re ready to go into the machine!


Prepare your embroidery applique project design

If you’d like to use the bunny that I used, you can grab the silhouette from my free resource library and use your embroidery software to covert it to an applique for your machine. Or, just grab a downloadable bunny applique from Etsy to save some time.


Begin applique stitching

I lined up my mark with with the edge of the embroidery, and got started. The machine will first stitch out an outline stitch and stop. This will show you where to place the applique fabric.


Place your fabric for the applique over that first set of stitches.

Once you place the applique fabric onto the design, the second set of stitches will stitch out to hold it in place.

Then it’ll look like this:

Take the hoop out of the machine but do NOT unhoop it. You’ll now use sharp scissors to trim around the design. Trim as closely as possible.

Then put it back in the machine and hit “start” again so that it can place the thicker border stitch around the edges.

I also changed thread for the contrasting color for the name.

Alternate method of applying applique using a sewing machine:

If you don’t have an embroidery machine, you can create this Easter placemat using a sewing machine and just a few additional steps.


  1. Download and print a bunny silhouette from the internet, or just grab the one I used here from my site’s library. It’s free. Tip: print it onto a sturdy paper like cardstock.
  2. Cut out the silhouette from your cardstock. This is your template for your placemats.
  3. Place the template onto your applique fabric and draw the outline using a fabric marker.
  4. Pin down your applique fabric onto your placemat exactly where you want it to be
  5. Slowly use your sewing machine to stitch along the bunny outline you created. It should look like this when you’ve completed this step:

6. Then cut out the fabric on the outside of the stitching

7. Look through your machine presets for stitches and use a tight stitch (like a really tight zig zag not a straight stitch) that will create the border around the bunny. You’ll need to slowly swivel and move the fabric and placemat to run this stich around the Easter bunny border. Have patience in this step and it’ll come out great!

8. Using a sewing machine, I wouldn’t add an entire name, but just the Easter bunny applique or the simple addition of an initial would look great and can be done with the sewing machine.


Happy Easter!

Suggested materials:
  • Placemats   (home goods)
  • Fabric   (joanns)
Marcia Socas
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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