Decor hoops
I can clearly remember seeing ladies working on embroidery projects and quilts with wooden hoops, and it always seemed so advanced and intimidating to me. How did they do it? What was their secret? Well not too long ago cruising my local craft store I stumbled across a wide variety of wooden hoops after seeing a beautiful collage piece done with one. Thinking beyond needlepoint and embroidery I started to imagine the possibilities for some crafting fun. Inspired, I called upon several Fiskars Design team members as well as some trusted Fiskars sewing tools to make some wonderful wooden hoop projects that would be fitting to grace the walls of any home.
* use fabric that is heavy weight, or back your fabric with a second piece to give it more weight and prevent stretching out. * draw (lightly) a circle around where your hoop will lay so that you are sure that your work will be seen, and not outside the hoop. * You may want to create (at least most) of your work before actually fixing into place inside hoop. It can be easier for some materials and to prevent more stretching. * Don't be afraid to mix it up! Paper, chipboard, photos, glitter, buttons, thread, fabric, and anything else you can imagine can work!
 Designed by: Susan Weinroth When asked to create a “hoop” that showed off my own style, I immediately thought soft and quilted with clean lines and cute colors! And thus, the baby elephant nursery décor hoop was born, so to speak. This little hoop will hang in my niece’s nursery – and bears her name, “Ellie”. This basic design can be transformed in so many different ways to adjust to your own personal needs. Think of replacing the elephant with a large monogram initial, or another animal, or embroidering a whole saying or message onto it. Also consider the simple step of spray painting or staining your basic hoop – I spray painted this hoop a shade of antique white, so that it would better match the décor of the nursery.  To create a hoop similar to the one that I made, simply start by choosing a base fabric – I choose a pink fabric with a subtle print – trim it using the rotary cutter and cutting mat – making sure that it is larger than your hoop. Layer batting behind it, and then layer muslin behind that – pin all layers together. Sketch or trace your shape (elephant) onto the wrong side of the fabric you want it to be made of and cut it out using microtip scissors. Pin shape onto background fabric and use an appliqué stitch all the way around the edges of the shape to secure it to the background. Cut a small elephant “ear” from dark pink polka dot fabric – pin then appliqué onto elephant. Sew button on for eye. Use embroidery thread and a backstitch to stitch baby’s name above the elephant. Secure all into you hoop – which I spray painted white to match the nursery furniture – and tie top with ribbon.
Supply List: 18x24 Cutting Mat, 45mm Comfort Grip Rotary Cutter, Classic No 5 Microtip Scissors, Other: various patterned fabrics, various colored threads to coordinate with fabric, hoop, embroidery floss and needle, straight pins, sewing machine, pencil, spray paint
Designed by: Janna Wilson
 The background of the piece is while muslin; I suggest adding a lightweight fusible interfacing to this also—it gives a little weight to the the muslin and keeps it from stretching as well as keeps your threads from showing through on the backside. Save time by stitching the buttons and flowers onto the design at the same time. I finished the piece by adding some “grass” at the bottom and hand stitching the words and stems for the flowers. Don’t be afraid to mix patterns and introduce lots of colors into a project like this...have fun with it!
 Designed by: May Flaum This project was so simple and fun, I look forward to making more decorative hoop projects. I layed the inner hoop on a piece of pink felt and then drew a line around the outside of the hoop. Since this would not be seen in final project I did not worry about what type of pen I used. Next i used pinking shears on one side of a floral fabric and layed it onto the felt. I repeated the hoop tracing and cut the fabric down slightly to work with.
I used a zig-zag stitch around the floral fabric (using my handy seam ripper on the 12-in-1 tool a few times!) and then embellished with my photo, buttons, Heidi Grace chipboard and flowers, and hand stitched. This project will look great in my hallway, and I plan on making several more photo decor hoops for Christmas gifts this year as well.
Supplies: Fiskars 12-in-1 sewing tool, pinking shears, 8" classic scissors, Heidi Grace flowers and chipboard swirls, other buttons, ribbon, and thread.
Designed by: Becky Novacek (Key tools: Flowers Ultrashapexpress Template, Classic No 5 Micro-tip Scissors, 7 inch Wooden Embroidery Hoop, muslin, fabric scraps, thread)
  Designed by: Kelly Purkey I am all about color and funky prints! For my hoop I picked out fabrics that would be bright and fun hanging on my white wall. I started by cutting the tree shape out with Softgrip Pinking Fabric Shears to give it a little texture. After stitching it onto the background, I added a yellow fabric bird and stitched it with a tight zig zag stitch. The blue belly of the bird was cut using Wave Fabric Shears and then stitched on.  For an extra fun touch I added some fun little sequins... what project doesn't need a little glitter? I chose thread that matched the sequin colors as close as possible and hand stitched them on to the leaves and bird. And don't be afraid to incorporate some scrapbook supplies into your sewing projects. For the tail of the bird I used fabric glue to add a piece of Heidi Grace punchboard. I painted glue onto the the piece and carefully sprinkled sequins on top. It's a sparkly, piece to hang up on the wall of my scrapbook room! By May Flaum with Fiskars Design Team « Back to Sewing |
