Friday, October 28, 2011

Embroidery Hoop Turkey Tutorial

I know we haven't even gotten through Halloween yet, but I'm moving on to Thanksgiving :) I saw Betz White's embroidery hoop snowman on Pinterest, and that got me thinking about what other wall decorations I could make with embroidery hoops. I decided that a Thanksgiving turkey might be possible. Since "burlap" is this month's Point of View theme, I thought this might be a good project to put together this month. So... here is my project for the October Point of View reveal...


This turned out better than I ever imagined it would. Isn't he adorable?!?  This is an unbelievably quick and easy project, too. There is no sewing involved. All you need is a glue gun. Want to make this cutie for Thanksgiving?


Here's the how-to...

Materials:

  • 4" and 7" embroidery hoops
  • burlap, 7" square and 10" square
  • felt (Scraps will do for the face and feet. You'll need larger pieces for the feathers.)
  • cardboard (I used a Cheez-It box from the recycle bin.)
  • glue gun
  • scissors
Instructions:

Step 1: Print out these templates at 100% (no scaling, do not "fit to page")...


Step 2: Stretch your burlap inside of your embroidery hoops.


Trim the burlap to 3/4" from the edges of the back of the embroidery hoops. Use your glue gun to glue the edges of the burlap to the inside of the back of the hoops.


Step 3: Take your two embroidery hoops and place the smaller hoop over the top portion of the larger hoop, making sure that the screw on the smaller hoop is at about 5 o'clock. The felt snood will cover the screw. Use your glue gun to glue the two embroidery hoops together like so...


Step 4: Using the templates from Step 1, cut out the beak (yellow), snood (red), two eyes (black or dark brown), and two feet (brown) from your felt.

The red piece is called the "snood". Ignore the feet in this picture... I ended up cutting the legs shorter.
Use your glue gun to glue your felt face pieces to the small embroidery hoop, covering the screw on the smaller hoop with the red snood.


Flip your hoops over and glue the feet onto the back of the large embroidery hoop.



Step 5: Cut out your felt feathers using the large feather template from Step 1. You need five feathers. I used green, yellow, purple, red, and orange felt. Cut out 5 cardboard feathers using the smaller feather template.


Use your glue gun to glue one cardboard feather to the back of each felt feather. This will add stability to the feathers so that they won't flop over when your turkey is hanging up.


Step 6: Fan out your feathers to your liking. Set your turkey body on top to make sure you like the look of it and that it fits. Remove the turkey body. Starting with the bottom layer of feathers, begin gluing the feathers to each other everywhere that they overlap until all five are firmly attached together.


Glue the back of the large embroidery hoop of your turkey body to the feather assembly. You're done!


* In order to hang my turkey, I glued a paper clip to the back of the center feather at the very top of the cardboard. Also, I was a little concerned about how stable the turkey would be using my glue gun to put it together, but I was pleasantly surprised by how sturdy it feels.*

Doesn't he look similar to my Thanksgiving place card printable that I designed last year?


I'm still thinking of other embroidery hoop ideas. A Santa Claus or a reindeer might be next!

Now it's your turn... Check out this month's Point of View collage and link up your past or present burlap-themed projects at the Point of View Burlap Link Party!




I'm linking up...

monogramDesigner Garden


40 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness! This is too cute for words!

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  2. SO Cute! Pinned it!

    new follower via Creation Corner

    Come by for a visit- I know you'll find something delicious!

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  3. He is absolutely adorable! And leave it to you to make sure the properly label the Snood. ;)
    Love this project!
    xoxo,
    Amy

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  4. I LOVE this! It's super cute :) And I never knew that thing was called a "snood"...I always called it the gobbler, lol! Great job!

    Coming over from http://chasing2monkeys.blogspot.com

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  5. So cute, Gwen. Your girls will love him!

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  6. This is adorable. Thank you so much for giving such great detailed instructions. Can't wait to make one for my front foyer wall embroidery hoops.

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  7. This is sooooooo CUTE!! I love this little turkey. Such a fun new way to make one!

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  8. What a clever idea! I just inherited a bunch of hoops from my Mom and I am totally going to be making a turkey like this with them! I would love for you to share this idea with us at our first ever 4th Friday finale @ Over the Big Moon!

    Thanks for the inspiration!
    Lisa

    http://overthebigmoon.blogspot.com/2011/10/4th-friday-finale-102811.html

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  9. super cute idea!!! love the burlap!

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  10. Love this. I would love it if you linked up to my BFF Open House going on now.

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  11. SOOOO cute! I repinned the snowman and now I've pinned this! love it!

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  12. Hey pretty girl ! you know as soon as I saw this linked at Jen's party I knew it belonged to you...its so you ! perfect ! I hope you are wel...have a great weekend sweetie! xo
    Lu

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  13. Great idea! Love using the hoops for projects. I just used one for a wreath.

    Melissa
    www.lovebugliving.com

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  14. I love it! I pinned it so I'll remember to make it later :)

    chocolatemoments.wordpress.com

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  15. Oh my gosh, he is so cute! Thank you for sharing. :)

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  16. OMG I love him!! He is just so darn cute! Thanks for sharing the tutorial :)

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  17. Oh my goodness, this is just adorable!! I will be taking my Halloween mantle down next week and was looking for something Thanksgiving-ish to add to my mantle. This will be just perfect. Thank you for sharing it!

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  18. Your rotund little turkey speaks to my heart! So colourful yet rustic... so simple yet effective. Great job Gwen! You've done it again!

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  19. That is stinkin adorable! I think I want a whole family of them LOL! I am actually trying to line up guests on my blog that have tutorials for the upcoming seasons. Would you be willing to share this? Please come link this to my VIP party this weekend http://designergarden.blogspot.com/2011/10/vip-party-34.html and have a Happy Halloween!

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  20. This is so, so clever Gwen. A very adorable project and excellent tutorial. Love. I think I would keep that special turkey up all year round.

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  21. Gwen this is one of the cutest things you have come up with yet! Love it!

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  22. Oh Gwen this is so adorable! What a clever idea and your projects are also so "professional" looking... fun!

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  23. Oh how I love him. So cute. This is definitely on my to-do list.

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  24. So cute! Can't wait to make this...thanks for the awesome tutorial ;)

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  25. Great tutorial. Thanks for the clear pictures and instructions!

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  26. Love this project! What a great idea Gwen!

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  27. really really cute! looks great!

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  28. really really cute! looks great!

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  29. Absolutely precious!! Definitely going to have our kids make these for Thanksgiving decor. Thanks for sharing!

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  30. What an adorable turkey! Doesn't seem like there's as many thanksgiving crafts out there. Would love if you wanted to share it at my Abundantly Thankful linky party!

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  31. Thank you for sharing this! I saw it last week and decided I had to make one (or more) of these. Went to Joann's and all their 4" & 7" hoops were sold out! So I went to Michaels and found one of each, Now I'm excited that I will get to make it this weekend.

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  32. SO cute!! Love everything about this turkey! You did an amazing job :)

    I also wanted to let you know that you've been featured on my blog today!
    http://www.artsyfartsymama.com/2012/11/pinteresting-features-n-shtuff-57.html

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  33. Thanks for the tutorial. I just made one and it turned out so cute!

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  34. I just made this, it's great! The screw on my small emb hoop was too big to be covered by the snood. I wrapped it with string, tied it tight and tossed out the screw. Glad to have such a cute project that didn't take all day! :)

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  35. I am a grandma new to blogging and computer stuff. This is the cutest turkey ever. Under step I did not see anything to download templates. Help! Would love to make these with my granddaughters.

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  36. I am new to blogging and Pinterest. Just love your turkey! Would like to make these with my granddaughters. Under the step to download the templates, don't see anyplace to click to download. Help!

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  37. @Janice Carpenter... Sorry the download button is showing up for you. You can use this direct link to access and download the template: https://app.box.com/shared/oy0p8vjptt0ud4ghnt7f

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