Tutorial: Machine Embroidered Fabric Bracelet

As sewists we are all guilty of being too serious. Everything has to be perfect, we have no time to play and really learn our sewing machines. Right?  Oh yes – I know this is true and yes – I am guilty as charged. That is why I have enjoyed writing these blog posts and hopefully inspiring you to do a bit more playing with your sewing machine.

I’ve had a blast checking out the Husqvarna Viking Designer Ruby Royale. There are so many bells and whistles, well it could make your head spin and sometimes after all that experimenting, we want to make something.

I have a small and quick project for you this week – a machine embroidered fabric bracelet.  If you do not have an embroidery sewing machine, you could use decorative stitches from your sewing machine or try using some trim. Either way, get your thinking cap on and see what creative ideas you come up with.

Fabric for the front and back of the bracelet

Fusible fleece (not shown)

Embroidery thread

Covered button forms

Elastic

Embroidery designs

The first step is to choose a design(s) that you will embroider onto the bracelet fabric. The ones I choose all came from the built-in embroidery designs in the Designer Ruby Royale.

I thought I would economize my time and embroider four bracelets at once. Since I did not any of them identical to each other, I cut a strip of four different fabrics and sewed them together. Then I hooped all four fabrics as one.

I choose and placed the embroidery designs using the Embroidery Edit screen on the Designer Ruby Royale. It was easy to position the items using the large interactive screen so that each design was placed in the correct position on my multi-fabrics in the hoop.

Once the embroidery was complete, I separated the four different fabrics. I am only going to focus on the orange bracelet.

I trimmed the bracelet to the unfinished size  (2 1/4″ wide by 8″ long). The size is dependent on the size of wrist and the type of stitching on the bracelet. My finished size is 1 3/4″ by 7 1/2″. I have also trimmed that lone blue flower which I am going to use to cover a button.

The fusible fleece was trimmed 1/4″ smaller on ALL sides from the measurement of the bracelet. – in this case that is 1 3/4″ by 7 1/2 “.

Using the tool that comes with the buttons to cover kit, I made the covered button.

In a deal world, we would be able to purchase colored elastic. It is not that easy to find. I have used hair elastics from the dollar store which comes in a variety of colors, but the quality is sketchy so I didn’t want to chance that the elastic would deteriorate quickly.

I found some narrow elastic in my supply box. Hmmm – it is going to look very boring with white or even black elastic on that bright orange bracelet.

I took an orange permanent marker and simply colored the white elastic and it came out orange. Enough to disguise the white elastic.

Center the fusible fleece on the wrong side of the front of the bracelet and fuse with a hot iron.

Baste the elastic on the right side of the back of the bracelet.

Sew the front and back of the bracelet together leaving an opening so you can turn it inside out.

Trim excess fabric from the corners. I cut the point off and then an angle cut on the sides leading into the corner. Too much fabric in the corner makes a thick lumpy corner when turned right side out.

Before you turn the bracelet inside out, pre-press those seam allowances of the opening. I find it very hard to make a smooth crease along the seam allowance of the opening so I am trying to press it before I turn it right sides out. I used a lined index card as a guide to try and keep the edges of the opening straight.

Now turn the bracelet inside out and poke the corners out with a point turner. Instead of sewing that opening shut, I like to use a narrow strip of fusible webbing. I keep the paper on, insert the strip along one of the seam allowances inside the bracelet. Once it is in the correct position. iron in place. Remove the paper and iron the opening closed.  It is a fast and easy way to close up openings. I have better pictures in this post.

I love it. So bright and cheery and very lightweight. There are so many ways to customize the bracelet for you or as a gift. They are easy to make, and if you got a production line going – you could make a lot in a short time. Instead of using a covered button, you could use a regular button, a snap, or velcro. Make a small pocket in the bracelet for a key or coffee money so when you are walking the dog, you can stop for a coffee along the way.

Add lace or trims, use the decorative stitches on the sewing machine. Oh my – there are a  LOT of possibilities!!

I hope you enjoyed that tutorial on the machine embroidered fabric bracelet. Don’t be shy – I’d love to see what super idea you came up with for your machine embroidered fabric bracelet.

Before I close out, I would like to thank Paula for sharing this. She followed my tutorial (scroll to the bottom of the post) to make the tags for insertion into your projects. Paula used the built-in alphabet on her sewing machine to create her tag.

Making the machine embroidered fabric bracelet was a snap with the Husqvarna Viking Designer Ruby Royale. The large hoop meant that I could make four at a time or even more depending on the width of the bracelet. It was easy to position all the designs with the large interactive screen.

Tomorrow I will wrap up my session with the Designer Ruby Royale by highlighting the top ten reasons why I love the Designer Ruby Royale. If you have followed the posts, I bet you can think of several of them. Stay tuned for tomorrow’s post to see if you are right!

Have a great day!

Ciao!