Easy coffee-cozy

Save the trees and your hands! Use this stylish little reusable coffee sleeve so that you don’t burn your hands on hot drinks. A perfect little gift when paired with a coffee shop gift card.

Skill: Beginner

Time: 15 min software time, 20 minutes sewing time 

Required: Hatch Embroidery Basics

Features: Combine Designs, Reshape, Lettering, Duplicate

What you’ll need...

  • Embroidery machine with Hoop to fit 140mm/5” design  (larger hoop better but not essential)
  • A 75/11 sharp sewing needle (general purpose)
  • 3mm wool felt
  • Medium weight cutaway stabilizer
  • Temporary adhesive spray
  • Embroidery thread (we’ve used Madeira Classic 40, #1074)
  • Scissors

 

 


Let’s get started

Use Standard > Open Design to open an existing embroidery design.

Use Manage Designs > New From Selected to create new designs based on designs selected in the embroidery library.

Open coffee cozy template

  •  Go to the Windows Start menu or desktop and click the link to your embroidery software.

  • Note the 'toolboxes' on the left side. These contain the main tools you will use, from start to finish.
  • Select Manage My Designs. The Embroidery Library will appear in the design window. 
  • Navigate to My Embroidery > Projects > Easy Coffee-Cozy. Select the file 'Coffee Cozy - template' and click New From Selected. The template file will open in new design window leaving the original file unchanged.

We have used a basting stitch to mark out the template. There’s also a vector line draw across the center of coffee cozy. This is to help us align the objects later on.

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Choose your machine

The software supports various sets of machine model. This in turn will determine your hoop selection. See also Machine selection.

Use Customize Design / Standard / Layout > Insert Design to insert another embroidery design into the current design. Design palettes are merged. This tool is also available via File menu.

Use Customize Design / Context > Background and Display Colors to set colors, fabrics, or articles as design backgrounds.

Insert designs

  • Go to the Customize Design toolbox and select Insert Designs.
  • Go to the same project folder, select both antique sparrow crest-w and fern run-w designs and click Open. 
  • Move the fern run-w design aside. We'll come back to it later. 
  • Go to the Customize Design toolbox and click Background and Display Colors. Or right-click the design window and select Background from the popup menu. In the dialog, set the background color to white.

Modify crest

Thought you needed to know how to digitize to create something new? Think again! With just a few edits we will create a personalized crest

Use Select > Select Object to select an object or group. Or drag a selection marquee to select multiple enclosed objects or groups.

Resize crest

Firstly, we're going to resize the crest to fit within the template. Select the crest and set height to 45 mm. Place it in the middle of the template. 

Use Context > Group to group a selection of objects. Or press <Ctrl+G>. This tool is also available via Arrange menu.
Use Context > Ungroup to ungroup to a grouped selection. Or press <Ctrl+U>. This tool is also available via Arrange menu.

Delete sparrow

For this step, we're going to delete the sparrow with twig.

  • With the crest still selected, click Ungroup or press <Ctrl + U> so you can work on individual parts of the crest.
  • Select the sparrow with twig and press Delete on your keyboard. 

Use Lettering / Monogramming > Lettering to create embroidery lettering onscreen using native embroidery alphabets or TrueType fonts.

Add initial

  • Select the grayish blue color from the Design Palette.
  • Select the Lettering tool. Double-click to open the Object Properties docker

  • Key in your initial - e.g. 'A' - into the text field.
  • Select a font from the droplist. For this style, a serif font would work best. In this case, we have chosen ALGERIAN.
  • Adjust font size via the Height field - e.g. 8 mm.
  • Use the arrow keys to nudge it into position.

  • Click outside the design area to make sure design and lettering are not selected before proceeding.


Edit fern run

Edit the fern run to create a belt-like effect

Use Select > Select Object to select an object or group. Or drag a selection marquee to select multiple enclosed objects or groups.

 

Resize fern run

Select the fern run and  set width to 100 mm. Place it in the middle of the template. 

 

Use Context > Group to group a selection of objects. Or press <Ctrl+G>. This tool is also available via Arrange menu.
Use Context > Ungroup to ungroup to a grouped selection. Or press <Ctrl+U>. This tool is also available via Arrange menu.

Delete runs

Ungroup the object and delete the top & bottom runs in the same way you have deleted the sparrow. 


Create design layout

Now we need to adjust the angle of the fern run object, and duplicate them to complete the design

Use Context > Group to group a selection of objects. Or press <Ctrl+G>. This tool is also available via Arrange menu.
Use Context > Ungroup to ungroup to a grouped selection. Or press <Ctrl+U>. This tool is also available via Arrange menu.

Rotate and position fern run

  • Drag a box around the components of the fern run object and press <Ctrl + G> to group.
  • select the fern run and click a second time. The selection handles turn into rotation handles.  
  • Click a handle and drag to rotate the entire flower on its axis. 

  • Rotate and place the stem of the each fern along the center line of the template.

Use Layout > Mirror-Copy Horizontal to mirror and copy selected objects horizontally.

Duplicate layout

  • Select the fern run, leaving the crest unselected.
  • Go to the Layouts toolbox and select the Mirror-Copy Horizontal tool.
  • Simply align the center line with the center of the coffee cozy template and click. The copies are mirrored around that center line.

Finalize design

Now let's finalize the design and preview of the finished result!

Use Design Palette > Change Design Color to show or hide the My Threads docker to find threads from different charts and change design colors.

Set thread colors

You can set up My Threads to display your own brands of thread and the specific colors you own.

  • Open the My Threads docker and click My Thread Charts
  • In the dialog you can find ‘Madeira Classic 40’. Click to add to the My Threads docker.
  • In My Threads, browse through and select a preferred color. Double-click to transfer to the Design Palette. In this case, we have chosen '1074'.
  • Optionally, recolor elements by holding down the <Alt> key to select.

Click View > Show Hoop to show or hide hoop. Right-click for settings.

Use Context > Rotate Hoop Left 90° to rotate selected hoop in 90° increments to the left.

Use Context > Rotate Hoop Right 90° to rotate selected hoop in 90° increments to the right. 

Select hoop

Now we’re going to select the hoop that the machine will use, and ensure the design fits within the stitching area.

  • Right-click the Hoop icon. You’ll see a droplist of all available hoops.
  • Select one that will fit the dimensions of the design. In this case we’ve selected GR (230 x 300).
  • Usually you would leave the default position to Automatic Centering, but this time change it to Manual.
  • Click OK and your hoop will appear around your design. If it doesn't, make sure the Show Hoop icon is toggled on.
  • You will need to rotate the hoop so the design fits within the hoop boundary.

    If the template doesn't fit in your hoop, you can simply print the template out and stitch it on the felt then cut out with scissors. See Print designs for details.


Output design

Now we’re ready to send our design to the embroidery machine!

Use Output Design > Save Design As to save the current design with a different name, location or format.

Save design

  • Go to the Output Design toolbox and choose Save Design As. To make it easy to keep track of your designs, the default location is a folder called ‘My Designs’ in the Embroidery Library.
  • Create a file name and save the design as native EMB to ensure you retain all the valuable information stored in the design file.

Use Output Design > Export Design to convert current design to a format other than your selected machine.

Export design to machine files

The software saves designs in to the 'all-in-one' EMB file, containing objects, colors and stitch information. This makes it easy to edit later and retain quality. However, embroidery machines only require a stitch file. Machines vary in the types of file format they require.

  • In the Output Design toolbox, select the Export Design option. You can then find the format your machine reads. If you’re not sure, check the instructions provided with your machine. The stitch file will be saved in a folder called My Machine files for easy reference later on.
  • You can now transfer this file to your machine. This would typically be via USB stick or through a connection application provided with your machine. See also Machine selection.

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Hoop felt & stitch out

We are going to stitch out our coffee cozy design on felt. This will provide insulation for the cozy.

  • Lightly spray your stabilizer with adhesive spray and smooth your felt on top.
  • Simply line up over the bottom part of your hoop and press the top piece firmly down to secure.
  • Now you are ready to thread up your machine and start stitching!

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Construct coffee cozy

Now comes the fun part...

  • Simply cut along the basting stitches of the coffee cozy. Remove any loose threads.

  • Fold your coffee cozy in half, inside out, and sew a 1/8 seam using a zigzag stitch along the edge.

  • When finished, turn the coffee cozy right side out. Now you’ll never mix up your coffee with someone else’s!
  • Oh, one more step… why not take a photo and share your creation!