Noah's Ark Sew-a-Story

Dozens of designs can tell the story of Noah's Ark 
hundreds of different ways.  Inside and outside versions of the ark, plus animal pairs, portholes and accessories make it easy and fun to sew the cherished story.

The inside and outside of the ark are both available as a regular embroidery design and applique.  Both will sew from right to left.

After sewing the bow of the ship, mark the fabric for multiple hoopings.  We used a piece of masking tape and extended it horizontally, following the deck of the ark. This will be used to line up the next piece.  The bow and stern of the ark both curve slightly - be sure to follow the line of the ark as it straightens out.
 

Remove the top part of the hoop and set it aside. With one hand hold the bottom hoop so it doesn't move, and with the other hand slide the fabric over enough to accommodate the next section of the ark.  Do not rotate the hoop or the fabric.  Use the masking tape as a guide to ensure that the fabric is kept straight.
 

Rehoop the material.  Embroidery Library designs usually start and end in the center.  However, for the ark designs, we have made a common start and end point to facilitate the alignment of the pieces.  The blue arrow on the masking tape (circled in red) shows the common start and end points.  The needle will end on the top left point of the bow, and the next section will start on the upper right corner of the center piece.  After rehooping the fabric, align the needle with the common start and end point.  Lower the needle to ensure appropriate placement.
 

The middle sections can be repeated as often as you like to increase the size of the ark.  In our sewout, we repeated the center section once, so our ark has four sections:  a bow, two center pieces, and a stern.  Start and end points are in the upper right hand corner for the center and stern.

As you rehoop, keep extending the tape.  The bow and stern sections curve up very slightly, while the center pieces are straight across.  Repeat steps for rehooping and aligning as mentioned above.

After the frame of the ark has sewn, begin adding elements. When adding a cabin, the center point is the center of the bottom so that you can align it with the deck.

Pick the pens for your animals.  We put the elephants and pandas on the deck, sewed the macaws flying overhead, and put Noah in the cabin with a broom and a bushel of apples.
 

We continued to add to our sewout.  Monkeys join Noah in the cabin, and giraffes wait patiently on the deck.  Polar bears and wolves are in the bow section.  Ostriches, penguins, kangaroos, llamas are all cozy in their compartments.  A water trough, hay bales, and other supplies add a lot of depth and character.

The next example is an applique design - the outside of the ark.  The design is in three pieces, and the middle section can be repeated to make the ark larger.  The same principles of lining up the design pieces and rehooping apply.  Click here for Applique Instructions.
 

In short, the same principles of rehooping and aligning apply.  The only difference is that pre-cut fabric is used to fill in the ark.  The dieline will sew first.  You can use the dieline to cut your fabric by printing a template or by sewing on light cardboard (tagboard) and using that as a template for your fabric.  After you have the pre-cut fabric, hoop the large piece of fabric (the one that all the ark pieces will go on) and run the dieline again.  Apply spray adhesive to the pre-cut fabric, and place in the dieline.  

After the applique piece is in place, the second part of the file will run a "zig-zag" stitch or "tack-down."  This holds the material in place for the satin-stitch border. 

You may repeat the center piece as many times as you wish to increase the size of the ark.  For this example, we did not repeat the center piece.

After finishing the applique ark, you can add the cabin.  Normally Embroidery Library designs start and end in the center of the design; however, for the cabin piece, the center point is on the bottom of the design so that you may line it up easily with the ark top.

Portholes with animals peeking out are perfect accents to Noah's Ark.  10 animal portholes include zebras, elephants, hippos, giraffes, toucans, rhinos, lemurs, deer, camels, and penguins.  An eleventh porthole features Noah with an outstretched hand - either feeling for rain, or awaiting the return of the dove.

In our story, Noah reaches out for the dove who is flying through the rainbow.

Remember, there are over 50 designs in this series, which means that you can sew out the story in hundreds of different ways.