MEGA SALE! Save 60% on 1000s of In-the-Hoop Designs

Save Now

Applique Trivet (In-the-Hoop)

applique chicken in-the-hoop trivet machine embroidery design

Bring cheery color and playful style into your kitchen with in-the-hoop trivets! These specialized embroidery design feature insulated fabric in the center, decorated with adorable applique details. Your choice of fabrics makes each trivet as unique as you. Follow along below to create your own!

Supplies & Materials:

Project Needs & Notes: 
- Small pieces of quilter's cotton
- Insul-bright insulated lining
- Tear away stabilizer
- Temporary spray adhesive (such as Gunold KK100)
- Ribbon for hanger (optional)

Design featured in this tutorial is:

X14459, Farmhouse Chicken Trivet (In-the-Hoop)

When you download the in-the-hoop trivet design, you will find multiple files. One is an embroidery file, and the others are dieline files marked with the letters "DL".

Dielines are used to cut the fabric to the correct shape and size. Open each dieline file with embroidery software and print it. Learn more about working with dieline files by watching this video.

First, spray one side of a piece of Insul-bright with temporary adhesive. Smooth the Insul-bright onto the wrong side of the back piece fabric.

Insul-bright is on the bottom, with the fabric ontop, wrong side up

Then spray the back side of the printed back piece dieline with temporary adhesive, and smooth it onto the right side of the back fabric.

The dieline is cut with a large margin of error, and adhered to the fabric stack

Cut the back dieline shape out of the adhered fabric and Insul-bright. Then remove the paper dieline.

The dieline shape has been carefully cut from the paper stack, and then the paper removed

Next spray the back of all of the remaining paper dielines with temporary adhesive. Then smooth them onto the right side of the appropriate fabrics.

Fabric stacks for the various parts of the chicken have been prepared

Cut out all the remaining dieline pieces. These should only be fabric, and should not have Insul-bright on the back.

Cut out and assembled pieces of fabric into the places they would be for a chicken

Once all the fabric pieces are cut to the correct shapes, it's time to embroider the design. Hoop a piece of tear-away stabilizer. Madeira E-Zee 1.5 oz or Floriani Tearaway Medium are good choices. Those brands are more fibrous, less like paper, and will tear more cleanly.

A hooped piece of tear-away stabilizer

Attach the hoop onto the machine, and load the embroidery file (not the dieline files).

Use a 75/11 sharp sewing needle instead of an embroidery needle. The sharp sewing needle has a finer point, and it will make smaller perforations in the stabilizer.

Embroider the design. The first thing to embroider will be a dieline (or outline stitch). This marks the area on the stabilizer where the fabric piece will be placed.

Dieline of the chicken body

After the dieline has sewn, remove the hoop from the machine, but do not unhoop the stabilizer. Spray the wrong side of the first fabric piece (here it is the body of the chicken) with temporary adhesive. Place the fabric on the stabilizer inside of the sewn dieline.

Fabric of the chicken body in the hoop

Then place the hoop back onto the machine, and embroider the tackdown for the previously placed fabric piece. A tackdown holds the fabric piece in place for the remainder of the design.


Chicken body with tackdown

Then follow the color change sheet, and sew the next dieline step (here it is for the tail of the chicken).

Chicken body with tackdown, tail dieline

Repeat to remove the hoop from the machine, spray the wrong side of the fabric piece, place it inside the sewn dieline, and embroider the tackdown step.

Chicken body and tail

Then continue to follow the color change sheet, and sew the dieline for the next fabric piece (here it is the wattle of the chicken).

Chicken body and tail, wattle dieline

Repeat again to remove the hoop from the machine, spray the wrong side of the fabric piece, place it inside the sewn dieline, and embroider the tackdown step

Chicken body, tail, and wattle

Continue to follow the color change sheet, and place each fabric piece inside of its dieline before sewing its tackdown step.

Different trivets have different fabric pieces, so look at the color change sheet carefully.

The chicken applique is completely tacked down

Once all the front fabric pieces (not the back side with the Insul-bright) are tacked down into place, embroider all the inner details.

Make sure to stop before sewing the "back piece tackdown" step.

The wing of the chicken is outlined in satin

Some trivet designs, such as this  Rustic Wood Slice Trivet (In-the-Hoop) , do not have any decorative applique details. In this case, simply continue stitching after laying down the front fabric piece, to embroider all the inner details. Stop before sewing the "back piece tackdown" step.

A trivet showing a top down slice of tree trunk

Before sewing the "back piece tackdown" step, remove the hoop from the machine, and turn it over so the back side of the embroidery is facing up.

To add a hanger onto the trivet, cut a length of ribbon 7" long, and make it into a loop. Then tape the loop into place along the top center edge of the trivet.

The backside of the hoop, with a loop taped on with masking tape

Then spray the back side of the back fabric piece with temporary adhesive, and smooth it inside the shape on the back side of the embroidery.

The back of the hoop, with the back fabric added

As all the bobbin stitching from here on out will be seen from both sides, wind bobbins to match the remaining thread colors used into the design.

Thread with matching bobblin

Place the bobbins into the machine so the bobbin always matches the top thread. Follow the color change sheet to embroider the rest of the color change steps.

The finished chicken in the hoop

Once the embroidery is finished, carefully tear the excess stabilizer away from the outside of the trivet.

The finished chicken trivet, torn out of the stabilizer

Shop Applique Trivets (In-the-Hoop)