Does anyone have any tips on how to easily attach things like ears, legs etc to an ITH doll? I have several fleece ITH animal designs but have trouble attaching the appendages despite taping the items down. The embroidery foot has trouble going over the bulk without getting caught or shifting the item to be tacked down. I have slowed my machine, tapped everything down and tried to stop the stitching before I get to the thick areas but this only sometimes works. I have a Brother Innovis which is pretty tough in general. I know people have successfully made fleece 3D stuffies in the hoop so there must be some trick to this! One of my designs even has me fold the ear a bit for realism so the foot has to go over 5 layers to sew it on! Any advice would be appreciated.

You might also try grading the seams for the items so not all are the same height....and before you place the appendages in place. After grading the seams, it sometimes helps to give them a wack with a hammer to flatten the bulk...I know this may sound odd, but it does make a difference.

1 comment

by babash 02 Apr 2021

I know you are an expert at ITH embroidery and your advice was constructive about the hammer but gosh it made me smile. How many times have I wanted to do this to a machine when it wouldn't do what it should.
Put a big smile on my face for the rest of the day.

Thanks everyone for the advice. I will see if my machine allows me to sew with the foot raised. I have never tried that. But putting the appendages on afterwards sounds like a workable solution at present. The videos I see all make it seem so easy but I imagine these are more commercial embroidery machines!

I have made these and I stop my machine and go into my settings and raise the foot, sew on the appendage, put the foot back in original setting.

I'm so glad you asked this question. I haven't made any ITH animals with appendages so I had not even thought of this problem. I hope we get to see your finished animals in the Projects section.

I would skip the parts by stopping the machine before these sections, jump the machine after these sections and continue with the embroidery and like Wendy says add the arms etc on later and stitch with your sewing machine. Hope this does help a bit. Hugs Maureen

if you can alter the pattern it is much easier to leave the space for arms,legs open and slip them in after sewing on a sewing machine..wendy