Long-Legged In-the-Hoop Animal Magnets

Long-Legged In-the-Hoop Animal Magnets

Long-Legged In-the-Hoop Animal Magnets

Stretch your creativity with
these Long-Legged In-the-
Hoop Animal Magnets!
Spindly spiders, elongated
elephants, far-reaching frogs,
flamboyant flamingos, gangly
giraffes, and magnificent
monkeys fill your fridge with
animal magnetism. Hold the
grocery list, pictures, art
projects, or anything else with
these lanky companions.
These magnets make a
perfect gift for kids of all ages!
Not only can these designs be
used on the refrigerator, but
they will be happy to stick to
any magnetic surface, like file
cabinets or desks. Be sure to
brighten up the office with
these colorful critters!

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Long-Legged In-the-Hoop Animal Magnets

Supplies needed:

** Fabric (we used felt and
cotton)
** Cutaway stabilizer
** Tear-away stabilizer
** Temporary spray adhesive
** Hot glue
** Button magnets or self-
adhesive magnet tape
** Ribbon (1/8 inch to 1/4
inch wide, pipe cleaners,
cord, or yarn

Designs used:

** A Long-Legged Animal Magnets Design Pack

When you download a magnet
design you'll find six files. Four
of the files are marked with
"_DL," that stands for
"dieline." The dielines are
what we'll use to cut the fabric
to the exact shape of the
magnet. The dieline for the
body piece is labeled with the
letter "a". Dielines for the feet
are labeled with the letter "b".
If you have embroidery
software, open the dieline files
and print them at full size.

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Long-Legged In-the-Hoop Animal Magnets

Preparing the fabric for
the body piece
First, spray a piece of medium-
weight cutaway stabilizer with
temporary adhesive.

Smooth the fabric for your
magnet on top of the
stabilizer. We are using a low-
pile fleece fabric to make the
body of the magnet and light-
weight canvas for the feet.

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Long-Legged In-the-Hoop Animal Magnets

Place the paper template on
top, and cut out the shape.
Do this for the front dieline
and the back dieline.

Dielines are labeled DLFront
for the front fabric and DLBack
for the back fabric.

If you don't have embroidery
software, then you can
embroider the dielines. Cut a
piece of cutaway stabilizer to
be slightly larger than your
hoop. Spray the stabilizer
with temporary adhesive.

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Long-Legged In-the-Hoop Animal Magnets

Smooth the fabric on top.

Hoop the fabric and stabilizer
together.

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Long-Legged In-the-Hoop Animal Magnets

Load the dieline file to your
machine and embroider the
dieline.

After the dieline has been
embroidered, cut out the
shape of the front dieline and
back dieline.

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Long-Legged In-the-Hoop Animal Magnets

Embroidering on the
body piece
Now that the fabric pieces are
cut and ready to go, it's time to
make the body piece of the
magnet. Hoop a piece of tear-
away stabilizer.

Load the full embroidery
design into your machine; that
is the design that begins with
the letter "X" followed by 4
numbers. The body piece is
labeled with the letter "a".
Embroider the design. The
first thing to be embroidered is
another dieline which traces
the shape of the body on to
the stabilizer.

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Long-Legged In-the-Hoop Animal Magnets

Spray the back side of the front
body piece with a bit of
adhesive.

Place that inside the sewn
dieline on the stabilizer.

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Long-Legged In-the-Hoop Animal Magnets

Continue to embroider the
design. The next thing to sew is
a zig-zag stitch, and this tacks
the fabric down to the stabilizer
and hold it in place during the
rest of the design's tack down
stitch is being embroidered.

Other elements of the design
will embroider next.

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Long-Legged In-the-Hoop Animal Magnets

On the color change sheet you
will see a note that says "back
piece tack down". When you
get to this point, stop the
machine.

Remove the hoop from the
machine, turn it over, and place
the back fabric piece inside the
shape.

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Long-Legged In-the-Hoop Animal Magnets

Optional

Wind a bobbin with the same
thread as the top needle and
use that for the remaining steps.

Attach the hoop to the
machine, and continue to
embroider the design. The
next thing to sew is a tack
down stitch which binds the
back fabric to the stabilizer.
The final satin border gives
the body piece a professional,
clean finish.

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Long-Legged In-the-Hoop Animal Magnets

Remove the stabilizer from the
hoop and gently tear away the
excess stabilizer.

Preparing the fabric for
the feet pieces
Repeat the fabric cutting
process for the feet pieces.
Cut the front and the back
fabric using the "DLBack"
dielines. The dielines for the
feet pieces are labeled with
the letter "b".

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Long-Legged In-the-Hoop Animal Magnets

Embroidering the feet
pieces

Repeat the embroidering
process for the feet pieces.
The embroidery file for the feet
is labeled with the letter "b".
After the design has been
embroidered, gently tear away
the stabilizer.

Adding the "legs"

Cut equal lengths of ribbon,
cord, or yarn to hot glue gun
one end to the back of the
body piece. We used a 6 inch
length of ribbon for each foot;
however you can use any size
you wish.

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Long-Legged In-the-Hoop Animal Magnets

Add a drop of hot glue to the
ends of the ribbon and press
the feet in place.

Adding magnets

Add small strips of self-
adhesive magnet tape to the
back of the body and feet.

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Long-Legged In-the-Hoop Animal Magnets

Or you can hot glue small
button magnets to the back of
the body and feet pieces.

A fun variation to ribbon is to
create legs out of pipe
cleaners! Wind the pipe
cleaner around a pen or pencil
to create a spiral shape.

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Long-Legged In-the-Hoop Animal Magnets

Then, glue the pipe cleaners
to the back of the body and
feet.

Your refrigerator has now been
inhabited by long-legged
creatures! Luckily, they do not
eat much.
Click here for a printable
version of these project
instructions.
You'll need to have Adobe
Acrobat Reader installed on
your computer. If you don't have
it, you can download a free copy
by clicking on the icon below.

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