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I know the eyes are the trickiest part of my applique patterns.

I’ve got a video here showing some tips for outlining them, and I have a tutorial here showing a cheater-pants way to stitch the very small Paper Doll quilt eyes on many regular sewing machines.

But I’ve heard from several of you who have embroidery machines and want embroidery files to satin stitch those eyes – including the larger ones.

That would be awesome! But I don’t have an embroidery machine and I have no idea how their files work. 🙁

We were chatting about this in one of the video Q&A sessions, and Ceil followed up after the session by putting me in touch with Titania Creations – someone who specializes in designing patterns for embroidery machines.

Thanks Ceil!

Titania Creations created a set of files for oval eyes that I’m giving away for free here.

Yep – free!

The eyes are all ovals in various sizes – from 1/8″ tall (great for the Paper Dolls quilt pattern) up to 1 1/4″ tall (great for the Silly Sloths quilt pattern).

You can find all the files here.

Here are the details. . .

Sizes

• 01 = 1/8 inch tall
• 02 = 1⁄4 inch tall
• 03 = 1⁄2 inch tall
• 04 = 3⁄4 inch tall
• 05 = 1 inch tall
• 06 = 1 1⁄4 inch tall

Machine Formats

• PES – Brother / Babylock
• XXX – Singer
• JEF – Janome
• VIP / VP3 – Pfaff / Husqvarna
• HUS – Husqvarna
• EXP – Melco / Bernina (Bernina also uses .ART but this is not available commercially)
• DST – Tajima / Industrial machines. Any machine can use DST format but most home embroiderers don’t like to use it because it does not retain any colors.

So if you need a 1/2″ tall eye and you have a Janome embroidery machine. . .

1. Go to this link.
2. Double click on folder 03 for the half-inch eyes.
3. Download the file ending in JEF.
4. Wave a magic wand to get that file onto your embroidery machine.
5. Stitch your eyes.

You can see that my knowledge of this process breaks down at Step #4. 🙂

I’m hoping that if anyone has a question they can ask it in the Shiny Happy People group and someone who actually HAS an embroidery machine will be able to help. 🙂

Oh! And these files can also be used to machine-embroider eyes on softies, for those of you making them for kids too young for the safety eyes. Hooray!

Here are links to all the posts showing how to applique with fusible adhesive – my favorite method. It’s fast and easy and (with the right materials) it holds up beautifully to rough use and repeated washing.

• How to Applique with Fusible Adhesive – a very basic intro
• How Durable is Applique with Fusible Adhesive?
• Fusible Applique the Easy Way – the way I currently work – use with any of my patterns that include SVG files
• How to Use a Light Box to Layer Your Applique – perfect placement every time
• How to Applique with Fusible Adhesive – photo tutorial – use with any of my patterns that do not include SVG files
• How to Applique with Fusible Adhesive – video tutorial – use with any of my patterns that do not include SVG files

Here are links to special posts about eyes.

• Easy Eye Options for Applique
• Using Fabric Markers and Paints for Small Eyes
• Free Embroidery Machine Files for Machine-Stitched Eyes
• How to Machine Stitch Eyes without an Embroidery Machine
• How to Minimize Show-Through on White Eyes
• How to Applique Dark Eyes on Dark Faces
• How to Add Catchlights to Eyes

Here are links to some extra fun things you can do with your applique.

• How to Add a Baby Animal to Any Block
• How to Squish Two Animals into One Block
• How to Add Playful 3D Bits to Your Applique
• How to Add Soft 3D Pieces to your Quilt Block
• How to Add a Door (that Opens!) to Your Quilt Block
• How to Give Your Monster an Underbite
• Fake Trapunto (Stuffed) Applique
• Broderie Perse Applique

Other Applique Methods

• How to Applique with Freezer Paper
• How to Do Needle Turn Applique

Finished with this topic?

Return to the Let’s Make a Quilt main Table of Contents.

Move on to the lessons about outline stitching.

Happy stitching!