New Year’s Eve DÃ©cor

quick-and-easy sparkly dÃ©cor to celebrate the new year

New Year’s Eve isn’t typically a holiday we celebrate with tons of decorating. We’re just getting past Christmas, after all! But, adding some sparkle with fun designs and threads doesn’t take much effort and can make the day (and night) more festive and fun.

NEW YEAR’S EVE TOWEL

Grab an embroidery blank and embroider a cute phrase or sentiment to welcome the new year. This featured design, “Cheers Embroidery” by Itch2Stitch, is available at Designs by Juju. The design is digitized for 40 wt. Poly Decoâ„¢ Thread.

Try substituting Sulky Poly Sparkle for some of the design elements for added glitz and glam. The lettering looks great with Poly Sparkle Gold with Gold Sparkle and the champagne inside the glasses looks perfect with Primrose with Gold Sparkle.

Sulky Holoshimmer is also a super sparkly thread that is suitable for some of the smaller elements in this design. Try using Holoshimmer Dk. Pewter for some of the bubbles and stars.

But first, slow down the machine speed, install a size 90/14 needle and consider using a Thread Director to make sure the thread winds off the spool horizontally facing the needle. This will prevent twists and turns, reducing thread breakage and tension issues.

There are a number of towel blanks to choose from. One with a colored border is nice, as it brings more color and interest to the party. However, it’s super easy to add a fabric border to a towel blank, too!

Here’s how to embroider a towel blank in no time for quick-and-easy New Year’s Eve dÃ©cor.

NEW YEAR’S EVE TOWEL SUPPLIES

Towel blank with no nap (such as the Black Bright Border Hemstitched Guest Towel)
Sulky Thread
- 30 wt. Poly Sparkle (grab a Gold or Silver Assortment!)
- Holoshimmer
- Poly Deco
- Bobbin
OrganÂ® Needles
- 80/12 Microtex (for lightweight towels)
- 90/14 Embroidery or Microtex (for Poly Sparkle & Holoshimmer Threads)
Sulky Fabri-Solvyâ„¢ Stabilizer
Fabric marking pen

HOOPING THE TOWEL

Decide on the embroidery design placement on the towel front. Mark the center cross marks on the towel using a removable fabric marker.

Hoop the towel with two layers of Sulky Fabri-Solvy, aligning the marked cross marks with the hoop markings. (If you have a preferred placement technique, by all means use it!)

Place the hoop onto the machine.

Determine which portions of the design to swap metallic thread (Poly Sparkle and/or Holoshimmer) and note those on the design color sequence chart. When swapping a different thread weight for the one intended by the digitizer, be careful to test-stitch to see if the heavier thread will work with the design. If the area has a heavy stitch fill, the thread may be too heavyweight, producing overlapped stitches or breakage.

Thread the needle with the first thread color chosen for the design. If using Poly Sparkle or Holoshimmer, make sure to use a size 90/14 needle. If using Poly Deco, make sure to use a size 80/12 needle. Use Sulky 60 wt. Bobbin Thread in the bobbin.

NEW YEAR’S EVE EMBROIDERY

Begin the embroidery. If working with a metallic thread, slow the machine speed considerably to ensure the thread doesn’t produce too much friction during the stitchout.

Clip jump threads with each thread change on the towel right and wrong side. When removing the hoop to clip the jump threads, be careful to not move the towel in any way between the hoop rings.

When the embroidery is complete, remove the hoop from the machine and the towel from the hoop.

Remove the fabric marker, according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Trim the stabilizer layers independently, close to the design perimeter. Plan to launder the towel to remove the water-soluble Fabri-Solvy; or moisten a cotton swab and saturate the design edges to release the stabilizer; let dry.