Dapper Doodle Bug (In-the-Hoop)

We have our first-ever guest artist stuffy here at Urban Threads, from the fantabulous Robin Romain of Rawbone Studio! This little gothy bug is a little bit specialized to put together, so we have a special little tutorial just for him! Or her. We don't want to get too presumptuous around here.

Lets start with those templates, shall we? It may look at first glance that your bug is made up of nothing but wings. This is a mistaken assumption, and while it were neat if these were the kinds that needed buffalo sauce, rest assured he is more than wings. Plus bugs and buffalo sauce don't go well together. I trust this is the kind of advice you can take without further evidence. 

The extra wings are for the back and front of the bug, the rest is the bug himself. Cut out around your template shapes to get them ready for trimming. 

Lightly spray the back of your templates with adhesive, and carefully cut out all your shapes. Take extra care with the antennae shapes, as they are pretty tiny. These are cut out of the stiff felt to better retain their shape.

Here are all your little buggy bits, ready to go! Ok, four is still kind of a lot of wings, but this is coming from someone without any. Perhaps I'm just jealous.

How do you put your little buggy together? Like this... 

First, the dieline for your wings will stitch. Take the first four of your wings (two big and two small) and lightly spray the back of each with adhesive. Carefully place them on top of your dielines, completely covering them, and keeping them centered. Once you set your machine to stitching again, a tack down will stitch, holding the wings down, and then the little winged details will sew. Once these have stitched, stop your machine, take your hoop of your machine, and turn it over. Take the last four of your wings (two long and two short again) spray them, and place them in line with the others, on the back on the piece.

Flip your hoop right side up again, and it will sew a final tack down stitch around your wings. After that, the dieline for the body will sew. Spray the back of your black body piece first, and place it on top of the dieline (once again, completely covering it) and then add the head in the same way. The head will overlap the top of the body just a little bit. It's a little different, this layered effect, but it works just fine and looks pretty dandy if I do say so. Once your body pieces are in place, a tack down will sew all the way around them. After that, the little bug features will sew. Aww... look how happy he looks.

Finally, you're going to take your design off the machine one more time. Turn it over and add your antennae to the top of the head (you may tape them down inside the head if you wish) and then lightly spray the body and add that on top. Take care that it lines up with the body shape on the front.

Put your buggy back under the machine and sew the final tack down. Your buggy is done!

Well, almost done. Tear him free from his stabilizer. You might need to carefully tear away the bits between his wings and such, to completely remove all the leftover stabilizer.

Now he just needs to plump up. Since this little bug is so tall and thin (lucky bugger) you might need a pencil or other thin object to help you get the stuffing up into his brains. Hmm, tall and thin, and fluff for brains. This bug might have a career in Hollywood.

When you bug is nice and full, stick him under your sewing machine and stitch the gap at the bottom shut, following the shape of the dieline.

And your fabulous buggy wonder, courtesy of the stitch-y wizardry of Robin Romain, is finished!