Simple Embroidered Earrings With 3D Printed Frames

I've seen embroidered earrings before and just love them, but I've always thought the frames seemed a bit chunky. I was printing with tulle one day and then thought that would be perfect for embroidery earrings. I would design the 3D printed frame of the earring, add the tulle into the print, and then embroider on the results!

I'm really happy with how these embroidered earrings came out and have had fun experimenting with shapes. Embroidering them almost feels like coloring book embroidery and I'm just filling in the blanks with color! Some of these designs look especially nice with variegated colored flosses and satin floss.

Instructable 381

Check out my shop on Etsy! You can also purchase these earrings on Etsy.

3D Printed Frames:

• Tinkercad
• 3D Printer
• Filament - just regular PLA is fine here, though you could try Wood Filament to be more like embroidery frames
• Blue Painters Tape
• Tulle - I like to match the color to the frame, though it mostly shouldn't be visible once you embroider on it, most of my silver frames are done with Ivory Tulle

For Cutting and Embroidery:

• Embroidery floss - variegated looks good for some designs, satin floss looks fantastic but is a HUGE pain to use
• Cross Stitch Needle
• Flush Cutter - for trimming off the tulle, or you can use what works for you
• Scissors

For Jewelry:

• Jump Rings: I'm using 5mm .8mm gauge rings to attach to the piece, and 4mm .8mm gauge rings to attach that ring to the earring
• Earrings
• Needle Nose Pliers

Any Amazon links are Amazon Associates links and go along with that program to earn me a bit a money if you purchase using the links.

I created the frames using Tinkercad.

You can make whatever design you want, but you need to think about length (for how far it hangs down), thickness, and a hole for hanging.

I kept mine no more than 57mm long (remember that the earring and jump rings will add length to your earring as well) and made them 2mm thick. You could go a bit thinner if you wanted, but you don't want them to bend and you don't want them too chunky.

I started with some basic shapes (circle, teardrop, and upside down diamond, and then later tried some newer ones (diamond chevrons, and voronoi polygon).

You can do the hole in any way you prever, but I like to make them not as noticable. So, instead of a loop tacked onto the top, I try to enlarge the area I want it (if it isn't big enough already) and then add a Torus shape for the hole (I've found this works better with the jump rings than the cylinder hole). I also try to make the hole 2mm wide if possible but try not to go smaller than 1.5mm to make sure my 1mm jump rings will fit.

Something else that can be handy when making the earrings is to make a shape (such as my diamond shape made from two roofs together), export it as an SVG, re-import the SVG, and utilize the SVG import options of Outer Line and Inner Line.

For the design, go for what works with what you want to embroidery. A large opening makes for better space for designs, whereas smaller spaces are better for just filling in with color.

Once you have your design, you need to Slice it for the printer and add the pause for the tulle. I usually add the tulle halfway through a print but this actually doesn't make it appear halfway through so you could do it a little sooner than that.

When you place the earrings on the bed in the Slicer, think about where the printer head will move when it pauses so it won't be in the way and think about how far apart they are and how wide your tulle is. Like, if your tulle is only 5.5" wide and you span your earrings 6" it can just make it more difficult when it comes time to add the tulle.

I like to add 4 layers for a little extra holes to embroider on and extra stability. I definitely recommend adding more than one layer.

Once your earrings are done, you need to trim the access tulle. I usually cut them all apart with a scissors and then trim it all down with a flush cutter. I've tried an exacto knife and haven't had much luck and I've also heard of someone using an eyebrow tweezer to pull out the threads on the side, so it's up to you!

For the style that I cut out the center as well (diamond with smaller diamond inside), I used the exacto knife and did my best to clean it up with the flush cutter.

Now have fun embroidering your earrings. For all of my designs, I separated my floss into sections of 3 strands and when I used variegated, I tried to cut the floss so I had the whole range of colors.

If you are doing a cover all design, like mine, I recommend trying to make the back look almost as nice as the front. Then, when it twists it won't be as noticeable. I also tried to change up my embroidering so that some were longer, some were short, and tried to not go in and out of the same holes over and over again.

In the second image you can see how I started with my tests (left) and then how the design changed as I decided how I wanted to embroider them (to the right). I started with trying to do a design, but I'm not good at it and it didn't look good front and back so I eventually went with cover all embroidering.

The third image shows the back (right) versus the front (left) and while the back is worse, it has a lot of coverage. If you are going to do that, make sure you use enough floss though you can always start and add more.