2 ways to showcase thread in your quilting project | 8 steps to WOW!

Yesterday I used Mont Marte Signature Fabric Paints and Odif OdiShine Glitter Gel to show you the 12 easy steps to stencil tea towels.

Today I’ll start my 3D flower banner by making a quilted background that will attach to the black banner background I created in my QUILTsocial post on January 8^th entitled Sewing a hanging sleeve to your quilt, the easy way. I’ll follow the same basic steps for layering but I want to use one of the threads from the SULKY Cotton Petites 6 Spool Thread Set – Rosewood Manor Assortment to quilt in straight lines and do some topstitching.

To make this little banner you’ll need the following materials.

• 11″ x 14″ cotton fabric for top of quilt
• 12″ x 15″ cotton fabric for backing
• 12″ x 15″ batting
• 30″ of binding – this project is great for using leftover binding from other projects

Assemble your fabrics and notions.

Step 1 Assemble your quilt sandwich and mark the quilting lines.

I’ll use a fine light spraying of the Odif 505 Temporary Quilt Basting Adhesive Fabric Spray to secure the three layers together. Then I’ll use the Point and my Omnigrid ruler 6”x 24” to draw a series of vertical lines on the top of the quilt sandwich.

Draw a quilting line on the top of the quilt sandwich.

Step 2 Adjust the tension.

Since I want to use one of the threads from the Sulky Cotton Petites 6 Spool Thread Set – Rosewood Manor Assortment (which are intended for hand use) to machine quilt this little quilt, I’ll need to adjust the tension on my sewing machine to accommodate this thicker thread. I’ll use regular sewing thread in the bobbin and do some test quilting on a scrap fabric sandwich until I find the length of stitch that I like and the correct tension.

Test your stitches on scrap fabric to adjust length and tension.

TIP You can use almost any thread that is on a spool in your sewing machine. You just need to remember that your machine tension is a balance between the top tension and the bobbin tension. If you see the top thread on the back of the quilt, you need to increase the top tension (go to a higher number). If you see bobbin thread on the top of the quilt, you need to decrease your top tension (go to a lower number).

Step 3 Machine quilt.

Now that my tension is adjusted and I picked a stitch length that I like, I’ll machine-quilt my sandwich along the drawn lines. After those lines are stitched, I’ll quilt on either side of these lines using the side of the machine foot as the width guide.

Machine quilt using the drawn lines as a guide.

Step 4 Trim the quilt.

After all my quilting lines are stitched, I’ll use my rotary cutter and my Omnigrid Ruler – 12½” x 12½” to trim my little quilt sandwich to 8½” x 12″. This is the same size as the Valentine’s Day banner that I showed you how to make in my QUILTsocial post – 7 simple steps to lovely wool applique | A Valentine’s Day banner.

Trim to 8½” x 12″.

Step 5 Sew on binding.

Next, I’ll sew the binding onto the outside edges of the quilted banner. You can do this with whatever technique you like to use. I’ve talked about my favorite method of binding a few times on QUILTsocial or you can check out some of the other contributors’ posts about how they like to sew on the binding.

Usually, you sew binding onto the front of the quilt and then fold it around to the back. But since I want to use one of the spools of Sulky Cotton Petites 6 Spool Thread Set – Rosewood Manor Assortment to topstitch the binding on the front, I’ll first sew the binding to the back of the quilt.

Step 8 Topstitch binding.

Now that the binding is sewn on, I’ll flip the folded edge to the front of the quilt and topstitch it about ⅛” away from the edge. Since this thread is thicker than regular sewing thread, it will give it a nice, finished look. When I get to the corners, I’ll use my Clover 876 – Ball Point Awl to hold the corner fold down until I’ve stitched it. This awl comes in handy for lots of things, but this is probably my favorite job to use it for.

Use an awl to hold down the folded corner until it’s stitched.

Here is the finished quilting and topstitching done with the Sulky Cotton Petites 6 Spool Thread Set – Rosewood Manor Assortment thread. I love how the stitching looks with this heavy-weight thread.

A close-up of the quilting and topstitching

Since our quilted background is now complete, I’m excited for the next step – making 3D flowers and leaves with HeatnBond EZ Print Feather Lite and Odif Fabric Booster – 200ml – see you tomorrow!

This is part 3 of 5 in this series

Go back to part 2: 12 easy steps to stencil tea towels using Mont Marte fabric paints

Go to part 4: 2 essential products for making 3D flowers out of fabric

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