Assembling the Christmas Tree Quilt

Doing things a little differently…

Usually when I make applique quilts I do the center applique stitching first, add the borders next, and then layer and quilt. This time, however, we’re going to do things a little differently. We’ll be assembling the Christmas tree quilt by adding the borders first and then fusing the applique. We’re also going to layer everything before we do any applique stitching, so that that stitching also serves to quilt the wall hanging. But, I’m jumping ahead of myself, so let’s get back to today’s work.

Assembling the quilt

Your background fabric should be cut to 22″ x 27″.

Now, you need to cut the strips for your borders. From your inner border fabric, cut 3 or 4 strips that are 2″ x the width of fabric (WOF). If your border fabric is more than 44″ wide (like mine was), cut three strips and cut one of those in half. If it isn’t that wide, cut four strips x WOF. From these, cut 2 borders that are 2″ x 22″ and sew them to the top and bottom of the background fabric rectangle. Cut two borders that are 2″ x 30″ and sew these to the remaining two sides.

For the outer borders, cut four strips that are 4½” x WOF. From these, cut two borders 4½” x 25″ and sew them to the top and bottom of the quilt. Cut two borders 4½” x 38″ and sew these to the sides of the quilt. Your quilt should now look something like this:

Preparing your tree for fusible applique 

Press your tree shape very flat and then place right side down on your ironing board. Cut strips of fusible web that are 2″ wide and place them along all of the outer edges of the tree shape. Iron in place. If you want to ensure your ironing board is protected, place a silicone pressing sheet under the tree before ironing.

Once the tree has cooled, move it to your cutting mat and trim the outer ¼” from all the edges of the tree, making sure to not cut off any of the points where the triangles join.

Peel the backing paper from the fusible web and place the tree, trunk and star (right sides up) onto the backing fabric. Move them around until you’re happy with the placement and then iron in place following the fusible web manufacturer’s instructions.

Layering your quilt

The next job is to layer the quilt sandwich. Iron your backing and place it on a flat surface with wrong side up. Place your batting on next. Then, position your quilt top with right side up, centered on the backing and batting.

Use your favorite method to baste the quilt sandwich. I love to use 505™ spray when basting small projects like this. Here is a video that shows how to use basting spray:

Tomorrow we quilt!

Now that we’ve finished assembling the Christmas tree quilt, the next step is to applique, embellish and quilt, which we’ll be doing tomorrow with our Spotlite metallic threads from WonderFil – see you then!