Completing the Growth Chart on the Brother Luminaire XP2

Happy Friday! Yesterday, I showed you a quick and easy way to create an applique using an embroidery design and add words to the design as we continued construction of our growth chart. Today will be another easy day, as we finish the project on the Brother Luminaire 2 Innov-ìs XP2 Sewing, Quilting and Embroidery Machine using basic sewing techniques.

The Brother Luminaire 2 Innov-ìs XP2

1. Turn on the Brother Luminaire XP2 and select the Sewing icon. Select stitch number 03 and change stitch length to 3mm.
2. Thread your machine with black thread and place black thread in the bobbin as well. You can use either cotton thread or all-purpose thread.
3. Replace the all-purpose presser foot and shank with the Muv-It Foot included with the Brother Luminaire XP2. Snap on the Dual-Feed Stitch-in-the-Ditch Foot. Stitch in the ditch around the inside perimeter of the outside border. Pin through all the layers on the outside of the banner.

Stitch in the ditch with the Muv-It Foot and Dual Feed Stitch-in-the-Ditch Foot.

4. Change the Dual-Feed Stitch-in-the-Ditch Foot to the all-purpose foot that came with the Muv-It Foot. Set your machine to a stitch length of 4mm and sew around the outside of the banner using a ¼” seam allowance.

5. Using either a rotary cutter or scissors, trim the excess fabric, batting and backing from of the edges of the banner.

6. Set your machine to a zigzag stitch 3mm wide x 3-4mm long and sew around the outside raw edge of the banner. This makes the binding easier to apply.

7. Measure the length of the banner and cut a white strip of fabric 2″ longer than the length x 5″ My banner measured 61″, so I cut the white fabric 63″ x 5″.

8. Fold the strip in half lengthwise with wrong sides together, and sew with a ¾” seam allowance. You’ll end up with a long tube.

9. Finger press the fold opposite the seam. Shift the seam so it aligns with the finger-pressed fold and press with iron for a sharp crease on both sides. The seam will now be in the middle of the back of the strip. Set strip aside.

10. With white chalk, mark a line ¾” away and parallel to the sashing border on the banner. Align one of the creased edges of the white fabric strip along the marked line, overhanging the raw edges at top and bottom. Pin well.

11. At the machine, change thread color to white. Select Category 2 on the main page, select stitch 2-04, change stitch length to 4.0mm, and L/R shift to -1.25mm.

12. Change presser foot to the Dual Feed Stitch-in-the-Ditch Foot. Place the foot guide along the edge of the crease on the white strip and sew with the applique stitch along folded side. Repeat for other side of white strip.

Sew the white fabric tube to the panel with the Stitch-in-the-Ditch Foot and an applique stitch.

13. Place the banner on a flat surface and align a ruler or measuring tape alongside the white fabric. Use this measuring device to transfer markings to the white fabric strip with a fabric marker for measuring the height of your toddler.

14. Cut two pieces of 6″ x 6″ squares from the same fabric as used for the backing. Fold each square on the diagonal, wrong sides together, with the corners meeting; press. Pin in both corners at the top of the banner, aligning the raw edges with the edges of the panel. Baste in place using a 4mm stitch length.

Fold the 6″ squares in half on the diagonal and press.

15. Measure around the outside perimiter of the banner. Divide this number by the width of your fabric to determine how many binding strips you’ll need to cut. My banner perimeter measurements were 18 + 18 + 61 + 61 = 158. I added 8″ for mitered corners, so my total was 166″. I divided 166″ by the width of my binding fabric (43″) and came up with 3.86. I rounded up to get 4 strips.

16. Cut the number of strips at 2½” x width of your binding fabric.

17. Replace the white thread with a thread to match the binding and sew the strips together end to end to make one long strip.

18. Fold the strip in half lengthwise, with wrong sides together; press. Place the all-purpose foot on the Muv-It foot and select the straight stitch.

19. Pin the raw edge of binding to the wrong side of the banner and sew a ¼” seam, mitering at the corners. Once the binding is stitched into place, you may wish to press well for easier turning.

20. Turn the binding to the right side of the banner and pin into place. Replace the all-purpose foot with the Dual-Feed Stitch-in-the-Ditch Foot. Place the guide alongside the fold and position the needle using the L/R shift feature to move it to the right so it just grabs the fold. Sew into place.

21. Position the two embroided Mickey hands we created yesterday on the banner and pin to secure.

22. Set your machine for straight stitch, place the free motion embroidery foot on the machine with the feed dogs lowered, and stitch the hands into place with free-motion stitching. If you’re not comfortable with free-motion stitching, engage the feed dogs, snap the N Foot on the shank and sew the hands into place with a straight stitch.

23. Measure and cut a ¼” dowel to fit inside the back corner openings to hang the project.

To hang the banner, measure and lightly mark 24″ up from the floor on the wall. Align the 24″ marking on banner with the mark on the wall. Place a nail in the wall or door to align with the dowel, and hang the banner. You’re ready to start measuring your toddler and recording the date using the line guides.

A closeup of the applique hand

The Disney gang growth chart is finished!

I hope you’ve enjoyed learning new techniques using some of the features Brother Luminaire 2 Innov-ìs XP2 Sewing, Quilting and Embroidery Machine has to offer. The XP2 has so many timesaving features to make your projects quick, easy, and professional looking! I hope you enjoy this growth chart with your little one and watch how they grow over the years.

Happy Sewing 🙂

This is part 5 of 5 in this series

Go back to part 4: How to add letters to an applique with the Brother Luminaire XP2

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