Decking the Halls Cushion Cover makes a jolly gift

‘Tis the season for last minute gift making, right? I’m happy to tell you that it’s not too late to make up some festive gifts to give or simply add to your decor. If you’re like me, you tend to give away most of what you make for the holidays. This week I’m using the fantastic features of PFAFF’s creative 3.0 to help me make the Decking the Halls Cushion Cover to deck my own halls! We’ll explore the perfect built-in stitches and the IDT System to get it done in no time at all.

Join me and make one for yours!

materials

fabric

• 1 fat quarter for background of cushion front
• 2 fat quarters of different greens cut into 2″ strips
• scrap of fabric for 2 holly leaves
• 1 fat quarter for top back cushion panel
• fabric to make bottom back cushion panel – I used leftovers from other fat quarters used for this project
• 1 fat quarter for inner backing of cushion front
• 1 piece of batting 16″ square

other

• rotary cutter
• quilting ruler
• freezer paper
• cutting mat
• thread to match

• Print out the templates to make the hexagon shaped wreath and the holly leaves.

Psst! Click on the template picture to download PDF!

Make the Wreath

Cut the green 2″ strips approximately 15″ long.

Sew them together alternating the fabrics along the long edge.

This is when I really enjoy using the PFAFF creative 3.0 to stitch together a project; the IDT systemmakes it easy for me to get precise seam allowances without pinning! Keep sewing strips together until the piece measures approximately 13″ wide then press all the seams in one direction.

Print and cut out the hexagon templates.

Trace them beside each other on freezer paper to make one large hexagon.

Cut the freezer paper hexagon out and place it shiny side down on top of the green strip unit.

Note: don’t worry about that square in template – that’s me reusing and figuring out an easy way to add a ‘center’ to the wreath!

Use your iron to fuse the freezer paper template to the green strip pieced unit then cut around the edge of the template using your quilting ruler and rotary cutter. You could use scissors instead. Then simply peel the freezer paper template off and keep it – it might come in handy again this week for another project 😉

Cut a 16″ square from the background fabric and also a 4½” square to applique in the middle of the green wreath.

Cut a piece of 16″ batting and a 16″ square of fabric from a fat quarter to use as the inner backing for quilting the pillow front.

Place the inner backing fat quarter square right side down, then layer with the batting square and finally the background fabric right side up.

I measured from all 4 sides to pin the wreath in the middle of the background fabric square and again to line up the background square inside the wreath.

Applique the wreath to the background using one of the creative 3.0’s built-in decorative stitches. I decided on a built-in cross stitch to use along the edge of the fabric to secure the wreath to the background. You can view the stitch you select on the Color Touch Screen to make sure that it will stitch over the raw edge enough to secure the wreath to the background fabric.

The Color Touch Screen also shows you at a glance where the stitch you selected will start and which presser foot to use for best results. It’s easy to change the presser feet on this machine too! No screws or extra tools needed, it’s just a pull down to release one foot and then push up to click the next one into place.

Another feature that I like to use, especially with decorative built-in stitches, is to let the machine do all the work including the speed. I lower the speed of the machine and use the Start/Stop button for the machine to do the work. To stop the stitching I simply tap my foot on the foot pedal. I find this helps keep stitches looking their best, especially if the stitching changes direction like in this cross stitch built-in stitch.

Next I added two holly leaves to the top right corner of the wreath: print the template and trace it onto a lightweight fusible webbing

Fuse the webbing to the wrong side of your holly fabric and then cut out the leaves.

Peel off the backing and fuse onto the wreath.

To applique the holly leaves I used a great looking blanket stitch – 2.1.9 – and thread that matched my leaves.

I lucked out and used a fussy cut red circle from my background fabric for my berry – you could simply cut one from a scrap of red fabric. I did use fusible to make it easier to keep in place and machine applique it on too.

Join me tomorrow as I use the creative 3.0 to assemble the festive wreath cushion cover in time for the holidays!