Sewing a growth chart panel on Brother Luminaire XP2

I hope you had a chance to finish up all the embroidery of the Disney Gang on the Brother Luminaire Innov-ìs XP2 Embroidery, Sewing and Quilting Machine. I’ve been embroidering on computerized machines for over 20 years, and still, I love to sit and watch this amazing technology bring threads on fabric to life! The sewing division has come a long way… to think sewing was once a necessity, and now it’s a passion. Amazing!

The Brother Luminaire 2 Innov-ìs XP2

Today we’ll cut the embroidery blocks down to the block size required for this project and sew them together with sashing and an outer border.

1. Cut the 15″ x 15″ block to 10″ wide x 8″ high.
2. Cut the remaining blocks to 10″ wide x 7″ high.
3. Cut 8 sashing strips at 10″ x 1½”. We’ll use the sashing strips between the blocks to create the panel.
4. Turn on your Brother Luminaire XP2, and if you still have the embroidery unit on, touch the Sewing key on the home screen to instruct the machine to set up for sewing. The machine will move the embroidery arm to the left position for the sewing mode.
5. Thread the top thread and use a matching thread in the bobbin case. Select the Q category at the top of the screen. These are the common stitches used for quilting. Select stitch Q-01 P (Piecing stitch) and change the stitch length to 1.8 using the Arrow Down key.
6. Snap on the ¼” piecing foot that came with your Brother Luminaire XP2.
7. Pin a 10″ x 1½” sashing strip to the top of the 10″ x 8″ block and sew into place. Be sure to match the raw edges of the sashing and the block, and keep the edges aligned against the flange (the right side of the foot) on the pressure foot. This will give you a perfect ¼” seam allowance.

Sewing a 10″ x 1½” sashing strip to the top of the 10″ x 8″ block using ¼” piecing foot included with your Brother Luminaire XP2.

8. Press the seams towards the sashing fabric.

9. Pin a sashing strip to the bottom of the block; sew and press in same manner as the first sashing       strip.

10. Sew a 10″ x 7″ block to the other side of the sashing strip; press seam towards sashing strip.

11. Continue with the remaining sashing strips and blocks until all blocks are sewn together with sashing strips between each block, and at top and bottom.

Sashes sewn and pressed between the blocks.

12. Lay the panel on a flat surface, and using a measuring tape, measure the length from top to bottom through the center of the panel. Cut two strips of sashing fabric using this measurement x 1½” wide. Sew a strip to each side of the panel, easing as necessary; press seams towards sashing.

13. From a coordinating fabric, cut two outside border strips 3½” wide x the length you measured in the previous step. Sew these two border strips to each side of the panel and press seams towards the outside border fabric.

14. Measure the width of the panel through the center; cut two outer border strips 3½” x the measurement of the width of the panel. Sew these outer border strips to the top and bottom and press seams towards the outer border fabric.

Measuring the width of the panel through the center of the growth chart.

15. Cut backing and batting 2-3″ larger than the perimeter of the finished panel.

16. Lay the backing fabric wrong side face up; lay batting on top of backing and align edges. Lay the finished panel on top of the batting, right side up.

You’re finished for today. Sit back, put your feet up and relax. Join me tomorrow when I show you how to quilt in the hoop. This process is so much fun and accurate, and your quilting comes out perfectly when you use the Brother Luminaire Innov-ìs XP2 embroidery, sewing and quilting machine!

This is part 2 of 5 in this series

Go back to part 1: Creating a Disney gang growth chart with the Brother Luminaire XP2

Go to post 3: Quilting in the hoop with the Brother Luminaire XP2

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