Yesterday, I showed you how to machine-applique the mitten shapes onto the background squares using the #33 blanket stitch on the Brother Innov-is NQ700 machine. Now it’s time to square up each block so it measures 12½”.
4 mitten blocks are finished
Sew the 4 – 12½” blocks together to make a square that measures 24½”.
I decided I wanted a border that would be 5″ to 6″ wide, so I cut up my leftover mitten fabric into strips of varying widths from 1½” to 3″ wide and about 6½” long. As you can see in the picture, some of my strips are longer than 6½”, but they will all be trimmed to the same width after the strips are sewn together.
Strips are cut in varying widths for the border
I made 4 pieced strips that were each about 32″ long. Trim the excess fabric so each border measures 6″ to 6½” wide.
Sew the strips together to make 4 borders.
Sew on the first border strip across the top. Sew with a partial seam, so the end of the border strip is loose at the right side.
Sew on the first border with a partial seam.
Continue sewing on the border strips, counter clockwise, trimming the ends as needed.
Complete the partial seam that you used for the first strip to complete the border.
Finish sewing the partial seam on the first border.
Now the Winter Mitten project is all ready to quilt and bind.
Finished Winter Mittens quilt top
After finishing the quilt, you might like to add some ribbon or rick rack ‘strings’ to join each pair of mittens together. Have fun adding these extra embellishments!
I’ve been using the Brother NQ700 machine for a few months now, and I’m very impressed with the stitch quality, the number of built-in features it has and how easy it is to operate. I’ve even taken it to a couple of quilt retreats that I attended and it was the perfect portable size. I hope you’ve enjoyed learning about this machine and making this fun winter project.
Be sure to check out my previous QUILTsocial blogs from September 2021 and October 2021 to learn even more tips and techniques for using the Brother NQ700 machine.
Happy holidays everyone!
This is part 5 of 5 in this series
Go back to part 4: In quilting, using a twin needle IS double the fun [tutorial]