girl on a tree swing mini quilt tutorial!!!

 

This tutorial is a thank you to all those who have commented or favourit-ed this mini quilt of mine on flickr, all those who have added it to mosaics, everyone who entered the giveaway last year and (very thankfully!) those lovely ladies who road tested the link for me yesterday!!!.

This was my first proper attempt at raw edge applique and free motion embroidery, I have made some smaller items before but this much more of a proper go at playing with these techniques.

If you would like to have a go at trying your hand at these techniques I hope this guide will help. 

*********As usual all I ask in return is if you use it, is to please link to it, if you upload any pics to your blog/flickr.  Let other's know where to go!!!!!**************

 

You will need :-

Lots of fabric scraps for the background (it's a good idea to keep these in a distinctly different colourway to the tree/girl/dress etc. so that they don't blend into the background).

extra scraps for the girl and tree applique,

a sheet of bondaweb or other paper suitable for applique. 

some white fabric, scissors, interfacing, sewing machine.

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Cut your background fabric scraps into squares and rectangles, mine  were three quarters of an inch and upwards in width, until you have a nice big pile.

 

Take a piece of bondaweb or similar iron on adhesive the size you wish your applique background to be.

Start laying your squares, slightly overlapping them, on the rough side of the sheet (the side that doesn't peel away).

 

Continue until completly covered.

I did this on an old towel to avoid having to move it at the ironing stage.

Iron your scaps to the first side of the bondaweb.

Carefully turn over and peel of the backing sheet.

 

Place onto your white fabric and iron your scrappy mosaic onto that.

 

Before stitching my background I iron on some light to medium interfacing on the back.  This keeps your surface nice and flat for stitching.

 

This is the machine foot I do freestyle embroidery with, I have a Pfaff quilt expression 4.0.

I sew with the feed dogs down (that's the 2 longer paralell lines you see right under the foot above).

The foot stays in an upright position whilst I sew, so this lets me to move my fabric around at ease!  My daughter also has a very basic sewing machine and she is also able to do freestyle embroidery, so please check your manual to see if your machine has this feature.  

I sew around the edge of each of the background squares to secure them.

For the templates I have created a PDF just for all of you!! just click on the link below,

Download Girl on the tree swing templates

Note: the templates have purposely been reversed so that they will come out correctly in the end!! 

Print your template sheet.

 

Place your template sheet under the Bondaweb so that the paper side of the bondaweb is facing you and the rough side of it is facing the template copy.

Trace each of the template images onto the bondaweb. 

 

Cut out each of the shapes (unlike the photo above, you can just roughly cut around them at this stage to make it easier!).

Find some suitably coloured fabric for each.  For mine I used a brown fabric for the hair, a fleshy pink for the legs and face etc.  go through your scraps and see what you can find suitable.  I actually used some bits of background colour from printed fabric!  the brown hair is from the munki munki lipstick print, the face and body parts were from munki gnomes on pink!!!!

The dress is cut from Kei honeycomb in aqua, again note that this is very different to the colours used on the background mosaic - this is important to note as you need the girl to stand out of the background.

Iron each bondaweb shape onto the reverse of a suitably coloured fabric scrap.  To do this, lay your bondaweb template on your ironing board, rough side up, lay your fabric on top right side up and iron on.

When all are ironed on, cut out each of the shapes following the line of the template on the reverse of your fabric.

 

Peel off the paper side of the bondaweb from the reverse of each of the shapes and following the picture above, one by one place each shape onto your background mosaic and iron on carefully.  Take extra care with the smaller shapes like the hands.  I would start with the tree first, then dress, legs etc.

 

 

Keeping the embroidery foot (see above) on your machine,  thread up with black cotton thread or any dark colour you fancy.  This change of thread is important to make your girl and tree images stand out.

Practise!!! the next bit onto practise appliqued fabric first if you are new to freestyle embroidery stitching.

You need to outline the edges of the tree and apples,

add tapering branches to the appliqued tree branches,

outline the girl, draw her face, dress collar, button tab, shoes and swing using your machine and thread (practise practise practise this first on scrap fabric first!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!).

The trickiest part of the machine embroidery is the face, if you find it is just too tricky you can always just hand embroider the face instead using the same thread you are sewing with.

Remember you are after a very sketchy free style of stitching, the stitching is not meant to be perfect by any means!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  The imperfections are exactly what will give your embroidery the character it needs.

 

 
  
Once you have finished your applique, you can stitch further strips of white fabric to the edges of your white fabric (this is what I did as my initial base fabric was not big enough!).

To turn into a quilt you can follow the steps in these tutorials,

To sandwich and baste your quilt (scroll down to bottom of tutorial!).

To bind your quilt.

I hope you have enjoyed my tutorial! - It was a bit of an epic to write. 

Please enjoy it and don't forget to link link link if you do!!!!

Please add any pics to  my flickr group!!!!!! whether you make this quilt or use the techniques from the tutorial to make your own!!

I'm hoping to see lots of little girls swinging merrily from their quilts there soon!!!!!

PPPPsssss....Don't forget to enter my giveaway!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Comments

[smoochee]

Thank you so much for this. Its beautiful :)

["Scootin' Annie"]

Wow!! Thank you sooo much for sharing this. You've even included a PDF. You're amazing!! When I make one, ALL will be JEALOUS!!! Credit will definitely be directed to you.

[Kelly]

Thanks Aneela, this is fabulous! I'm going to park this project until I get up to date with swap blocks - more incentive to pull my finger out!
You are so generous to share this lovely project with all your admiring blog followers/fans.
Hugs
Kelly :-)

[Debs @ make do and mend quilts]

I love it! Im going to have a go! Also thanks for my 'slugs and snails' fabric - i love it too! debs

[Kaye Prince]

Great tutorial Aneela! I can't wait to give this a try out!

[Megan]

You are so fabulous and generous to explain that all in such detail! Beautiful work.

[kristine hanson]

sweet!

[Lesly]

Now that is one model tutorial. Even I could make that, following those instructions!

[Krista - Poppyprint]

Fantastic tutorial Aneela. Thank you so much for sharing. I'm most happy to find that we use the same machine (I got mine a year ago). I am struggling with free motion quilting through batting...with skipped stitches, or the machine won't complete a stitch if I go 'backwards' i.e. pull quilt towards me. I'm worried it's due to the toploading bobbin and I'm so stressed that I made the wrong machine purchase....any similar experience or advice?

[marilyn]

Your holiday break has brought you back to full speed ahead--new stitching patterns and this tutorial--fabulousness!!!

[Katy]

beautiful, Aneela, and wonderfully clear tutorial too!!!

[Rachel]

WOW! This is so, so incredible. Thank you SO much. I'm unbelievably excited about this and can't wait to do it! And I'll be linking as well.

[kerri]

what a great tutorial!! i want to try it!!

[Danielle]

I love this! it's gorgeous! thank you

[Marianne]

Thanks so much for this tutorial Aneela. I wish I could make one right away but I have so much on my plate right now. I'm going to mention your tutorial on my next blog post tomorrow though, and hopefully I can get to trying this technique soon. I can't wait.

[essie]

this is such a sweet project. i love the coulours and prints you've chosen for yours. thanks for sharing!

[Wendy]

This is so cute, how generous of you to give us a tutorial! Will be fun to check out all the different versions!

[Jenny]

Divine Aneela...I really need to try this!

[Cara]

Awesome. I can't wait to try. I guess if I couldn't win it, making a knock off is the next best thing. LOL :)

[susana]

Thank you so much! Now to get the baby busy with someone else so I can make one for her.

[Miss Paula]

I only have a regular sewing maching. Can I use this??

[Machen und Tun München]

another great tut, thanks so much, aneela, i will definitly try this!! and we are sewing-machine buddies :-)
claudia

[elsa]

this is so cute! thanks for sharing ...

[kelly O!]

Adorable! Thank you so much for this tute. I have been doing some thread sketching, but have been irritated by the stretching and pulling. I'll use the iron on stabilizer next time!

[julie]

Another great tutorial. Thank you so much, I know what I will be doing if I get anyspare time over the week-end (dang work).

[sew katie did]

Ok, this couldn't be any cuter! You are so talented girl.

[cleo]

great tute>>> now i have no excure to give thread sketching a try! Well I just have to think of a little girl who needs this! Thanks so much!

[skipping in the meadow]

Your instructions are so clear. It gives me hope that even I might be able to do it. Once I've recoverd my sewing machine from under the pile of junk :o/

[Miss Pudding]

This is fantastic, I mean it. And you are offering this for free! Crazy woman. I am so going to add this tutorial to my blog. Thanks for sharing this, it looks like fun and I'll give it a try.

[jmbmommy]

Very cool! I love all of it, and like even more that you made a very east to follow tutorial! Well done.

[Marianne]

I just tried this today. Thanks so much for the tutorial. I love it and I can see alot of this style of quilting in my future.

You can see my raw edge applique project here. http://mpdesignstudio.blogspot.com/2010/01/doll-quilt-mania-dqs8.html

[lollydo]

Thanks for the inspiration! Here's what I made

[calamity kim]

Is it OK if I share this and a few pictures from flickr on my blog? I love these little quilts you do! Thanks for adding them to the doll quilt group!

[Diane]

Thanks for the tutorial! How fun and creative :)

[Colette]

This is totally FABULOUS ~ as is all of your stuff!!! Thanks for the tutorial =0)

[savvy stitch]

This is so incredibly adorable! What a great tutorial!!!

[Tina @ Squirrel Acorns]

Thanks for the awesome tutorial! I can't wait to try it. I need to decorate my newly painted guest room and I was going to do little embroidered hoops on the wall over the bed, but I think a mini quilt with embroidery accents would be even better!!!

[Lauren]

i love love this quilt and tutorial. ive been scouring your tutorial to see if i am able to make such a masterpiece as i am pretty new to sewing. i even put your quilt for my background on my computer. hopefully i will be able to round up some scraps. its hard to build up in the beginning so it seems. i hope i will be able to try this and send you a picture soon. thanks again!

[cindy rangel]

I cannot print the templates. Please help.

[Leila]

I soooooo love this little girl on her swing! Thanks for sharing the tutorial, I bookmarked it and I'll definatly have to make this one day!

[Pia, DK]

Hi

I have problems downloading your PDF templates. The provided link routes me to adobe.com but no pdf is available. Maybe I don't have permission since I'm outside US.

Can someone provide a working link to the native pdf file?

[Pam Cole]

loved this tutorial, made it and here is a link. Thanks, Pam

http://quiltingsquareone.blogspot.com/2010/09/my-girl-on-swing.html

[Sarah]

Absolutely beautiful! I am going to make one of these for one of my girls real soon. She's going to love it as much as me.

You have such a wonderful blog full of lovely things you've made. I'll be back often to see what you have been up to.

[Sarah]

I've made it and I have linked to you. Here's my link if you'd like to come and see what I've done. http://sarah-redgingham.blogspot.com/2010/10/last-night-i-had-most-fun-ive-had-in.html

[Allison]

hey I recognize that little girl on the swing! :) I love that print in your fabric!

[Erika Sews]

Hey there! We think your crafty blog, Comfortstitching is great, and we want to share it with other sewers and quilters by featuring a link on www.WeAllSew.com! We’ll be featuring you as a “Favorite Blog” find all next week. Please let me know if you have any questions about being featured at WeAllSew.com. Thanks so much-Erika

[Angie]

Very awesome - i haven't seen anything like this. I am completely in love with this style. Thanks for putting together a tutorial.

[Anita H.]

Thank you! Just LOVE it!

[corinnea]

Saw this when a Flickr contact made one and linked....isisjem22.... so very cute! Nice tutorial!

[Luzmina]

Thanks for this great tutorial! :D

[happy zombie]

I love this! I've been seeing your little quilt offsprings on flickr and pinterest... and finally found you - the creator of it. I've been major crushing on it. And funny thing, I found this post via a flickr group you co-admin with my friend Heather - you were right under my nose the whole time!

[Yvette]

Thanks for your wonderful post!!! I just LOVE your little quilt. I have used your tutorial but based it on a cardstock background. I've put a post on my blog here http://yvetteadams.blogspot.com/2011/01/friends-and-tree-artwork.html . Thanks SO much!

[Linda]

This is perfect! I want to add a tree to a seat cushion that I am making. Thank you for this tutorial! :-)

[roberta]

I love this quilt. I love the stitch drawing you are doing. Beautiful!

[fafaruban]

It's beautiful, thanks you

[Patricia]

Gorgeous just gorgeous thank you so much.

[Linda]

thanks for sharing :)
how did you do the apples? are you burying your threads for each apple? How do you get the red on them? fabric? marker?

[aneela]

Hi Linda,

The apples were cut from red fabric, I fused them onto the background made of the applique and then stitched around them with my sewing machine using black thread. After sewing each one, I lifted the presser foot and moved onto the next apple. Once I finished sewing, I snipped all the thread tails.

[Pam]

Hi Aneela, I used your idea in this tutorial, but I have a girl wading in a creek. I wanted to show it to you, but did not see where I could email you. You mention to contact you for permissions, but I could not see where to do so other than to put in a comment. I love this idea.

[Lisa]

Love your work, it's beautiful

[Bernadette]

I am really looking forward to trying this beautiful little quilt. I have 3 grand daughters who I know will want one each, so may have to make 3. Thanks heaps.

[Jenn Hoff]

GASP! This is beautiful!
I am completely new to sewing, but I must make this. Well.... I must try. :) Thanks for the tutorial!

[diane]

wow its beautiful thank you for sharing your tutorial

[Jovita]

oh my oh my oh my, I have to tell you that a friend just made me a quilt using this pattern. I don't have it in my hot little hands yet, but I can hardly wait!!! She posted a picture Under the Willow Tree at http://under-the-willowtree.blogspot.com/2011/06/dream-swing-quilt.html.

[mollie]

I loved this tutorial and it inpsired me to start freestyle stitching! http://blog.applesandcheese.com/2011/01/giraffe.html Thank you!

[annette]

I have used this tutorial to use as a Postcard, in our postcard swap group. The theme this month is " View from my Kitchen window" I always wanted to have a go at raw edge.
Thanks for sharing. :0)
annette @>->--------

[anita]

only been sewing since the start of this year. Just found your website, and inpsired me to try free embroidery, just finished. Going to turn it into a bag. i used red felt for the apples, as it gives a great depth of colour. Love it, thanks so much.

[CN]

Oh my goodness- Thankyou can not begin to describe it! I love your work, and I am so happy I found your blog. I am making this adorable girl on a swing for my niece and I am sure I will make it for my daughter and others as well. How wonderful of you to share the " how tos" along with the pictures and instructions.
Many Thanks-
CN

[Andrea]

I love this! Two of my daughters have been itching to try something new and this is it!

[Nelle]

Thank you so much for this! I am not into quilting, but love to sew. I might just do this and frame it to hang in my daughters room!

[Tessa]

Beautiful! I am so inspired!

[Kaci Ferguson]

Found this on Pinterest...ADORABLE! I'm really into fabric collage right now. Off to visit your newer posts. Very cute blog. Happy to have found you :)

[Connie]

I just love this!

[Glo]

Great little quilt! Just found it on "favequilts". Thanks for sharing the tut with us too.

[marie psaila]

Great little quilt I love it. I only like to make mini quilts . I definetly will try this . thanks

[Susan]

Hello, I have been inspired by your mini quilt for a long time and still plan eventually to have a go! Just beautiful! It was one of those tutorials that has forever stuck in my head! I have logged on today to see if was still here and very happy to look over it all again!
Thank You
Susan

[Haneen]

Do you have an Etsy shop or sell your pieces? I would love this as artwork for my daughter's room. Even if its an image of it that I can frame. Please let me know. Thanks!

[Larisa]

Dear Aneela, this mini quilt is absolutely beautiful! Thank you so much for sharing it and writing a tutorial as well. Your work inspired me and gave me a lot of joy. Thank you!