QUILTsocial | Issue 21

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2 ways to make 'square in a square' quilt blocks 3 too cool for school pencil cases

Creating a needle roll with the Brother NQ900

Simple free motion quilt designs 3 ways to make simple embroidery stitches extraordinary Making the easiest DIY zipper pulls ever!

Making a double T table runner using the PFAFF performance icon

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Editor's Letter As I write to you, there's a snowstorm today and it's the middle of January. Although I'm not affected

by Seasonal Affective Disorder, with today's kind of scenario, I'm craving the hot summer months and the sun's restorative rays. It's just all white out there, except for the evergreens.

As the days are ever so slowly getting longer, I perk up on seeing the colors Christine Baker uses in her needle roll project that kick starts this issue.

They are dreamy. The hand stitching is perfect for the winter months, as we huddle indoors thanks to lousy weather and more lockdowns due to the Covid variant this winter. Hand embroidery on quilt blocks adds dimension and enriches the look of a quilt. It may not be traditional to add this element to our quilting, but the DMC threads used here are colorfast and hold their place for a very long time.

Colorful as they are they provide that boost we crave while waiting for sunny days.

This is the perfect issue if you're looking to shatter the winter blahs, wherever you are in the world.

Robin's three 'too cool for school' pencil cases are terrific, quick-to-make, quilted projects that offer that instant gratification. And come September, you'll be ready to gift these colorful pencil cases to a young child.

Quilting is a life saver under any circumstance. It comforts and keeps us engaged.

Enjoy the issue, Cheerfully,

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PUBLISHER, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, ART DIRECTOR Carla A. Canonico carla@QUILTsocial.com PUBLISHER, ADVERTISING SALES John De Fusco john@QUILTsocial.com PHOTOGRAPHERS Carla A. Canonico, John De Fusco BLOGGERS/CONTRIBUTORS Christine Baker christinebaker-fairfieldroaddesigns.blogspot.ca Sarah Vanderburgh sewjoycreations.com Robin Bogaert quiltingintheloft.com GRAPHIC & WEB DESIGN Carla A. Canonico carla@QUILTsocial.com GRAPHIC ASSISTANT and SOCIAL MEDIA Sondra Armas WEB and IT SUPPORT Alejandro Araujo

* projects * techniques * product reviews

WEBSITE / BLOG : https://QUILTsocial.com Like us on Facebook : QUILTsocial Follow us on Pinterest : quiltsocial Follow us on Instagram : quiltsocial Follow us on Twitter : @QUILTsocial WHERE TO GET YOUR COPY QUILTsocial is a quarterly eMagazine published by A Needle Pulling Thread. It is available free for personal use online at https://QUILTsocial.com.

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EDITORIAL Designers and other contributors who would like to be considered for future issues please email carla@QUILTsocial.com with a brief description of your work and your proposed project for the magazine. ©2022 QUILTsocial. All rights reserved. Issue 21. ISSN 2368-5913.

No part of this publication may be reproduced without written permission from the publisher.

All designs, patterns, and information in this magazine are for private, non-commercial use only, and are copyrighted material owned by their respective creators or owners.

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Advertiser Index 64 29 63 62 02 59 61 47 04 07

A Needle Pulling Thread Magazine Brother BQ3100 Brother Luminaire 2 Business Directory Husqvarna Viking Mary Ellen Products Best Press Northcott Fabrics PFAFF QUILTsocial.com #TheSewGoesOn

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CONTENTS 8

3 easy ways to transfer embroidery designs

11

5 simple embroidery stitches to sew by hand on evenweave fabric

13

3 key embroidery filling stitches for your embroidery designs

15

4 essential stitches that add dimension to your embroidery

17

3 ways to make simple embroidery stitches extraordinary

20

5 great features of the NQ900 sewing machine

21

Use 505 Spray and the NQ900 sewing maching to easily baste your project

22

5 simple steps to make pockets for a needle roll

24

7 essential steps to sew together a needle roll

26

Select the perfect decorative stitch for machine sewn binding

30

Sewing up 3 too cool for school pencil cases

32

Sewing up a sharp looking pencil case for back to school

36

Using applique to make a zippy school bus pencil case

41

Stay organized and sew up a pretty zippered pencil case

45

Making the easiest DIY zipper pulls ever

48

The double T block makes this Halloween table runner a real treat

50

Piecing blocks are quick and accurate with the PFAFF performance icon

52

2 ways to make square in a square quilt blocks

54

Easy piecing a double T table runner with precision

55

Simple free motion quilt designs for a Halloween double T table runner

58

A beginner quilter's journey making the QAL Spectrum Quilt

5

don't miss these projects & tutorials online!

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2 great template sets you need for impressive free motion quilting

READ NOW

100+ decorative stitches on the new Brother BQ3100: how do you choose?

and there's so much more!

READ NOW

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Sewing the pieces together –

it’s quilt assembly day!

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I {heart} ruler quilting – read this and you will too!

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3 easy ways to transfer embroidery designs Christine Baker Since the start of the pandemic, I’ve been doing a lot of embroidery. I’ve spent years doing the basic stitches like back stitch, stem stitch, chain stitch and French knots on my wool applique pieces but I never tried anything more complicated until Sue Spargo had a 90-day stitch along on her Instagram page last summer. Every day she showed us more and more stitches and the amazing ways that you can put them together, and it really helped me to deal with the stress I was feeling from the pandemic. Here’s a picture of my finished ‘Toned Down Sampler’ and as you can see, there are way more than the basic stitches in this one.

I’ve since done a second stitch along with Sue and am currently working away on the project from her Cuppa book. Here’s a close-up of one of the blocks.

Christine’s finished Toned-Down Circle Embroidery Sampler

One of Christine’s blocks from the Cuppa wall hanging by Sue Spargo

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When I started doing all of this embroidery, I made myself a needle book because all of a sudden, I had many, many different needles than what I had always used for my wool applique, and I was having trouble keeping track of which needle was which.

A needle book made with felted wool Unfortunately, now that I’ve been using this needle book, I find that the pages get stuck on the needles and I’d rather be able to see all of the different needles at once instead of having to flip through the pages to find the one needle that I need.

The inside of the wool needle book

So we’re making a needle roll! We’ll work on the embroidery on the outside of the roll and then we’ll sew the needle roll together.

Here are the amazing embroidery supplies that we will use to make the outside embroidered side of the needle roll. I’ve got a SURELight M4M LED 3-in-1 Lamp, lots of DMC embroidery floss and perle cottons, UNIQUE notions, CLOVER notions, DMC Magic Paper, DMC Charles Craft Monaco Needlework Fabric and many other products to try out.

The first step in starting our embroidery project is deciding on the fabric to use.

For the outside of the needle roll, we’re going to embroider on this lovely Charles Craft Monaco Needlework Fabric. Up until now, I’ve done all my embroidery on wool, but I’ve heard that there’s nothing that can compare to stitching on evenweave fabric. The package contains a piece of cotton evenweave fabric that is 20” x 24” so I’ve cut my piece 8” x 20”. Because it’s a looser weave than other types of fabrics, I’ve zigzagged the edges with my Brother NQ-900 sewing machine to prevent fraying.

A selection of indispensable embroidery tools

Method 1 – Tracing Probably the easiest method of all, tracing is simple and easy if you can see through the fabric. This evenweave fabric isn’t the easiest to see through, but when you use a light box (or your kitchen window), tracing is quite simple!

First tape your paper design to the window, then tape your Charles Craft Monaco Needlework Fabric over top.

Tape the two pages together to make the complete design.

Next, we decide on an embroidery design. I’ve designed this cute flower garden for us to use on the outside of the needle roll. Download it to your computer and then print it out. If the square on the design doesn’t measure 1”, you’ll need to adjust your printer settings.

Flower Garden embroidery pattern Since the design is on two pages, fold over the edge of page 2 along the left side of the rectangle and tape it to page 1 so that the edges of the rectangles line up.

Now we need to transfer our design to the evenweave fabric. There are many, many ways to transfer embroidery designs, but I’ll focus on just a few easy ones.

Photos by Christine Baker

Zigzagging the edge of the evenweave fabric prevents it from fraying

Now, what kind of tool should we use to trace the design? I chose the blue end of a UNIQUE Sewing 2-in-1 Dual-Tip Wash-out/Air Erasable Fine Tip Marking Pen. Although both ends can be used to transfer pattern markings for needlecraft, quilting, crafting and sewing, the blue ink can be removed with a damp cloth while the purple disappearing ink should only be used on projects that will be completed within 24 hours since the ink normally disappears in 48 to 72 hours.

The blue wash-out pen is best only used on washable fabric. To remove the blue markings, rub gently with a clean damp cloth well moistened with plain water.

Use a sunny window to trace an embroidery design easily.

The design is drawn with the blue end of a UNIQUE Sewing 2-in-1 Dual-Tip Wash-out/Air Erasable Fine Tip Marking Pen.

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Method 2 – DMC Magic Paper The second technique I tried was using DMC Magic Paper. This neat product is super easy to use and to stitch through.

First you place one paper backed sheet of the Magic Paper on top of your embroidery design and trace it with any type of pencil or marker (make sure that the paper side is down). I wouldn’t use a ball point pen because the ink might transfer to your threads as you’re stitching.

Place the DMC Magic Paper on top of your embroidery design with the paper side down.

Next, cut your design out, leaving a border around the drawn lines and remove the paper backing of the DMC Magic Paper to expose the sticky side of the transfer ‘fabric’. Be careful that the design doesn’t fold in on itself and stick!

Now all we have to do is position the DMC Magic Paper on the DMC Charles Craft Monaco Needlework Fabric and then stick it down! You can see that one tiny corner of the Magic Paper did fold over on me before I was able to position it, but I won’t worry about it because it isn’t anywhere near the embroidery design.

Peel off the paper backing of the DMC Magic Paper.

Stick the DMC Magic Paper in place on the Charles Craft Monaco Needlework Fabric.

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This paper would be amazing for transferring designs to fabrics that you can’t see through such as wool! I can’t wait to try it for my wool applique embroidery because I’ve really been struggling with transferring designs to my wool backgrounds. When your embroidery is done, rinse it all off; the magic paper will dissolve in a few seconds, and you’ll be left with your wonderful embroidery piece.

Marking a straight line with a ruler and Clover Pen Style Chaco Liner

Method 3 – Drawing directly on the fabric For this last transfer method, I wanted to try out the Clover Pen Style Chaco Liner to draw some straight lines directly onto my fabric. I have the silver Chaco Liner but it also comes in blue, pink, white and yellow. The great thing about this product is that the Pen Style Chaco Liner’s fine point permits accurate drawing of both straight lines and free hand curves. The fine point makes lines and marks more visible and is easy to use with a straight edge ruler. There are also ‘easy’ replacement refills available for all of the colors. You simply just remove the tip of the liner and screw it onto the replacement cartridge. Easy and mess free!!

The chalk washes or brushes away easily, so it’s ideal for use in needlecraft, quilting and sewing projects. The only thing to keep in mind though is that you wouldn’t want to mark your whole embroidery piece first and then start stitching because your hand will brush away your marks before you get to them all. So just mark a small section at a time with this type of product.

The Clover Chaco Liner Pen Style is another product that is great for use with fabrics like wool. See how easy it is to see the marks! And easy to remove too without having to soak in water!!

Now that the embroidery design has been transferred to the DMC Charles Craft Monaco Needlework Fabric.

A Clover Pen Style Chaco Liner can also be used to mark lines on felted wool.

5 simple embroidery stitches

to sew by hand on evenweave fabric Now we embroider the design on the evenweave fabric.

First, though, we should talk about threads and needles. There are so many amazing threads available for embroidery – from cotton, silk, and wool to rayon, metallics, and novelty threads!

And most come in a variety of weights.

Threads Embroidery floss has six strands that you can divide – so you can use 1 or 2 strands for fine embroidery or up to 6 strands for more dramatic stitches. DMC embroidery floss comes in solid colors and variegated cottons. It’s also available in Satin Floss (rayon), Light Effects (polyester) and Mouline Etoile (73% cotton –27% Polyamide metallic). All of these can be divided up and used as single strands but each one has a different type of texture and finish. Matte, shiny or sparkly – whatever your pleasure!

Perle Cotton (or pearl cotton) comes in many different weights – from #3 which is the heaviest to #12 which is the thinnest. Like embroidery floss, DMC perle cotton comes in variegated or solid colors. It is non-divisible and provides wonderful volume and dimension to embroidery.

Choose the weight of thread to get the look you want. Fine threads for fine embroidery and thicker threads for stitches that are more dramatic. Once you’ve got your fabric and threads, you need to pick your needles.

An assortment of hand embroidery needles

Needles The type of needle you pick is determined by the type of stitch you want to do. For basic stitches, like the ones in this feature, I love to use Clover Chenille Needles. They have a large eye so they’re fairly easy to thread and have a nice sharp point.

Use a milliner’s needle to make stitches that need to be wrapped around the needle, like French knots.

For stitches that are woven over other stitches, use a tapestry needle; they have a blunt tip that won’t split the foundation stitches.

For all needle types, choose a larger needle for a thicker thread.

Like thread, usually the larger the number on the needle, the smaller the needle, so a size 22 chenille needle is smaller than a size 18 chenille needle. You can usually buy a package with an assortment of sizes such as the Gold Eye Milliners Needles.

Stitches

An assortment of DMC perle cottons and embroidery flosses

There are so many different and amazing embroidery stitches!!

When I started really getting into embroidery last year, I couldn’t believe how many stitches I didn’t know!! But many of the stitches you find in embroidery books are simply variations of the basics. This article is about the first five embroidery stitches you should start with and master.

Before you start stitching, you may want to put your fabric into an embroidery hoop like the UNIQUE CRAFT Plastic Embroidery Hoop.

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Stitch 1 – Running stitch The running stitch is also known as the darning stitch and a quilting stitch. To make a running stitch, simply pass the needle over and under the fabric in a regular, even manner. You can make your stitches as big or as small as you like.

Stitch 2 – Back stitch

A running stitch diagram

The back stitch is a great, basic linear stitch good for outlines or as the foundation of other, more complicated stitches. Basically, you come up from the back of your fabric and push the needle tip into the fabric behind where you came up, then bring the needle tip up to the front of the fabric, a little in front of the first stitch. This way you make a continuous line with your stitching.

Stitch 3 – Stem stitch

A diagram of the back stitch

A stem stitch diagram

This easy, linear stitch makes a slightly heavier line than the back stitch and looks very nice around curves. If you’re right-handed, you work from left to right. Come up from the back of your fabric along the line of your pattern, keep the thread below your needle, and make a small backward stitch. Pull the fabric through and make another small backward stitch so that your needle comes out a little behind the first stitch. Keep stitching in this manner, overlapping each subsequent stitch, but make sure your working thread is always below your needle. When you go around tight curves, make your stitches a bit smaller to make the curve nice and smooth.

Stitch 4 – Chain stitch

A blanket stitch diagram

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The blanket stitch is my old friend!! This is the stitch I use all the time when I’m doing wool applique and fusible applique, so I can almost do it in my sleep!! This stitch can actually be worked in two different directions. I do my blanket stitch working from left to right and my friend Nellie, who is also righthanded, does hers right to left. Either way, it’s a great edging stitch!

First, come up to the front along the edge of your applique or on the drawn line, then put your needle into the applique and come up a little way down the edge (or the line), making sure that the thread is tucked behind the needle tip. Pull the thread all the way through and repeat.

Here is a little video showing all these basic stitches and some of the DMC threads I’m using for my project.

Use these different stitches to embroider the stems of the flowers and the lines under the flowers like I did. Don’t worry if some of my stems and lines look like they have more complicated stitches.

They started out as running stitches, back stitches, stem stitches, and chain stitches, but I’ll show you how I threaded and wrapped them to make them more interesting.

Now that you’ve mastered some of these basic stitches using Clover Needles and DMC Floss and Threads, it’s time to learn how to fill in areas of your applique design with more great stitches.

The chain stitch is a great one to use for curves and heavy lines, and you can also use it to fill in areas.

A chain stitch diagram

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Stitch 5 – Blanket stitch (or buttonhole stitch)

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To make this stitch, come up from the back of the fabric and then put the tip of the needle back into the same hole, bringing the tip of the needle to the front of the fabric a short distance along your drawn line with the thread wrapped under the tip of the needle.

Pull the thread through and then put the needle tip back into that second hole and repeat the process making sure that the thread is always under the tip of the needle when you bring it through to the front.

Part of the needle roll applique design

3 key embroidery filling stitches

for your embroidery designs Now we’re learning about three different embroidery stitches that are useful for filling in areas in your embroidery designs. I’m again using Clover Chenille Needles for all of these stitches.

Even though the chenille needles have a large eye, you may still have problems with threading them. There are lots of needle threaders available on the market, but I particularly like the Clover Embroidery Threader because it has a flat tip that makes for smooth threading even when you use it with thick threads.

It also works with all types of threads, yarns and embroidery needles, so it’s a super versatile tool to have on hand.

Threading a needle with the Clover Embroidery Threader

Stitch 1 – Satin stitch In order for the satin stitch to be effective for filling in an area, the stitches should be even and placed close together.

Sometimes using a hoop to hold your fabric makes it easier to achieve better tension. I don’t use a hoop when I’m doing my wool embroidery, but I do find that the 6” UNIQUE Craft Plastic Embroidery Hoop is a nice size to hold in your hand, and it keeps the DMC Charles Craft Monaco Needlework Fabric nice and secure while I’m stitching.

To do this stitch, make a single straight stitch from one edge of your area to the opposite edge. Bring the needle back to the front, very close to the stitch just made, and back down on the opposite side of the shape. Continue until you fill in the shape.

This stitch is only really useful for filling in small areas because a long satin stitch can snag and become loose.

A satin stitch diagram

To give your satin stitch a more defined edge, outline your area with either a back stitch or a chain stitch and then do the satin stitch over top.

I used the satin stitch and a back stitch to embroider the word ‘Needles’ on the DMC Magic Paper which is fused to the Charles Craft Monaco Needlework Fabric. The variegated DMC Perle Cotton #106 size 8 worked well to cover the area and looks lovely Stitch 2 – Long and short stitch

The satin stitch created with DMC variegated size 8 perle cotton

This is a variation on the satin stitch where you do long and short stitches beside each other to break up the area so you don’t have super long satin stitches that can get snagged. With this method, keep stitching and overlapping with different lengths of stitches until you fill in the entire area.

A long and short stitch diagram

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This is the stitch I used to fill in my purple flower with one of the satin flosses from the DMC Radiant Treasures pack. The satin floss has a lovely sheen to it.

Notice in the photo that I used the back stitch to outline the petals afterwards, just to give them a more finished look.

Stitch 3 – Fly stitch The fly stitch can be used in different ways depending on how close together you place the stitches. You can also stitch them solo in a freeform manner (like in the left part of the diagram), or place them together in a row (like in the right part of the diagram).

To make the fly stitch, bring the thread up at the top left and insert the needle at the top right, and then make a stitch between and below the two points. With the thread wrapped under the tip of the needle, pull the thread through the fabric, and then secure with a small vertical straight stitch.

The purple flower petals stitched with a long and short stitch

Here are two leaf shapes I made using the fly stitch. As you can see, I stacked my stitches very close together and followed the shape of the outside of the leaf to determine how wide to make each stitch. The small vertical stitches that secure the bottom of each fly stitch also serve to make a vein in the center of each leaf. The variegated size DMC #94 Size 8 perle cotton gives the leaves a beautiful and interesting look.

Stitch 4 – Variation on chain stitch I love stitching the chain stitch, especially with variegated thread! Here is one of my flowers stitched with a continuous spiral chain stitch. I started stitching on the outside of the circle and then kept stitching in a continuous chain inward until I got to the middle.

Use the satin stitch to embroider the word ‘Needles’ and the rest of these stitches to fill in some of the flower and leaf shapes. Remember to change the size of the Clover Chenille Needle depending on the weight of the DMC Thread you’re using and if you’re still finding it hard to thread your needle, use a needle threader like the Clover Embroidery Threader.

A fly stitch diagram

Two leaves stitched with a fly stitch and DMC #94 size 8 variegated perle cotton

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A chain stitched in a spiral using variegated DMC perle cotton makes a flower head

4 essentialstitches that adddimension to your embroidery Let's we put away the chenille needles and get out a pack of assorted Clover Milliners Needles. Milliner’s needles are sometimes referred to as straw needles and were traditionally used for hat making. They are long, thin, and sharp and there is little difference in width between the shaft of the needle and the area of the eye. This makes them exceptionally good for using when doing stitches that are wound around the needle.

Bring your needle and thread to the front of your fabric, twist the needle around the thread 2 or 3 times, and then insert the needle tip back into the fabric 1 or 2 threads away from where the thread first came out of the fabric. Push the wraps down to the fabric with your non-dominant hand and pull the needle through to the back of the fabric.

I used a bunch of French knots stitched close together to make the center of my purple flower.

Stitch 2 – Pistil stitch

An assortment of hand embroidery needles

Stitch 1 – French knot The first stitch, the French knot, is a very useful little stitch. I’ve done French knots for a long time but was never very happy with how they turned out until I started using a milliner’s needle to do them. Use the smallest milliner’s needle that your thread will go through. For a size 8 DMC perle cotton, you probably need a size 3 milliner’s needle. The size of your thread and the number of wraps on the needle determines the size of your finished French knot.

The pistil stitch is basically a variation on the French knot. It’s an interesting looking stitch that you can use for things like the middle of a flower. The motions used to make a pistil stitch are almost the same as the French knot. First bring your needle and thread to the front of your fabric, and then twist the needle around the thread 2 times. Now insert the needle tip back into the fabric, a little distance away from where the thread first came out of the fabric, holding the ‘tail’ of the stitch taut against the fabric.

Push the wraps down to the fabric with your non-dominant hand and pull the needle through to the back of the fabric holding the knot with your nondominant hand the entire time.

This stitch works best if your fabric is held taut in an embroidery hoop like my 6” UNIQUE Craft Plastic Embroidery Hoop. It’s a nice size to hold in your hand and it keeps the Charles Craft Monaco Needlework Fabric nice and secure while stitching.

French knots stitched close together make the center of the purple flower

A pistil stitch diagram

I used the pistil stitch to make a dandelion-type flower with three strands of the DMC #617 Mouline Etoile Floss – Blanc which gives the flower embroidery a little dazzle!

A French knot diagram

Pistil stitches created with DMC Mouline Etoile floss

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Stitch 3 – Bullion knot

Pull on the free thread until the loop goes to the bottom of the needle and is taut.

Keep repeating left and then right until the length of the stitches on your needle is the same length as the backstitch.

Before last summer, I had never even heard of the bullion knot, but it’s quickly become my new favorite! It’s such a versatile stitch that you can use to outline shapes, make petals on a flower, create bullion roses, and even turn into bugs like bumble bees, ladybugs and inchworms!

I find it easier to do this stitch using a twisted thread like perle cotton instead of stranded threads like embroidery floss.

Bring the thread from the back of the fabric, insert the needle tip a short distance away, and bring the tip up close to where the thread comes out of the fabric. The distance between these two points is the size of the stitch.

A bullion stitch diagram

The center of this flower is stitched with a blanket stitch worked in a circle instead of a line.

Wrap the thread around the needle tip 4 or 5 times (the more you practice this stitch the better you’ll get and the more wraps you can do to make longer stitches). Make sure you don’t cross the wraps on the needle, and that the coil of wraps on the needle are the same width as the distance between where the needle enters and emerges from the fabric.

Gently pull the thread through, holding the coil of thread between your first finger and thumb on your non-dominant hand. Make sure to keep hold of the coil as you pull the needle and working thread up and away from you. As the coil tightens, change direction and pull the thread towards you. Once the thread is all the way through, insert the tip of the needle back into the point where it first emerged, and your bullion knot should lie flat against the fabric.

If you want your bullion knots to have more dimension, all you do is wrap the needle with more wraps than will fit in the distance between where the needle goes into and comes out of the fabric.

This is what I did to make the petals on this flower. I did about 12 wraps on the needle using the DMC Perle Cotton but only had a small space between where the needle goes into and comes out of the fabric. This causes the knot to bow outward in a curve instead of lying flat against the fabric.

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Now hold on to the stitches with your right thumb and forefinger and pull the needle all the way through with your right hand. Pull the needle with the free thread towards you and then put your needle through the fabric to the back at the base of your stitch.

A double cast on stitch diagram

I used six of these double cast on stitches to make each of my four pink flowers with size 3 DMC Perle Cotton #3689 and a size 1 milliner’s needle. I made a French knot in the center of each flower with size 3 DMC Perle Cotton #3328.

Watch my video on how to make these four stitches Bullion knots create the petals of a circular flower

Stitch 4 – Double cast on stitch By grouping together 3 to 8 double cast stitches together, you can make beautiful flowers with lots of dimension.

You can also do a row of these stitches in a zigzag formation across your fabric to give your piece amazing texture.

This is one of the few embroidery stitches that you create working with a double thread, so the first thing you do is thread your milliner’s needle with DMC Perle Cotton, and then knot the two ends of the thread together. Now bring your needle to the front of your work.

Take a ¼” backstitch and bring the needle point close to the emerging thread.

Leave the needle in your fabric and separate the two sides of the thread, and then place them behind your needle.

Take your left hand and make a loop in the left side thread by twisting the thread like shown in the diagram. Pull the knot down to the base of the needle until it is taut. Now take the right-hand thread in your right hand and twist it to make a loop and slide it onto the needle tip.

I bet your head is just swimming with all the possible ways you can include these stitches in your embroidery designs using Clover Gold Eye Milliners Needles!

Take some time to practice these stitches – you’ll be so glad you did. And use them to embroider a few of the flowers on your needle roll.

Six double cast on stitches create the petals of a flower

3 ways

to make simple embroidery stitches extraordinary I’ve used the SURELight M4M LED 3-in-1 Lamp, and it’s really quite awesome!

The light has multi levels of brightness each with different temperature options (warm or cool light). Although I use it on a table, it comes with a giant clip for attaching to your work surface or chair as well as a floor stand. Because it can be powered with AC or the enclosed battery compartment, you can bring this light to any work area. There is also a 2x magnifier on an adjustable goose neck to help clearly see the fine details of your embroidery project.

Let's talk about whipped, threaded, and woven embroidery stitches and how to use whipping and threading to change a basic embroidery stitch into something more interesting. For this type of stitch, it’s important to use a blunt needle such as a DMC Tapestry Needle so the needle doesn’t pierce the fabric or split the threads of previous stitches.

Technique 1 – Whipping Almost any stitch can be whipped with another thread to create a more interesting stitch. The simplest stitch to whip is the running stitch. You can easily work a whipped running stitch around tight corners or in intricate designs and you can change the look of the finished product by changing the spacing of the foundation stitches or by changing the weight of threads you use.

When you start with a backstitch as your foundation, you create a whipped backstitch which has a slightly raised finish that looks a lot like a rope or cord. It’s great for enhancing the edges of an applique design or for making flower stems.

To stitch a whipped stitch, bring your needle to the front of your fabric slightly below the foundation stitch at the right end of the row. Slide the needle behind the next stitch from above, and pull the thread through. Repeat until you whipped all of the foundation stitches.

Here are examples of some of the whipped stitches on my embroidery. The top line is a blue and yellow whipped backstitch that’s stitched with six strands of DMC Rayon Satin embroidery floss from the DMC Satin Floss 8 pack – Radiant Treasures. The bottom is a pink chain stitch that’s stitched with six strands of embroidery floss from the DMC Light Effects Floss 6 pack – Tropical Glow and then is whipped with 6 strands of blue rayon embroidery floss.

Technique 2 – Threading Threading is similar to whipping because it starts with a line of foundation stitches like a running stitch, backstitch or chain stitch. We’re still using a DMC Tapestry Needle so that we don’t catch the base fabric or other stitches.

The SURELight M4M LED 3-in-1 Lamp

A whipped backstitch diagram

Whipped backstitch and whipped chain stitch

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A threaded running stitch diagram A woven wheel stitch diagram

A whipped and woven circle stitch diagram

Woven wheel stitch (or woven circle)

To work this stitch, we start with a running stitch. Bring your needle to the front of your fabric slightly below the foundation stitch at the right end of the row. Slide the needle behind the next stitch from the bottom and pull the thread through. Now, slide the needle under the next stitch from above the line and pull your thread through. Keep threading, alternating from above and below until you complete the entire line. If you’re doing this stitch around an object, make sure you have an even number of foundation stitches.

To make a woven wheel, the first thing you do is stitch a circle of ‘spokes’ which are basically just evenly spaced straight stitches all coming out of the same point in the middle. For the woven wheel to work, you need to have an uneven number of spokes – 5 or 7 work well. Once again, use a DMC Tapestry Needle so that you don’t catch the base fabric or other stitches.

Here is an example of some threaded stitches on my needle roll embroidery. On the top is a line of purple backstitches worked in 6 strands of purple DMC Rayon Satin embroidery floss from the Radiant Treasures 8 pack. I used a tapestry needled to thread 6 strands of yellow embroidery floss from the DMC Light Effects – Tropical Glow 6 pack through the purple backstitches. On the bottom is a line of pink running stitches that I double threaded with 6 strands of blue embroidery floss by threading in one direction and then turning around and threading back towards the beginning. As you can see, you can pull the threaded stitches tight like in the top row, or leave them fairly loose like in the bottom row, both of which give a totally different look.

You can leave some of the spokes showing outside of the weaving, or you can fill the spokes in entirely like I did to make my blue hollyhock flowers. I made the bottom circle the largest and then made them smaller and smaller as I went up the stem.

I used 6 strands of royal blue DMC Rayon Satin embroidery floss from the Radiant Treasures 8 pack. The stem is worked in a stem stitch using DMC Perle Cotton.

Technique 3 – Weaving Stitches, such as the woven wheel stitch or the whipped and woven circle stitch involve weaving over the top of foundation stitches, and add lots of great texture to your embroidery piece.

Next, bring your needle up to the front of your fabric near the center of the wheel. Working counterclockwise, alternate passing your needle over and under the spokes. Continue around in circles until complete.

Whipped and woven circle The last stitch for this part is the whipped and woven circle.

For this stitch, you start with the same type of spokes like in the woven wheel, but you can have any number of spokes – it doesn’t have to be an uneven number like before.

A whipped and woven circle over top of detached chain stitches

Threaded backstitch and double threaded running stitch

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First, stitch a circle of evenly spaced spokes coming out of the same point in the middle, then bring your needle up to the front of your fabric near the center of the wheel. Working clockwise, pass your needle over the first spoke, then under the first and second spokes. Pull the thread through until taut, then go over the second spoke and under spokes 2 and 3. Repeat this process of over one spoke and under two, and continue to work around the circle until complete.

As you can see, to make my whipped and woven circle, I didn’t just use straight stitches, I used detached chain stitches worked in a circle with their tails all meeting in the center of the circle. I stitched these detached chain stitches with size 5 DMC Perle Cotton #3328, and then made the whipped and woven circle using size 8 DMC Perle Cotton #322.

You can also use pistil stitches to make your spokes!

Soaking to remove the DMC Magic Paper

I really enjoyed all of this handwork and I hope you did too! I love hand embroidery and am excited to share it with other quilters. All the products I used here made the embroidery process easy and the end product beautiful. I think I prefer doing my embroidery with the different weights of DMC Perle Cotton, but I do like the different looks that you can achieve with threads like the DMC Mouline Etoile Floss, the DMC Satin Floss and the DMC Light Effects embroidery floss. I found the Charles Craft Monaco Needlework Fabric very nice to stitch on, but prefer to do embroidery on felted wool. The wool is much heavier (so you don’t have to be very neat on the back) and you don’t need to use an embroidery hoop.

The DMC Magic Paper was a wonderful surprise, and I’m sure I’ll be using it for my wool embroidery in the future.

And, the SURELight M4M LED 3-in-1 Lamp is a great tool to have beside my favorite chair!

Watch my video on how to do all of the stitches we talked about.

Now that I’ve finished the embroidery part of my needle roll, I can’t wait to finish up the inside storage part which I’ll show you how to do in the feature that follows, using my Brother NQ900 sewing machine!

The last step!

Once you complete all the embroidery you want to do on your needle roll, you need to remove the DMC Magic Paper and the blue marker lines that you made with the UNIQUE Sewing 2-in-1 Dual-Tip Washout/Air Erasable Fine Tip Marking Pen. You can remove the pen marks by dabbing them with a damp cloth, but you have to rinse the DMC Magic Paper in water in order to remove it. So, I opted to just soak my entire embroidery piece in lukewarm water, and then rinsed it under cool water to finish removing any of the sticky residue.

Woven wheel stitched flowers on a green stem

And the finished piece…

The completed embroidery piece

Here's my finished embroidery after drying it. I used my iron to get rid of most of the wrinkles, but I didn’t want to press down too much on my dimensional flowers.

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5 great features of the NQ900 sewing machine

The Brother NQ900 sewing machine.

The NQ900 sewing machine set up at quilt retreat.

The extension table legs fold up for travel or storage.

I hope you’ve had time to finish your hand-embroidered panel, because we’ll make it into a needle roll for storing all your hand embroidery needles. To do this I’ll use my wonderful Brother NQ900 sewing machine.

FEATURE 3

FEATURE 5

The needle threader on this machine blew me away when I first tried the machine, and it still works just as great now as it did on day one! It’s so easy to use, I just had to make a little video to show you. The needle threader can be used with machine needles 75/11 through 100/16.

Another super feature is that you can’t thread the NQ900 when the presser foot is down. A little cover, called the upper thread shutter, slides over the take-up lever and prevents you from pulling the thread through. If you thread your sewing machine when the foot is down, you may not get the thread between the two tension discs and when you sew, the tension between your top and bottom threads may be completely unbalanced.

I see this happen a lot when I’m teaching beginner machine quilting classes, so I wish this feature was available on every machine!

I first introduced you to the Brother NQ900 in my QUILTsocial post – 6 features I love on the Brother NQ900 sewing machine.

During that week I showed you how to make the adorable baby quilt shown above, so if you have any baby showers to go to in the next few months, check out that fast and fun pattern.

I loved testing the NQ900 sewing machine so much, that when it came time to send it back to Brother, I asked if I could purchase it! We’ve done a lot of sewing together since then, and I still find it to be a great machine. Like I said back in 2017, the NQ900 has lots of great features and after more than four years of using this machine, here are the ones I still find the best!

FEATURE 1 The first thing to mention about this machine is its portability. At just 23lbs, the Brother NQ900 is so easy to take along on vacation, to classes, on a quilt cruise, or as I’m going next, to quilt retreat!

A short video showing how to use the needle threader on the NQ900. Brother NQ900 sewing machine: FEATURE 4 I still love how this machine won’t stitch if the presser foot is up. If the foot is up, the stop/start button glows red and the machine beeps if you put your foot down on the foot pedal. This is a wonderful feature, especially when using the free-motion quilting foot as it prevents you from getting those huge bird’s nests of thread on the back of your quilt. Here’s what each color means:

• Green: The machine is ready to sew or is sewing.

• Red: The machine can’t sew.

• Orange: The machine is winding the

Red glowing start/stop button

bobbin thread, or the bobbin winder shaft is moved to the right side.

FEATURE 2 The extension table on the NQ900 is not only huge, but it also has fold-up legs so it can be easily stored or slipped into a bag to take along with the machine.

I can’t tell you how much I love this feature – especially when I see other quilters struggling to transport their extension tables!

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The upper thread shutter is closed, preventing the machine from being threaded.

Use 505 Spray and the NQ900 sewing machine to easily baste your project

Let's start sewing our needle roll featuring the hand-embroidered panel we created

Weight Sew-In Interfacing. I also used this beautiful purple floral batik fabric as the inside fabric for my needle roll.

3. Spray one side of the interfacing with Odif 505 Temporary Adhesive Spray and stick that fabric rectangle to the interfacing, aligning all the raw edges.

I used my favorite presser foot J – it has a clear front with an offset thread passage - to baste the two layers together along all sides about an 1⁄8" from the edge. You can see on the previous photo of the sewing machine screen, that when stitch #29 is selected, the machine tells you to use foot J.

The Brother NQ900 sewing machine

materials fabric

• 7½" x 19" embroidered outside panel,

pieced fabric panel or patterned fabric

• 2 fat quarters of batik fabrics (or smaller pieces as noted in the following directions)

• 7½" x 19" HeatnBond Non-Woven Firm Weight Sew-In Interfacing

• 1 package UNIQUE Medium Rick Rack in Hot Pink

• 9" x 7” felted wool or craft felt notions

• Odif 505 Temporary Adhesive Spray • Clover Pen Style Chaco liner • UNIQUE Double Sided Cutting Mat

Spray interfacing with 505 Spray

4. Baste the two layers together along the outside edges. I selected straight stitch #29 on my NQ900 and extended the length of the stitch to 5.0mm.

18” x 24”

• Omnigrid Ruler 6” x 24”

• OLFA Rotary Cutter 45mm • UNIQUE quilting Clever Clips Small 1.

Baste the two layers together.

5. Make some placement marks: Fold the fabric in half end to end and mark the center of the batik fabric rectangle. Fold each end into the marked center and mark these two lines. The fabric will now be divided into quarters. I used my rotary cutting ruler and a Pen Style Chaco liner to mark these three lines.

Measure the finished size of the embroidered panel. Mine is 7½" x 19".

2. Cut a piece of fabric and a piece of interfacing this same size. I The inner fabric and wanted my roll to interfacing are cut be a little stiff (so the same size as the embroidered panel. that the needle packages don’t easily slide out) so I used HeatnBond Non-Woven Firm

Select straight stitch #29 and set stitch length to 5.0mm.

Mark the center and quarter marks with a chaco liner.

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5 simple steps

to make pockets for a needle roll STEP 1 Measure your needle packages The first thing you need to do is measure how deep you need to make the pockets that will hold the needle packages. My packages are all about 4" tall and the name of the needles will still be visible if the pocket is 3" deep. Measure your needle packages to see if they are the same size.

STEP 2 Cut your fabric The pockets will have a folded top edge, so to make a pocket 3" deep, cut the first pocket 6" x 19" (the length of the needle roll). I’ll use the same fabric for my pockets as I used for the base fabric. You can do the same or use different fabrics for the pockets.

Brother NQ900

Measure the height of the needle packages.

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Cut the pocket fabric 6" wide.

STEP 3 Fold and press Fold the fabric in half lengthwise with wrong sides together. Use a hot iron to press a nice crisp fold along the top edge of the pocket. Your pocket should now measure 3" x 19".

This will be the bottom set of pockets, but in order to have enough space for all my needle packages, I’ll need a second set along the top edge of the roll that will tuck underneath the bottom row of pockets. Following these same directions, I cut this pocket 9" x 19", folded it in half to make a 4½" x 19" pocket and sewed rick rack to it as well.

Fold the narrower pocket in half and in quarters the same as you did for the interfacing layer and mark those points with the Chaco liner. Center each of the wool rectangles on each quarter of the pocket.

STEP 5 Add wool rectangles

Take the wider pocket strip and arrange the remaining four wool rectangles on it, aligning them with the placement of the wool rectangles on the narrower strip. Pin in place and sew them down the same as the ones on the narrower pocket strip.

Now, to make this needle roll absolutely perfect, I need to have small pieces of wool to store each of the needles I’m using at the moment in front of the pocket where the package is stored.

I’ll end up with 16 little pockets, but I really don’t want to sew down 16 small squares of wool, so I’ll put one piece of wool in front of each pair of pockets. I cut eight pieces of a nice thick felted wool 4" x 1½" - you could also use felt if you don’t have wool.

Pin these wool rectangles in place; sew down the shorter ends to secure them to the pocket.

Fold in half and press.

STEP 4 Add rick rack I want to use some UNIQUE Medium Hot Pink Rick Rack to embellish and strengthen the top of the pocket. I cut a piece 20" long and placed it on the pocket along the folded edge. About ½" should hang over each end of the pocket.

I then used a straight stitch on my NQ900 to sew the rick rack onto the fabric.

Center the wool rectangles on each quarter of the pocket.

Align wool rectangles on wide pocket strip.

Sew down the short ends of the wool rectangles.

Sew rick rack to pocket.

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7 essentialsteps to sew together a needle roll STEP 2

STEP 4

Measure 4½" from the top of the interfaced layer and mark a sewing line all the way along the pocket. This will make the pockets 3" deep (the same as the smaller pocket).

Next, I’ll use a wide zigzag stitch on the NQ900 to secure the bottom raw edge of the pocket. I’m doing this so the needle packages in the bottom level of pockets don’t get caught on this raw edge. It doesn’t matter what color thread you use because it will be totally hidden by the bottom pocket fabric.

The Brother NQ900

STEP 1 Lay the wider pocket on top of the interfaced fabric layer and align it so its folded top edge is 1¼" from the top of the interfaced layer. Use UNIQUE quilting Clever Clips to hold it in place on each end of the interfacing layer.

Zigzag along the raw edge of the top pocket.

STEP 5

I’ll use my Brother NQ900 to sew along this marked line from one end of the pocket to the other.

Use the UNIQUE quilting Clever Clips to secure the narrow pocket to the interfaced fabric layer. The raw edge of this pocket will be aligned with bottom raw edge of the interfaced fabric layer and it will overlap the bottom of the top pocket so it hides all the stitching done in the previous two steps.

Sew along the drawn line.

Clip bottom pocket section to interfaced fabric.

Mark a sewing line along the pocket.

STEP 3

Align pocket 1¼" from the top of the interfaced layer.

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STEP 6 With everything clipped together, we can use the walking foot on the Brother NQ900 to sew along the marked lines on the interfaced fabric and pocket sections. This will divide each of the top and bottom pocket sections into four.

Sew down the center of each of these to create a total of 8 small pockets in each row. You can mark these sewing lines, or just do like I did and eyeball it. You’ll see that sewing down the middle of each of the sections also divides the wool rectangles in half.

STEP 7 The last step for is to create the ties you’ll use to secure the needle roll when it is tied up.

First, cut a piece of the UNIQUE Medium Hot Pink Rick Rack about 30" long. Since this product is 100% polyester, you can melt the ends with a candle to prevent them from unravelling. I find that passing the end of the ribbon or rick rack just through the bottom of the flame works best. If you pass it through at the tip of the flame it may leave the rick-rack black and sooty.

Sew down the marked lines and halfway between them to create the small pockets.

Melt the ends of the rick rack with a candle.

Fold the rick rack in half and pin it to the center of the embroidered panel at the end that says Needles. Make sure the ends of the rick rack are laying along the panel and not the other direction.

We’re almost there! Next, the needle roll will be finished!

My Brother NQ900 has been such a help sewing these pockets for the needle roll and it had no problem whatsoever sewing through all the layers, especially since the UNIQUE Clever Clips held the bulky layers of fabrics secure.

Pin folded rick rack to front of needle roll.

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Select the perfect decorative stitch for machine sewn binding

Now I'll use this awesome machine to make binding, and complete the embroidered needle roll!

Make the binding 1. Cut four 2½" strips from your fat quarter of binding fabric (or two 2½" x width of fabric strips from yardage). Sew them together with a mitered (diagonal) join.

2. Cut off the excess fabric, press the seams open and fold the binding strip, wrong sides together; press along its length. If you’d like more detailed instructions on how to make binding, check out my QUILTsocial post - Do You Know How to Bind a Quilt?.

3. Sew the binding to the front of the needle roll using a 3⁄8" seam.

4. Fold the binding around to the inside of the needle roll and clip the binding in place using UNIQUE quilting Clever Clips. When clipping, make sure to pull the binding tight so the folded edge of the binding covers the stitching line. Clip all the way around.

NQ900 from Brother

5. Choose a top thread that will look nice on the outside of the needle roll, and a bobbin thread that blends nicely with the inside fabric and the binding.

Sew binding strips together with a mitered join.

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Sew binding to front of needle roll

Fold binding to the inside of the roll and clip in place.

Clip all the way around.

6. Select the stitch you want to use to secure the binding from the many stitches available on the Brother NQ900.

You can use pretty much any decorative or straight stitch for this, but if you use a straight stitch you need to be careful that your stitches catch the binding on the inside of the roll. If you use a wider decorative stitch, you can be pretty sure that at least one part of the stitch will catch the binding.

I’ll use the Shell Tuck edge stitch since I want it to be wide enough to catch the binding, but not too decorative that it competes with my embroidery stitches. On my NQ900, this stitch is #39 in the Utility Stitch grouping (the left most group shown on the lid of the machine). The screen on the machine shows which stitch had been selected and that I should be using pressor foot J.

The lid of the NQ900 shows the variety of available stitches.

Select Utility Stitch #39

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Here is a close up of what the stitch looks like from the outside of the needle roll:

And now…..we’re finished! Here's what the inside of the needle roll looks like with a few of my many packs of needles tucked inside.

The inside of the needle roll

The next image shows the needle roll rolled up and tied with the rick rack. I really love how it turned out and I hope you do too! It's the perfect size to tuck into my embroidery bag and will store a ton of needles!

The shell stitch on the binding on the outside of the needle roll.

See how the stitch shows on the inside of the needle roll in the photo. Since one part of the stitch extends onto the binding, you can see it’s still secure even at the lower corner, where the straight stitches didn’t quite catch the folded edge of the binding.

The rolled and tied up needle roll.

The Shell Stitch on the inside of the needle roll binding.

Thanks for joining me as I worked on my Brother NQ900 and used some awesome sewing supplies, including the UNIQUE quilting Clever Clips, to make this project. Hopefully, this little storage case will help you (and me) keep all our hand embroidery needles safe, secure, and organized. I really love doing hand embroidery and I hope this project has piqued your interest in trying hand embroidery, too.

Christine Baker

christinebaker-fairfieldroaddesigns.blogspot.ca

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NEW

Compact MuVit Digital Dual Feed Foot - More compact and easier to use than before!

BQ3100

Designed with quilters in mind, the versatile and stylish Quilt Club Series machines are perfectly precise.

729

14

Built-in Sewing Stitches

One-Step Auto-Size Buttonhole Styles

5

11.25’’

Sewing Fonts

Spacious Workspace for Large Quilts

Innovative features that deliver professional quality results!

Sew Straight™ Laser Vision Guide* helps you sew straight lines when quilting, piecing, pin tucking and more.

Automatic Height Adjuster™ (AHA®) delivers consistent stitch quality on different fabric thicknesses.

Pivot Function for fast and easy cornering and fabric manipulation.

Deluxe Quilters Bundle Included with the BQ3100: Wide Table, Open Toe Foot for MuVit, Stitch in the Ditch Dual Feed Foot, Dual Feed 1 ⁄4” Guide Foot, Dual Feed Quilting Guide, Couching Dual Feed Foot, and a 2-Spool Thread Stand Quilters Bundle Included with the BQ2500: Wide Table, Open Toe Foot for MuVit, Stitch in the Ditch Dual Feed Foot, and a 2-Spool Thread Stand

Visit an authorized Brother dealer today to find out more!

To find an authorized Brother dealer, visit brother.ca/store-locator brother.ca *Feature only available on the BQ3100. Photos are for illustration purposes only. Brother and its logo are trademarks of Brother Industries, Ltd., Japan. All specifications are subject to change without notice. All registered trademarks referenced herein are the property of their respective companies. ©2022 Brother International Corporation (Canada) Ltd. 1, rue Hôtel de Ville, Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Québec, H9B 3H6. 01/2022-MS308

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Sewing up

Too Cool for School pencil cases Robin Bogaert

By now I’m sure most of us are thinking about prepping the kids and grandkids for back-to-school. After the past year and a half we’re looking forward to healthy and positive in-person class experiences. The sewing focus of these articles is all about positivity with super cute pencil cases and zipper pulls to get our little students excited and happy to be heading back. I’ll be utilizing small fabric scraps from my own stash along with HEATNBOND Lite Iron-On Adhesive Sheets, COSTUMAKERS General Purpose Closed End Zipper, FAIRFIELD Quilter’s 80/20 Quilt Batting, UNIQUE SEWING Wash-out Marker, ELAN Snap-Clip, DMC Matte Cotton Yarn and FABRIC FUSE by HeatnBond Quickbond Fabric Adhesive.

If you have any zipper insertion fears, follow along as I show you some easy tips to make your zipper sewing confidence improve dramatically.

Too Cool for School pencil cases and zipper pulls

I know most of us have children or grandkids who just love to get ready for back-to-school and school supplies are an important part of this process. Let’s begin first by demonstrating how to make a trendy, cute and customized pencil case. This pencil case is sure to garner a smile and some excitement for pencil, marker, crayon and even snack storage.

Below is the pencil case with my grandson Eli’s name appliqued on it. He starts Montessori School this fall and is naturally apprehensive.

I’m sure this little case will help him to feel a little more excited about starting school and his new learning adventure.

The pencil case

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Supplies needed for these 3 pencil case projects

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materials

Cutting instructions

Š scraps of cotton fabric in yellow, wood grain tan, gray, pink,

• yellow fabric » (1) 7 ½” x 8” • gray fabric » (1) 3” x 8” » (1) 1” x 2” (for zipper extension) • wood grain tan fabric » (2) 5” diameter circles » (1) 1 ½” x 8” strip (use the wash out marker to trace

black and lining fabric (any color from your stash)

Š HEATNBOND Lite Iron-On Adhesive Sheets Š COSTUMAKERS General Purpose Closed End Zipper (9”, 23cm)

Š Š Š Š Š Š Š Š Š Š Š Š

FAIRFIELD Quilter’s 80/20 Quilt Batting UNIQUE SEWING Wash-out Marker FABRIC FUSE by HeatnBond Quickbond Fabric Adhesive thread to match your fabric iron sewing machine scissors parchment paper or a teflon pressing sheet free motion or walking foot basic sewing supplies black permanent marker circle template or protractor – 4” and 5” (optional)

Supplies all ready to go to make the pencil case

Photos by Robin Bogaert

around circle template)

• pink fabric » (2) 4” diameter circles (use the wash out marker to trace around circle template)

• lining fabric » (1) 8” x 12” (to be squared after quilting) • black fabric for lettering » Cut a scrap piece of fabric to fit chosen letters • batting » (1) 8 x 12” (to be squared after quilting) » (1) 4” circle » (1) 5” circle

Fabric and batting cut along with a zipper, ready to sew the pencil case

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Sewing up

a sharp looking pencil case for back to school

Sewing instructions

Step 3

Step 1

Using the FabricFuse place a few dots of glue on the corners of the paper and in between the letters to hold the name in place on the wrong side of the paper.

Glue the paper glue side to the right side of the black letter fabric.

To prepare the appliqued name on my pencil case, I used the Britannica font in Microsoft Word sized up to 150 as shown.

TIP Make sure the glue is not directly on the letters as this is great fusing glue and it will make the paper stick to the fabric. The glue is used to hold the name pattern in place and will be cut away after fusing. It’s very effective glue and takes very little time to dry (5 minutes).

Cut the HeatnBond Lite slightly larger than the name paper pattern and fuse this glue side to the wrong side of the fabric with a hot dry iron. Press down for about 10 seconds. Don’t move the iron.

TIP Use parchment paper or a Teflon pressing sheet to avoid getting glue on your iron.

Glue side of the HeatnBond Lite is fused to the wrong side of the fabric

Settings on my computer to design my name applique using Britannica font size 150

Step 5 Cut the letters out accurately through all layers, peel off front paper and paper backing for HeatnBond Lite Iron-On Adhesive. Set the letters aside.

Step 2 Change the name print to a blue outline and then print it out on a printer. Cut out the name leaving a ¼” border. Place on the right side of the lettering fabric.

Get ready to fuse with FabricFuse by HeatnBond Quickbond Fabric Adhesive and HeatnBond Light Iron-On Adhesive as shown below.

Step 4

Using FabricFuse by HeatnBond to secure a name pattern to fabric makes it easy to cut out

Letters to be cut out individually through all layers

The Eli name applique is now secured to the fabric and ready for the letters to be cut out individually

HeatnBond Lite, FabricFuse and printed name ready for machine applique

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Step 6

Step 8

Step 11

Center the name in the top ½ of the yellow fabric as shown and fuse with a hot iron. Use a small zigzag or satin stitch to adhere the letters to the fabric.

Sandwich the front of the pencil case fabric with the 8” x 12” batting and lining as shown and quilt as desired with matching thread.

Add the zipper extension fabric by marking a line on the zipper as shown, ¼” from the zipper stop. Pin the fabric ¼” above the line and sew with a ¼” seam allowance to sew on the marked line and avoid hitting the zipper stop. Fold and press the zipper extension fabric towards the end of the zipper (it will be slightly long and can be cut off after the zipper is sewn to the pencil case).

Quilting Design Tip: I used my UNIQUE Sewing Wash-out Marker and a ruler, drew horizontal lines on the yellow fabric and vertical lines on the gray fabric to mimic what a pencil looks like and then quilted it with matching colored thread.

Centering the letters on the top half of the fabric

Marking the fabric with a UNIQUE sewing Washout Marker, ready for quilting

Marking for the zipper extension with the UNIQUE sewing Wash-out Marker Quilting is complete

Step 9 Pressing the letters

Step 7 Sew the 3” x 8” gray strip of fabric and the 1½” x 8” piece of tan (wood grain) fabric to the 7½” x 8” yellow fabric as shown.

Sewing the gray and tan strips to the pencil body fabric in yellow

Square up the pencil case sandwich even with the edges of the pencil case front.

Step 10 Quilt as desired the pencil tip circles (5”) sandwiched with batting and the 4” eraser circles sandwiched with batting as shown. If you want to, you can also zigzag the edges.

Quilting on the pencil tip and eraser end circles Pinning the zipper extension

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Step 13 Sew the zipper close to the zipper prongs with a zipper foot and needle position to the far left. This may vary by machine so check your own settings.

Sewing line for the zipper extension

Step 12 To baste the zipper in place and make it super easy to sew, using FabricFuse, place a thin line of glue along the top right side of the pencil case as shown.

Place the right-side edge of the zipper on top of the glue as shown matching the ends and upper edge. Once the zipper is down, let it dry for about 5 minutes (you can even use a blow dryer to speed up the process).

Zipper machine-sewn on one side with a zipper foot

Step 14 Roll up the bottom side of the pencil case front, match and hand sew-baste the other open zipper right side edge to the right side of the pencil case fabric as shown.

Note: The reason for hand sewn basting is, this side will have more stress when trying to sew it. It is difficult to hold in place with pins or glue so sew-basting takes very little time and insures accurately sewn results.

Using a bead of FabricFuse for zipper basting is an effective way to have it hold the zipper in place so that the zipper can be sewn without moving.

Hand sew basting the other side of the zipper to prepare it for machine sewing with a zipper foot

Step 15 Sew the other side of the zipper with a zipper foot and sewing machine as discussed in step 13. Once the zip insertion is complete you can remove the basting stitches easily by just snipping them out.

TIP Move the zipper pull out of the way as you sew, so that it does not distort your sewing lines.

Rolling the other side of the fabric to prepare to line up the zipper and sew it

Zipper glue basted in place with FabricFuse by HeatnBond prior to machine zipper foot sewing

Sewing the hand sew basted side of the zipper with a zipper foot and sewing machine

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Step 16

Step 18

Leave the pencil case wrong side out and sew the eraser circle right side of fabric to right side of pencil case gray end, pin, gather if necessary and sew with a ¼” Sewing the eraser seam allowance as end circle right sides together with gray shown. This is the trickiest part of this end of pencil slowly and carefully whole pencil case project; sew slowly through all layers of fabric. It is recommended to use the free arm of your sewing machine to do this.

Once the pencil tip fabric is prepared, turn it right side out and insert it inside the pencil end of the pencil case right sides together. Make sure the seam for the pencil tip fabric is opposite to the zipper to reduce sewing bulk. Pin and sew with a ¼” seam allowance.

This is what your pencil case should look like with all components sewn.

Step 17 The completed pencil case shown from the lining side

Cut the 4” tan pencil tip circle fabric in half. Fold it again in half right sides together and sew the straight edge with a ¼” seam allowance as shown.

Step 19 Turn your pencil case to the right side and add pencil lead to the tip with a permanent marker.

Pencil tip fabric pinned right sides together with the pencil tip fabric strip

Cutting the pencil tip in ½ to ready it for sewing on the pencil case

Pencil lead drawn in with a permanent marker

Step 20 Admire your efforts!

The folded pencil tip right sides together

Sewing the seam on the pencil tip with a ¼” seam allowance

The completed pencil case so versatile for snacks, pencils and school supplies.

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Using applique to make

a zippy school bus pencil case materials

• free PDF downloadable school bus applique pattern available here: School Bus Applique

• • • • • •

I want to discuss applique the easy way with this sweet school bus pencil case, another great opportunity for zipper insertion mastery as well! I’ll feature a free pattern download and some very useful sewing notions…

HeatnBond Lite IronOn Adhesive Sheets, COSTUMAKERS General Purpose Closed End Zippers, Fairfield Quilter’s Supplies needed for the school bus pencil case 80/20 Quilt Batting, UNIQUE sewing Wash-out Marker, FabricFuse by HeatnBond Quickbond Fabric Adhesive and Fabric FunFabric Markers I’m sure we can all think of a child, grandchild, niece, nephew or neighbour who would just love this little pencil case. A great pay-it-forward opportunity as well. Fill it full of snacks or school supplies and give it to a child. Happiness is about giving.

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lining fabric (blue) batting front fabric (blue as shown) 9” [23cm] zipper (white or to match fabric) scraps of fabric (refer to photo)

» » » » »

School bus pencil case

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freezer paper

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yellow for school bus black red white gray

• thread to match » black » blue » yellow » white » red » gray • sewing machine • free motion foot (optional) • walking foot (optional) • zipper foot • zigzag or open toe foot for your machine • fusible web (I used HeatnBond Lite Iron-On Adhesive) • FabricFuse by HeatnBond Quickbond Fabric Adhesive • flat flower head pins (optional) • UNIQUE sewingWash-out Marker (optional but helpful) • iron • parchment paper or a Teflon pressing sheet (optional • small scissors • basic sewing supplies • light box (optional)

cutting instructions

Step 2

Step 4

From the scraps of fabric listed in the supplies list, cut the following:

Iron the shiny side of the freezer paper pieces onto the right side of the corresponding fabric pieces and cut out with space around the individual pieces as shown.

Cover with parchment paper or a Teflon pressing sheet and iron, pressing for about 10 seconds with a hot dry iron.

• • • •

yellow fabric for the bus – 4” x 6” batting – 12” x 14” lining fabric – 12” x 14” fabric for the front of the pencil case – 10¼” width x 13½” length

Note: The shiny side adheres only temporarily to your fabric and will not harm it.

sewing instructions Step 1 Download the School Bus Applique Pattern, print it out and trace each pattern piece individually onto the matte side of freezer paper or printer paper as shown.

Note: If you don’t have freezer paper, I recommend you get some as this is the easiest way to keep applique patterns directionally upright (you do not have to reverse the pattern) and gives you stiffness to cut through the pattern, fabric and fusible with accuracy.

Ironing the appliques with parchment paper on top to protect the Olisso iron

Step 5

Freezer paper ironed to fabric and cut out roughly

Step 3

Remove the pressing sheet and let the adhesive cool for a minute. Cut out each pattern piece using the freezer paper pattern as your guide. Cut through all 3 layers, freezer paper, fabric, and HeatnBond Lite Iron-On Adhesive.

Lay each freezer paper applique piece carefully onto the HeatnBond Lite IronOn Adhesive. The fabric should be wrong side down onto the glue side (shiny side) of the adhesive as shown.

School bus pattern traced onto the matte side of freezer paper

Applique pieces cut out accurately through all 3 layers Pattern pieces and fabric laid out on HeatnBond Lite Iron-On adhesive

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Step 6

Step 8

Find the center of your pencil case front fabric and mark with a UNIQUE sewingWash-out Marker; this is to get ready to center the applique in the top ½ of the fabric.

Keep building the applique and then mark any other details you may want with a UNIQUE sewing Wash-out Marker as shown below. These details also show on the downloaded paper applique pattern.

Satin stitching with an open toe foot

Step 11 It’s time to sandwich the lining and front of the pencil case. Sandwich the batting in between to be ready for quilting as shown.

Marking for satin stitch embellishment with a UNIQUE sewing Wash-out Marker

Step 9 Marking the center of the fabric with UNIQUE sewing Wash-out Marker for applique placement

Step 7 Start to remove the freezer paper and paper backing off the adhesive. Lay out the applique pieces on the front of the fabric to audition, and press with an iron.

Press as you lay down each piece so as not to lose pieces.

Add hubcap details with a Fabric FunFabric Marker (black) as shown below (optional). I felt that it was easier to use a marker then to try and applique these tiny details.

Sandwiching the pencil case with the front fabric, batting and backing

Step 12 Quilt as desired and square up the quilted sandwich. As you can see, I quilted a spiral, reminiscent of the tires – the wheels on the bus go round and round…

Marking details with a Fabric FunFabric Marker

Step 10 Removing all paper and placing applique pieces to build a school bus

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Zigzag and satin stitch any remaining details to complete your applique.

TIP It is recommended to stabilize your fabric on the back of the applique to avoid puckering. I ironed the shiny side of the freezer paper to the back of the entire upper half of my front of the pencil case fabric before starting the satin stitch.

Quilting the pencil case

It’s time for zipper insertion. We’re going to do it like we did earlier where we glue basted one side of the zipper and hand basted the other side. Both are great time savers and allow the zipper to be secured while sewn with a zipper foot.

Step 13 Run a bead of glue with FabricFuse by HeatnBond along the upper right edge of the pencil case fabric (above the school bus as shown), lay the zipper right side down along the edge matching sides, allow to dry for 5 minutes, and then sew with a zipper foot.

Step 14 Once the upper side of the zipper is sewn with a zipper foot, fold the bottom (RS) edge up to match the RS edge of the other side of the zipper and hand baste as shown. Sew once again with a zipper foot; you can remove basting stitches and cut off any excess zipper end at this point in the process.

The needle position needs to be to the far left, and stitch close to the zipper teeth or look at your zipper foot and adjust the needle position as necessary.

Pencil case rolled up to other right side of zipper and hand basted

Back side of zipper, zipper is hand basted on one side and glue basted on the other

Running a bead of FabricFuse along the top edge of the pencil case

Allowing the glue to dry for 5 minutes

Zipper sewn by machine with a zipper foot, needle position to the far left

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Step 15

Step 16

With the right sides of the fabric together, the zipper prongs teeth facing upwards and zipper open to the middle, use flat flower head pins to pin both sides and sew with tack stitches at each end.

Clip the corners.

Step 17 Turn to the right side and admire your efforts!

Zipper pinned with zipper prongs upward and sides pinned Pencil case pinned on both sides

The finished school bus pencil case, ready for a new little student

Lining complete with corners clipped

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Stay organized and sew up

a Pretty Zippered Pencil Case This Pretty Zippered Pencil Case can be made in any style or color of fabric. You can make it for back to school and to fit your little one’s personality!

I’ve made this in pastel shades sure to suit a pretty little princess and with the amazing help of HeatnBond Lite Iron-On Adhesive Sheets, COSTUMAKERS General Purpose Closed End Zippers, Fairfield Quilter’s 80/20 Quilt Batting, UNIQUE sewing Wash-out Marker, FabricFuse

by HeatnBond Quickbond Fabric Adhesive and Fabric FunFabric Markers

materials

• fabric for the front of the pencil case

» 11 small

pieces of scrap fabric for the pencils

» 1 piece of

scrap fabric for the part above the pencils

• white scrap

fabric for the pencil tips

• fabric for the back of the pencil case

• fabric markers • thread to match

• sewing

machine

• zipper foot • free motion or

The Pretty Zippered Pencil Case

walking foot

• scissors • basic sewing

cutting

• Cut (11) 13⁄8” x 4½” from each of the 11 pieces of scrap fabric (pencils).

supplies

• • • •

fabric adhesive fabric glue freezer paper fabric marking pen

• iron

• batting • lining fabric • 9” (23cm) zipper

• Cut (11) 7⁄8” x 1” rectangles from the white fabric (pencil tips).

• Cut a 2½” x 10¼” strip of scrap fabric for the top of the pencil case (above pencils).

• • • •

Cut 6¾” x 10¼” of the fabric for the back of the pencil case.

Cut 12” x 14” of the lining fabric.

Cut 12” x 14” of batting.

Cut (1) 7⁄8” x 1” rectangle from the freezer paper (this will be your pattern for tracing the pencil tips). Find the center top on the 1” side and mark it. Make a triangle by drawing a line from both 7⁄8” sides to the center. See in the photo below, the triangle template made from freezer paper in the center of the white fabric flower. Trace out 11 pencil tips using this freezer paper template as shown.

Supplies needed to make the Pretty Zippered Pencil Case Fabric and batting cut out with the triangle template cut from freezer paper

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sewing instructions

Step 4

Step 1

Sew the back piece (6¾” x 10¼”) to the front of the Pretty Zippered Pencil Case section as shown.

Sew all 11 pencil strips together.

All 11 pencil strips sewn together

Gluing alternate pencil tips with Fabric Fuse by HeatnBond Quickbond Fabric Adhesive

Step 2 Sew the top strip (2½” x 10¼” pink as shown) to the pencil tips.

Gluing alternate pencil tips with HeatnBond Lite Iron-On Adhesive

Back laid out to be sewn to the front

All 11 pencil strips sewn together

Step 3 Using HeatnBond Lite Iron-On Adhesive or Fabric Fuse by HeatnBond, fuse or glue the white fabric tips to the top of each pencil.

Back sewn to the front

Step 5 To fuse or glue? Using HeatnBond Lite or Fabric Fuse by HeatnBond (glue)

Gluing alternate pencil tips with Fabric Fuse by HeatnBond Quickbond Fabric Adhesive

Satin stitch or zigzag the pencil points in place.

Ironing the HeatnBond Lite with an Olliso Pro Iron on the hot setting using parchment paper on top to protect the iron

Note: Stabilize the back of the fabric prior to satin stitching.

The completely fused and glued pencil tip section Satin stitching with an open toe foot

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Step 6

Step 9

Step 10

Make your quilt sandwich with the top of the pretty pencil case, batting and backing.

Add some color to the pencil tips with Fabric Fun Fabric Markers (these are permanent colors meant for fabric).

These markers come in primary and bright color packs of 10 or individual pens. The bright pack is shown below.

These markers have a thin tip end perfect for small areas and a wide tip for thicker detail. I recommend making a sample fabric as shown to see ahead of time what the colors will look like on the project. They are so pretty for this project.

Ask your local sewing retailer for these versatile, gorgeous pens.

Run a bead of Fabric Fuse along the right-side top edge of the Pretty Zippered Pencil Case, to glue the zipper in place. Let it dry for 5 minutes.

Sandwiching the top batting and backing

Step 7

Glue basting the edge to prepare for zipper insertion

Quilt as desired. As shown below, I used a free motion foot and wavy stitches, simulating doodles.

Step 11 Lay one right side of the zipper against the glue, matching ends and edges. Sew with a zipper foot, needle position to the far left and zipper foot as close to the zipper prongs as possible.

Fabric Fun Fabric Markers and sample fabric

Quilting wavy lines with a free motion foot

Step 8 Square up the pencil case top.

Package of 10 Fabric Fun Fabric Markers with colors in bright shades

Pencil case sandwich squared up

Tips of pencils colored in with Fabric Fun Fabric Markers (Bright)

Sewing in the zipper with a zipper foot

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Step 12

Step 14

Step 15

Fold up the bottom (back) part of the case and hand baste the right-side edge against the other right-side edge of the zipper as shown.

Open up the zipper to the center and with the zipper prongs facing up on the open end, pin both sides of the pencil case right sides together. Sew the side seams with a ¼’ seam allowance.

Clip corners, turn to the right side and admire your efforts.

Just look at what we made, 3 oh so cute pencil cases, made with the help of some tiny personal fabric scraps and these great notions: HeatnBond Lite Iron-On Adhesive Sheets, COSTUMAKERS General Purpose Closed End Zippers, Fairfield Quilter’s 80/20 Quilt Batting, UNIQUE sewing Wash-out Marker, FabricFuse by HeatnBond Quickbond Fabric Adhesive and Fabric FunFabric Markers

Hand basting the other side of the zipper, ready for machine sewing

Step 13 Machine sew the other side of the zipper with a zipper foot, and remove basting stitches (optional).

Important TIP It is helpful to move the zipper while sewing so that there are no stitch wobbles, keep the needle in the down position if possible and then move the zipper tab out of sewing range.

Pinning the sides, ready for sewing

The finished Pretty Zippered Pencil Case, ready for a little one starting school

Machine sewing the hand basted side of the zipper with a zipper foot

The completed ‘Pencil’ Pencil Case, School Bus Pencil Case and Pretty Little Zippered Pencil Case

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Making the easiest DIY zipper pulls ever

I hope you liked the Pretty Zippered Pencil Case. Having a little something special ready and waiting for young students could motivate them to feel excited for the first day of school and may just make them feel a little more at ease and excited about beginning school. Now I’m showing you how to make the easiest zipper pull attachment with no machine sewing required that can go with the 3 cute back-to-school pencil cases. These zipper pulls require very few supplies and include DMC Matte Cotton Yarn (or embroidery floss) and an Elan Snap-Clip. These zipper pulls add functionality and bright, cheerful color to pencil cases, bags, backpacks and more. materials

• 5 to 6 skeins of DMC Matte Cotton Yarn or embroidery floss

• Elan Snap-Clip ½” (the D-ring that comes with it is not required)

• crewel embroidery needle or yarn needle

4 bright and easy zipper pulls

• small scissors Check out my Easy Zipper Pulls YouTube video tutorial.

Step 2

Step 3

Cut a 36” length from the remaining 6 colors of embroidery floss, as shown.

I’m repeating my colors for a total of 6 rounds of color.

Using the tassel mop color, tie one of the 6 colors around the center of the skein and wrap it around the skein tightly leaving a length of floss. Attach the snap clip and use the extra length of floss to wrap around the base of the snap clip several times to secure it. Leave extra floss to tie to the next color.

Supplies needed to make the easiest zipper pull ever

Step 1 Choose a cotton yarn or embroidery floss as the main color for the tassel mop and remove the paper sleeve.

Note: You can use the whole skein or unravel ½ of the skein to use. If Paper sleeves pulled you don’t want to use off of a skein of floss for the main color in up all of your gorgeous the tassel mop DMC Matte Cotton Yarn, using ½ the skein will work as well.

First piece of DMC Matte Building on the yarn wrap Cotton Yarn wrapped around the center of the mop skein and securing the Elan Snap-Clip

6 lengths of 6 colors of DMC Matte Cotton Yarn

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Step 4

Step 7

Continue to tie and wrap other colors evenly on each side of the center wrap incorporating your tied ends into the wrapping until it looks like the picture below. Use your yarn needle to burry loose ends and tie off thread.

Attach the tassel to your zipper and admire.

Building on the yarn wrap with other colors

Step 5 Bend your skein in half and using about 10” of the last color of floss, tie your wrapped loop, split the floss in half and use these split ends to tie it tight.

The final result with Elan Snap-Clip and DMC Matte Cotton Yarn

If you are more of an auditory learner, you may wish to watch my YouTube Tutorial to make these zippers pulls.

I hope you enjoyed these pencil case tutorials and that you have built more zipper insertion, applique and quilting confidence. Be sure to try these zipper pulls for the young ones in your life to help brighten up their school year with just 2 specific sewing notions DMC Matte Cotton Yarn and Elan Snap-Clip.

Happy Sewing.

Robin Bogaert

www.quiltingintheloft.com

Zipper pull bent and last color wraps the tassel mop together with the arms of the zipper pull

Step 6 Cut the looped ends of your tassel so that they’re even.

Cutting the loop ends so that the tassel mop is even

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Bright, pretty, practical zipper pulls add a fun accessory to the back-to-school pencil cases.

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The Double T block makes this Halloween table runner a real treat

Sarah Vanderburgh

It’s never too early or late to quilt for an upcoming holiday. I decided to focus on piecing a table runner for Halloween with the PFAFF performance icon. While it’s not the first one I made, I did discover some tricks using the performance icon this time that I thought I’d share. Of course, the ‘treat’ was getting to create using this amazing machine again.

Bobbin trick One of the features that I enjoy on the performance icon is the bobbin winding setup; having it on top of the machine makes it easy and accessible.

PFAFF performance icon with extension table

While getting ready for this project and winding my bobbin, I discovered that the bobbin can only be put on the little spindle one way. This means it’s impossible to wind the bobbin incorrectly and the thread flows effortlessly off of it from the bobbin case.

Needle trick The second trick I discovered while sewing with the performance icon this time around concerns the needle. I usually activate the Needle Up/Down icon to have the needle stay in the down position whenever I stop sewing. I love using it as a third hand when piecing to help me keep the fabrics lined up. With this icon engaged, the presser foot also lifts up off the fabric to let you pivot the fabric with the needle down.

I discovered that when the icon is not engaged and you leave the needle down, the foot still lifts! So much better than having to manually lift the foot to pivot.

Double T runner

Bobbin winding on top of the PFAFF performance icon

The tricks turn into treats as we get ready to sew and quilt a table runner with the performance icon. I chose the traditional double T patchwork block as a nod to Trick or Treat. This version of the block changes the fabric placement to make the center look like a piece of wrapped candy.

There is one trick to the fabric selection for this runner. To emphasize the ‘T’ in the blocks it’s important that there is strong contrast between the background, the T fabrics and the center or candy fabric. I selected modern prints for my T fabrics and tone-on-tone fabrics that are lighter for the candy fabrics and black for the background fabric.

One way up for the bobbin

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Photos by Sarah Vanderburgh

materials finished size 15” x 45” fabric

• • • • • •

background – ½ yd double ‘T’ fabric orange – ½ yd candy fabric orange – ¼ yd double T fabric blue – ½ yd candy fabric blue – ¼ yd backing fabric – 17½” x 48”

batting

• black low loft INSPIRA Fusible Fleece – 15½” x 45” thread

• for piecing and quilting (I used light blue and black for quilting)

cutting instructions Background

• 140” of 2½” strips for binding • 3 – 6¼” squares • 6 – 6” squares Double T fabric orange print

Wrapped candy on the Double T runner

Candy fabric light orange

• 2 – 6¼” squares • 2 – 4” squares Double T fabric blueprint

• 2 – 6” squares • 8 – 3⁄8” squares • 4 – 3” squares

• 4 – 6” squares • 20 – 3⁄8” squares

Candy fabric light blue

One way up for the bobbin

Fabric selection for the Double T runner

• 1 – 6¼” square • 1 – 5½” square

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Piecing blocks are quick and accurate with the PFAFF performance icon Time to start sewing! We collected fabrics and cut out the pieces to make a Double T runner. Regardless of the time of year, it’s always a treat to sew with the PFAFF performance icon.

We’ll use the Patchwork Program to speed up the process of piecing similar blocks.

Patchwork Program

Sewing half square triangles with the PFAFF performance icon

User’s Guide on the Multi-Touch Screen open to the Patchwork Program

The PFAFF performance icon comes with many built in features to make sewing accurately easy and enjoyable. It’s been a while since I used the Patchwork Program but I realized that sewing together all of the half square triangles (HSTs) needed for this project was a great opportunity to use it again. I touched the program at the bottom of the Multi-Touch Screen then the question mark at the top right. A pop-up came up where I selected the program again and was brought right to the page in the User’s Guide to reread how to use it. The built-in guide makes it so easy to look things up in the moment – no leaving the machine and getting distracted. The Multi-Touch Screen is about the size of a small tablet so it’s easy to read too.

To stitch with the Patchwork Program, you simply press the Start/Stop button which is located right above the Reverse button close to the needle. The program will stitch out the length of stitches you program into it and stop when it’s done.

Then you get your next set of fabrics ready and press the button again. It’s a great feature to use when a large number of samesized units is needed.

We’re sewing together the larger units needed for the blocks, half square triangles and some flying geese units.

Making half square triangles 1. Draw 1 diagonal line on the back of each Double T orange and blue print fabrics 6” squares.

Start/Stop button close to needle and just above the Reverse button

2. Sew an orange print 6” square to a black background square, right sides together, by sewing ¼” away from each side of the drawn line.

3. Cut on the drawn line to create 2 HSTs. Press the seam to the background fabric.

4. Repeat these steps with the remaining 2 orange squares.

5. Sew 1 blue square to 1 black background square, right sides together, by sewing ¼” away from each side of the drawn line.

6. Cut on the drawn line to create 2 HSTs. Press the seam to the blue fabric.

7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 with the remaining blue square.

8. Trim each HST to 5½”. You should have 8 orange and black HSTs and 4 blue and black HSTs.

Needle Up/Down button lit up while engaged and sewing HSTs

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One other feature that I use consistently when piecing is the Needle Up/Down button. When engaged the needle stays in the fabric when you stop sewing and the presser foot lifts off of the fabric so you can pivot or manipulate it. You’ll know when any of the button features across the face of the performance icon are active because they will be lit up. I finally got a good photo of the Needle Up/Down button engaged so I can show you.

Making flying geese blocks using the no-waste method 1. Using the light orange 6¼” square, place one orange print 33⁄8” square on the corner, right side down with the diagonal line in the corner of the light square. Place a second orange print 33⁄8” square on the corner diagonal to it with the drawn line in the same direction.

2. Sew ¼” away on each side of the drawn line.

To make sure my stitching line is a ¼” away from the line, I use the ¼ inch Quilting Foot for IDT System. The IDT System is built into the performance icon and connects to the presser foot to guide the layers of fabric evenly under the needle. Here’s a video that shows the IDT System in action: What makes it so perfect? PFAFF original IDT System?

The ¼ inch Quilting Foot ensures I’m right on the mark!

3. Cut on the drawn line and press seams to the added triangles.

4. On one unit, position 1 orange print 33⁄8” square on the corner, right side down with the diagonal line at the corner of the unit.

I use the Straight Needle Plate when sewing which prevents my beginning fabric points from getting pulled into the plate hole.

The performance icon comes with 2 needle plates, including the Straight Needle Plate.

5. Sew ¼” away on each side of the drawn line.

6. Cut on the drawn line and press seams to the added triangle.

7. Repeat steps 4 to 6 with the second unit.

8. Trim to make each of the flying geese units 3” tall and 5½” wide.

Sewing a square to one half of a no-waste flying geese unit

9. Make a second set of 4 geese with the remaining light orange 6¼” square and 4 orange print 33⁄8” squares by repeating steps 1 to 8.

10. Make 2 sets of geese with 2 – 6¼” squares of background fabric and 8 orange print 33⁄8” squares, using steps 1 to 8.

11. Make 1 set of geese with the remaining 6¼” square of background fabric and 4 blue print 33⁄8” squares, using steps 1 to 8.

12. Make the final set of geese using 1 light blue 6¼” square and 4 light blueprint 33⁄8”” squares, following steps 1 to 8.

Here’s a sneak peek at the double T block layout so you can see the half square triangles and flying geese units in position. This is one of the orange double T blocks; you will have enough units for one more orange block and one blue block.

The Patchwork Program made quick work of stitching the half square triangles and the IDT System helped with accurate piecing of the flying geese units. The built-in features of the PFAFF performance icon are quick to locate and easy to use.

Layout of the Double T block showing HST and flying geese units

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2 ways to make square in a square quilt blocks Double T Runner

There are advantages to having more than one way to make block units in quilting. One is that you can pick a method that works with the fabric you have, in this case, what fabric you don’t have! We used the Patchwork Program on the performance icon to sew the half square triangles for the blocks for the Double T runner. We also made the flying geese units.

At this point there is only the inner unit for the blocks to make – the square in a square unit. The square in a square unit is the center of the candies and the blocks in the Double T runner.

I used two different ways to make square in a square units because I didn’t have enough of the light orange fabric to use my go-to method of sew and flip. Regardless, it’s good practice to try different methods to see which one you enjoy using and give you results you’re happy with. The PFAFF performance icon helped me to sew precisely for both methods and my units ended up the same size.

Square in a square units for Double T blocks

Method 1 Double T orange using 33⁄8” squares cut on the diagonal 1. Cut 2 orange print squares on the diagonal. Finger press the light orange square in half in both directions to give yourself placement lines for the triangles.

2. Place one orange print triangle right side down across one edge of the light orange fabric square with the point lined up with the center of the square.

3. Sew the triangle to the square along the edge. The Original IDT System and Straight Needle Plate help ensure precise piecing of the triangles to the square.

4. On the edge opposite, sew another triangle in the same manner. Press both seams to the triangles 5. Repeat placing a light orange triangle on each of the remaining edges of the square. Press the seams to the triangles. The unit should measure a 5½” square.

First triangle centered on center square

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6. Repeat steps 1 to 6 to make a second orange square in a square unit.

Sewing the third triangle to make the square in a square unit

The Second triangle sewn to the opposite edge

Method 2 Double T blue using 3” squares sew and flip 1. Draw a diagonal line on the back of the 4 blue print 2½” squares.

2. Place a blue print 2½” square right side down on the top left corner of the light blue 5½” square with the diagonal line opposite the corner.

3. Sew on the diagonal line. I used the Clear Open Toe Foot for IDT System to sew these lines so I could clearly see the drawn lines as I sewed.

4. Cut the excess seam allowance off leaving a ¼” seam allowance. Press the seam to the blue print triangle.

5. Place a blue print 2½” square on the top right corner and repeat steps 3 and 4.

6. Place a blue print 2½” square on the bottom right corner and repeat steps 3 and 4.

Using the Clear Open Toe foot for IDT System for accurate sewing on the line

7. Place the remaining blue print 2½” square on the bottom left corner and repeat steps 3 and 4. The unit should measure a 5½” square.

These are the last units needed before putting the blocks together. The precision piecing features of the PFAFF performance icon meant I could use the fabric I had to make the square in a square units. I can’t wait to see this runner assembled!

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Easy piecing a Double T table runner with precision

it’s time to put them all together and make the Double T runner. A few more treats are in store as we precisely piece the units with the PFAFF performance icon.

Sewing the blocks together The orange blocks and the blue blocks are assembled the same way.

Here is a photo of the units laid out in the proper direction.

1. Sew the flying geese units together into pairs, with the light fabric geese to the left of the background fabric geese. Press the seam to the light fabric geese.

2. To sew the top row of the block, sew 1 half square triangle (HST) with the print fabric to the right side of the geese unit with the geese pointing down. Press the seam to the HST. 3. Sew a second HST with the print fabric to the left edge of the unit made. Press the seam to the HST.

Sewing blocks with the PFAFF performance icon

For sewing the units together, I changed to the ¼ inch Right Guide Foot for IDT System. A little extra help for keeping the seam allowance consistent is always a treat! The performance icon actually comes with 11 presser feet, including the ¼ inch Quilting Foot for IDT System.

4. To sew the middle row together, sew 1 flying geese unit to both the left and right sides of the square in a square unit with the geese pointing towards the unit. Press the seams to the square in a square unit.

5. To sew the bottom row of the block, sew 1 HST with the print fabric to the right side of the geese unit with the geese pointing up. Press the seam to the HST. 6. Sew a second HST with the print fabric to the left edge of the unit made. Press the seam to the HST.

Layout of the Double T block

7. Sew the rows together, pressing each seam to the one below. The block should measure a 15½” square.

8. Repeat steps 1 to 7 to make one more orange block and one blue block.

Time saving trick – Sew the three blocks at the same time and use the Patchwork Program at each step. We used the Patchwork Program in the second part of this feature when making the half square triangles.

Between chain piecing and the Patchwork Program, your blocks will be stitched in no time.

Sewing blocks together Sew the orange blocks to the opposite sides of the blue block. Press the seams to the orange blocks. The runner should measure 15½ ” x 45½ “.

Start Quilting

¼ inch Right Guide Foot for IDT System

Clear Stitch-in-Ditch Foot for IDT System

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The block assembly was a breeze with the performance icon so I thought we could get started on the quilting. To quilt the runner, I decided to use black low loft polyester INSPIRA Fusible Fleece. This made it possible to have no pins as you fuse the fleece to the quilt top, but the backing is not secured. I wasn’t too concerned as the runner is a small enough project to have the backing fabric stay against the fleece while I stitched in the ditch around the outside of the blocks to secure the three layers. I used the Clear Stitch-in-Ditch Foot for IDT System and black thread.

Now that all the piecing of the Double T runner is done, all that’s left is the quilting. The PFAFF performance icon’s precise stitching made the rows and blocks fit together perfectly.

Simple free-motion quilt designs for a Halloween Double T table runner Hopefully, you’re happy with your fabric choices, and the double Ts in the blocks are making you smile. Now we’re quilting the runner to emphasize the T in the blocks which is another chance to enjoy the features of the PFAFF performance icon.

Free-motion quilting the centers We started quilting the table runner layers together using the Stitch-in-theDitch Foot around the outside of the T fabrics. It’s time to change to the light blue thread to do some free-motion quilting in the light centers, or the candy! I used the Open Toe Free-Motion Foot to sew a spiral in the center of the blocks. This foot attaches through the hole in the presser foot ankle and is tightened in place with the little screw already attached to the machine. I tried to use the quilting to make the centers look like wrapped candy and the light blue thread blends in nicely with my fabric.

You can use the Open Toe Free-Motion Foot for outline stitching as well which isn’t something I really tried before this runner. I used the same foot to stitch inside each of the light blue triangles.

Once I went around the triangle I then free-motion-quilted three little loops or elongated circles inside the triangle before moving to the next one.

Quilting inside the light blue triangles with the Open Toe Free-Motion Foot

I kept going with this foot to stitch ¼” inside of the blueprint fabric. Then I added a second outline stitch of a T inside the blueprint fabrics to emphasize the T shape. It was while I was doing this

stitching that I started to get the groove of matching the speed of my hands to the speed of the machine. I realized that I could sew straight lines with this foot too – maybe I’m becoming a freemotion quilter!

Once I finished the blue center T block, I decided to continue with the light blue thread in the orange T blocks as well. The thread provided a minimum of contrast against the light orange and blended just as well into the orange print as the blue. I quilted the orange blocks in the same order as the blue, starting with the center then outlining the T fabric. In the orange ones, I decided to just do the one row of stitching in the T fabric as I was concerned I wouldn’t be able to keep my second row of stitches looking consistent throughout the three blocks.

There was plenty of space to the right of the needle for rolling up the runner to get a smooth area for quilting on the runner. There’s a lot of height under the arm too, which makes it effortless to maneuver the runner around while quilting.

Free-motion quilted spiral in center of block

Quilted T outline inside of blue print fabric

Runner rolled up in the harp space of the PFAFF performance icon while free-motion quilting

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Background quilting

Adding a decorative stitch

With the three blocks quilted I switched to black thread to do the stitching in the background fabric. There isn’t much of it, but I wanted the quilting to again help emphasize the T shapes.

I started with my go-to straight-line stitching and switched to the ¼ inch Quilting Foot for IDT System. The guide marks on this foot are spaced at ¼” intervals to help with turning corners and maintaining consistent topstitching.

The straight lines of black stitching are doing the job of emphasizing the T shape in the blocks. This runner was designed to be displayed during the Halloween season so I decided to add a row of stitches that reflected the season.

There are so many decorative stitches built into the PFAFF performance icon that it’s easy to find one for almost any occasion! There’s a stitch chart you can look at to come up with ideas too if you want to be inspired by the stitches.

The large Multi-Touch Screen makes it easy to see what the stitch will look like on the runner. I picked stitch 6.2.6 because it was a web with a tiny spider – the big spider is a bit too big for me :). You can see in the photo far below that the Stitch Edit icon is highlighted in green – that’s because I went into the machine settings and changed the unit from millimeters to inches so I could find out how wide the stitch was for placing it on the runner. The numbers on the screen are in inches.

Front red guide mark indicates ¼” away from the edge for accurate corner turning

I quilted with black thread simple lines ¼” apart in background small triangles where the blocks join on the runner.

The recommendations in the top left of the Multi-Touch screen will tell you what foot is recommended for the selected stitch. The large Maxi foot 8 is used when stitching out wide stitches. Notice it is Maxi foot 8 beside the stitch 6.2.6 closed at the back edge which means it won’t connect to the IDT System; it makes sense because these large stitches move the needle side to side as well as forward.

Quilting lines ¼” apart in background small triangles

Stitch 6.2.6 on the Multi-Touch Screen

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An additional three rows of straight-line stitching were added to the other side of the decorative stitching.

Center of the quilted Double T runner

Binding

Adding rows of straight-line quilting beside stitch 6.2.6

You can see in the photo from the right that I also stitched straight lines in the black squares that formed where the Double T blocks meet. There’s not much I didn’t quilt on this runner!

The runner was bound with the background fabric for it to blend in and not detract from the blocks or quilting. I didn’t take pictures of this process as this post was getting long – but I used the same method of sewing the binding to the back then the front by machine when I made my Spring runner. Check out the final post of that week to see some photos and how I did it: Echo quilting makes the Spring Runner complete.

Now I have another seasonal quilted table runner ready to enjoy! I have a lot of fun sewing with the PFAFF performance icon and have gained so much confidence in my free-motion quilting using this machine.

Sarah Vanderburgh sewjoycreations.com

Quilted and bound end of the Double T runner

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REVISITED !

A beginner quilter's journey making the QAL Spectrum Quilt BLOCK 1

If you followed our Spectrum QAL on QUILTsocial in 2020 into 2021, you might remember how intricate some of the quilt blocks designed by Claire Haillot of Quilting with Claire are. Soon after the completion of the Spectrum QAL, Pam Voth of No Room For Phonies suggested to undertake the QAL challenge from a beginner quilter perspective.

A very adventurous undertaking! When inspired by something it can be achieved!

BLOCK 2 Pam is completing her blocks using fabric from the Delightful collection by Riley Blake.

BLOCK 3 In this feature are Pam's first 6 blocks. Below are Claire's original designs for her first 3 blocks.

Block 1

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Block 2

Block 3

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.

All of Pam Voth's QAL quilt blocks can be found on QUILTsocial! See what she has to say about making these sparkling quilt blocks from a beginner quilter's perspective.

The instructions to all 12 Spectrum QAL Blocks in 3 different fabric lines have all been published on QUILTsocial.com. You can still access these by visiting

QAL 2020 Spectrum

Show us your quilt blocks with

#TheSewGoesOn These blocks are linked for quick access to the instructions on QUILTsocial.

BLOCK 4 Stay tuned for Pam's next 6 QAL quilt blocks in our upcoming QUILTsocial Issues and her completed quilt!

BLOCK 5

BLOCK 6

Below are Claire's original designs for her blocks 4 through 6.

Block 4

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Block 5

Block 6

RE

LE

BOLD

DERAB OR

BASICS

Northcott’s range of Bold Beautiful Basics offers a wide variety of reorderable blenders and solids to spark creativity and take any project to the next level. Whether it’s the subtle suede-look of Toscana, the gold and silver metallics of Shimmer, or the earthy textures of Stonehenge Gradations, these fabrics will add visual interest and depth to any piece.

Head over to the Bold Beautiful Basics category at www.northcott.com to view the full range, and use the Product Finder to see who carries them near you!

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BUSINESS DIRECTORY

To list your business in this space please call 1.866.969.2678.

CANADA Brampton Sew & Serge 289 Rutherford Rd S, Unit 7, Brampton, ON L6W 3R9  905.874.1564  bramptonsewnserge.com  monique@bramptonsewnserge.com Welcome to Your One Stop Sewing Centre! We are authorized dealers of Baby Lock, Husqvarna Viking, and Singer sewing machines and sergers. We also offer a full schedule of sewing classes for everyone.

Brandon Sewing Centre 821 Princess Ave, Brandon MB R7A 0P5, 204.727.2752 Bytowne Threads - Ottawa, ON  1.888.831.4095  bytownethreads.com  mlj@bytownethreads.com Featuring Aurifil thread from Italy. Long staple Egyptian cotton threads - 270 colours in 12, 28, 40 and 50 wt; 88 colours in 80 wt. Polyester Aurilux - 240 high sheen colours.

Wool threads - 192 colours. Many kits available. Check our website!

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Carellan Sewing Centre 1685 Corydon Ave, Winnipeg MB R3N 0J8 204.488.2272, facebook.com/CarellanSewingCentre Country Concessions 35 King Street N, Cookstown, ON L0L 1L0 (new address) 705.458.4546, countryconcessions.com Gitta's 271 Lakeshore Rd E, Mississauga, ON L5G 1G8  905.274.7198  gittas.com  questions@gittas.com Nestled in the east village of Port Credit, Gitta's is the place where stitchers meet with their stitching friends, shop for stitching supplies and see the new stitching designs from Europe and the United States.

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Authorized dealers for Janome and Elna.

K & A Quilt Studio 90 Samnah Cres, Ingersoll ON N5C 3J7 (New Location!)  519.425.4141  kaquiltstudio.com Where friends and creativity meet! Authorized distributor of Husqvarna VIKING sewing machines, and a Kimberbell Certified Shop. We stock full collections of quilting fabrics, featuring Northcott and Moda, plus lots of patterns, books, and samples to inspire you!

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Sew Inspired 375 Daniel St S, Arnprior, ON K7S 3K6  613.623.0500  sewinspired.ca  info@sewinspired.ca Your Ottawa Valley PFAFF® Authorized Dealer. We have a large supply of quilting & sewing supplies, knitting supplies, as well as in stock PFAFF® sewing machines.

We also have a listing of sewing and quilting classes.

Sew With Vision 480 Parkland Dr, Halifax, NS B3S 1P9 902.479.2227, sewwithvision.net Stitch By Stitch 550 Days Rd Unit 1, Kingston ON K7M 3R7 613.389.2223, stitchbystitchkingston.com That Sewing Place 16610 Bayview Ave #10, Newmarket, ON L3X 1X3 905.715.7725, thatsewingplace.ca The Quilt Store / Evelyn's Sewing Centre 17817 Leslie St, Unit 40, Newmarket, ON L3Y 8C6  905.853.7001 or toll-free 1.888.853.7001 The Quilt Store West 695 Plains Rd E, Unit 6, Burlington, ON L7T 2E8  905.631.0894 or toll-free 1.877.367.7070  thequiltstore.ca Now with 2 locations to serve you, we are your Quilt Store Destination! The staff here at The Quilt Store is always on hand to provide Quilt Wisdom, Quilt Inspiration and most of all we pride ourselves as the place to make... All Your Quilt Dreams Come True!

The Stitcher's Muse Needleart #101 - 890 Crace St, Nanaimo, BC V9R 2T3  250.591.6873  thestitchersmuse.com  info@thestitchersmuse.com A divine little shop with supplies for all your hand stitching needs! Friendly, knowledgeable, helpful staff.

Cross stitch, canvaswork, needlepoint, embroidery, counted thread, lace making & more. Books, patterns, fabric, threads, tools.

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Upper Canada Quiltworks – Quiltworks Studio PO Box 64, Brockville, ON K6V 5T7  613.865.7299  uppercanadaquiltworks.com  uppercanadaquiltworksstudio@gmail.com Quilt patterns and books, fabric and notions, felted wool, wool kits, punchneedle patterns and supplies and Valdani embroidery floss. Workshops in quilting, punchneedle, wool applique, rug-hooking, sewing, sign painting & more!

UNITED STATES A Quilter's Folly 8213 Brodie Ln #100, Austin, TX 78745 512.899.3233, aquiltersfolly.com A-1 Singer Sewing Center 1012 S Oliver St, Wichita KS 67218 316.685.0226, a-1singer.com American Folk Art and Craft Supply 1415 Hanover St, West Hanover, MA 02339 781.871.7277, americanfolkartonline.com Charlotte Sewing Studio 1109 Tamiami Trl Unit 2, Port Charlotte FL 33953 941.235.3555, charlottesewingstudio.com Close to Home Sewing Center 277 Hebron Ave, Glastonbury CT 06033 860.633.0721, closetohomestores.com Cottage Quilts * Sew Creative Studio 1310 Center Dr Unit A, Medford OR 97501 541.500.8071, cottage-quilts.com Discount Fabric Warehouse 933 Kanoelehua Ave, Hilo HI 96720 808.935.1234, discountfabricwarehouse.com

El Cajon Sew & Vac 1077 Broadway, El Cajon CA 92021 619.442.2585, sewezr.com Hursh's Country Store 2425 W Main St, Ephrata PA 17522 717.721.2575, hurshscountrystore.com Jessamine Quilt Shop LLC 1301 Old Cherokee Rd, Lexington SC 29072-9047 803.490.1031, jessaminequiltshop.com JS Linen and Curtain Outlet 1250 Northside Dr, Statesville NC 28625 704.871.1939, jslinenoutlet.com/js-quilt-shop Just Sew Studio 51 Third St NE, Waite Park MN 56387 320.654.1580, justsewstudiomn.com Keeping You Sewing 226 4th Ave S, Clinton IA 52732 563.242.6135, keepingyousewing.com Lone Star Quiltworks 4301 S Texas Ave, Bryan TX 77802-4360 979.595.1072, lonestarquiltworks.com Maryland Vacuum and Sewing Center 26845 Point Lookout Rd (Rt 5) Leonardtown MD 20650 240.309.4019, mdvacsew.com New England Sewing 501 Hartford Rd, Manchester CT 06040 860.647.8119, nesewing.com Options Quilt Shop 102 E Commerce St, Jacksonville TX 75766 903.586.9546, optionsquiltshop.com Paramount Sewing & Vacuum 3960 Rickey St SE, Salem OR 97317 503.990.8186, paramount-sew-vac.com Pick Your Stitch 6701 Manlius Center Rd, East Syracuse NY 13057 315.437.0962, pickyourstitch.com Quality Vac and Sew 1213 Gilmore Ave Ste E2B, Winona MN 55987-2632 507.452.2203, qualityvacandsew.com Quilter's Attic Sewing Center 118 Maple Ave, Pine Bush NY 12566 845.744.5888, quiltersattic.com Quilters' Corner @ Middlebury Sew-N-Vac 260 Court St Ste 4, Middlebury VT 05753 802.388.3559, middleburysewnvac.com Quintessential Quilts 940 East Main St, Reedsburg WI 53959 608.524.8435, qquilts.com Select Sewing 2415 East 65th St, Indianapolis IN 46220 317.255.6332, selectsewingservice.com Sew Special 688 W Main St, Uniontown PA 15401 724.438.1765, sew-special.biz Sew What? Fabric Shoppe 7 W Front St, Addison NY 14801 607.359.4308, sewwhatfabricshoppe.com Sewing Solutions 1505 S Glenburine Rd, Ste G, New Bern SC 28562-2689 252.633.1799, sewingsolutionsnc.com Sierra Sewing, Quilting, and Vacuums 8056 S Virginia St Ste 6, Reno NV 89511 775.823.9700, sierrasewing.com Singer Factory Distributor 4914 W Irving Park Rd, Chicago IL 60641 773.545.6834, singerfactorydistributor.com Suddenly Sewing 5850 Kroger Dr Ste 110, Fort Worth TX 76244 817.741.5400, suddenlysewing.com Thimbelina's Quilt Shop 118 North B St Ste B, Livingston MT 59047-2662 406.222.5904, thimbelinasquiltshop.com Wise Monkey Quilting 501 Hwy 39 N, Denison IA 51442 712.393.7979, wisemonkeyquilting.com

Light Years Beyond

Presenting the Luminaire 2 Innov-ís XP2. Brilliant new quilting innovations and app-based features available from your mobile devices let you find perfection in every stitch.

13.1"

Enjoy StitchVision technnology and see your designs projected on fabric before you begin to embroider.

Experience the comfort of sewing on 65 square inches of workspace, the largest of any Brother machine.

The Luminaire 2 has the magic of 192 built-in Disney embroidery designs and 10 decorative Disney stitches.

Stop your stitch in the perfect place just by placing the Snowball End Point Sticker on your project.

Large 10.1” HD LCD touchscreen display with capacitive technnology.

Enjoy 2-colour quilting sash designs, built-in hexagon shapes for auto split sash, single or triple stitching, and more.

Visit an authorized Brother dealer today to find out more! brother.ca/en/XP2 Photos are for illustration purposes only. Brother and its logo are trademarks of Brother Industries, Ltd., Japan. All specifications are subject to change without notice. All registered trademarks referenced herein are the property of their respective companies. ©2022 Brother International Corporation (Canada) Ltd. 1, rue Hôtel de Ville, Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Québec, H9B 3H6. 01/2022-MS308

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Get quilting!

Inspired by

WORDS