QUILTsocial Fall 2014 Issue | Page 18

Embroidering the Cover 1. Cut muslin approximately 2" [5cm] larger on all sides than the interfacing. 2. Fuse the two pieces together. 3. Prepare machine for free motion embroidery. Use a top stitch needle and a darning foot, set machine to straight stitch, stitch length of 0 and drop the feed dogs. Refer to photo for color placement. Photo 6 4. Fill in the circles with free motion embroidery. Photo 7 embroidery gold highlight Note: As you go around the circles, the fabric will draw up and cause some distortion. 5. Use Mirage in the needle, set machine to zig zag (stitch width 3.5) and move the piece forwards and backwards to fill in the background. Try not to stitch into the circles, aiming for a loose but even coverage of the entire background. Photo 8 6. Rotate piece 90º and repeat the zig zag fill. Rotate piece 90º again and repeat the zig zag fill. Work in layers and rotate the piece each time, will blend out the color changes in the Mirage and give a dense background fill. Photo 9 7. Dense stitching will draw up the fabric. Check the piece against the folded template and if necessary, add more stitching to the outside edges. 8. Use metallic thread in the needle and set the machine to straight stitch to outline the circles. About five times around the circle works well. Add rays embroidery finish around the blue circles. Photo 10 & 11 9. Place embroidered fabric face down on a towel and lightly press. Use the folded template to cut the fabric to size. 10 6 11 color placement 7 FME circles 8 12 creating pattern 9 zig zag fill Sewing the Front Cover 1. Lay out the full template on the fusible fleece. 2. Cut out the fleece, leaving an extra ½" [13mm] on all sides. 3. Use parchment paper on top to fuse the embroidered panel to the fleece, lining up the right edge of the panel with the right edge of the fleece. 4. Cut navy fabric larger than the exposed fleece. 5. With right sides together, line up the edge of the fabric with the left side of the embroidered panel. 6. Sew using a ¼" [6mm] seam allowance, then flip the fabric over and fuse it in place. 7. Quilt navy fabric as desired, and then cut the cover to size. cover with elastic 13 cutting lining 18 QUILTsocial .com ● fall 2014