Mickey & Friends Christmas Quilt (In September? Yes!)

Create a Christmas keepsake with this gala stippled Disney character quilt. Hang it, cover a napping child or drape it over a chair. It combines the magic of Disney with the wonder of Christmas, not to mention the joy you will get from learning how to stipple around a design with your Dream Machine. Or you can stipple with traditional free motion stitching or simply skip that feature entirely. Using this light weight quilt for inspiration, you can whip up a smaller throw, wall hanging or pillow top. The 4x4 designs are all available at iBroidery.com
and they are so much fun. Let the Christmas celebrations begin!

Machine, Hoop and Feet

• THE Dream Machine® Innov-ís XV8500D
  
• SA446 Embroidery Hoop, 8"x8"
  
• ¼” foot
• walking foot

Feature Used:

• My Design Center

Materials and Supplies

• Fabric—white muslin or quilting cotton (background), green gingham for side triangles, 2 yds.45” wide red gingham for backing, red, green, yellow, Christmas print scraps for border
• Cotton batting-very lightweight
• Notions: heat erasable marking pen, basting spray
• Rotary cutter, mat, and ruler
• iBroidery.com Disney Christmas designs - to be stippled in white
  • DMCRT01--Santa Mickey
    
  • DMCRT02-- Santa Minnie
    
  • DMCRT03--Pluto for Christmas
    
  • DMCRT04—Goofy Santa with presents
    
  • DMCRT05—Holiday Fun
    
  • 200811098--Minnie with Pluto
    
  • 211914011--M&M building snowman
    
• iBroidery.com small designs - to be stippled in green
  • 200910425--candle
    
  • 200910426—candy cane
    
  • 200910427--mittens
    
  • 231020029—bell
    
  • 200910433 –star
    
  • 200910424—gingerbread boy ornament
    
  • 200910431—star snowflake
    
  • 200910432--stocking
    
• iBroidery.com small designs - to be stippled in yellow
  • 200910471--reindeer
    
  • 200810113--wreath
    
  • 231020044--teddy bear
    
  • 200910470—ornament (one extracted from two ornaments)
    
  • 231020027—Christmas tree
    
  • 200910430--present
    
• OTHER SOURCE - to be stippled in yellow
  • Brother Christmas Card #28
  • design Bcd28017—Santa
  • design Bcd28011—poinsettia and ribbons extracted from this design

Preparations

1. Cut 23 squares 13 x 15” from white background fabric. Starch and press.
2. Cut 23 squares 13 x 15” of very thinnest cotton batting.
3. Cut 16 green gingham 7 ¼” squares. Starch, press and set aside.
4. Assemble a laundry basket with red, green, yellow and Christmas fabric scraps larger than 3” on one side. Set aside larger pieces for the scrappy binding.
5. Set embroidery foot height to .040”. Make this change on pg. 7 of the Info Sheet, the lined page icon at the top of your screen.

Embroidery and Stippling

1. Hoop a 13x15” rectangle of batting and background fabric with no stabilizer in 8x8 frame.
2. Select Christmas DMCRT05, the holiday fun design.

3. Go to Edit menu and click Size. Rotate 45 degrees.

4. Edit to include basting frame as far away from design as allowed.

5. Embroider design.

6. Remove basting stitches

My Design Center

7. Open My Design Center.

8. Scan design.

9. Select Illustration Key which turns the design on the screen into embroidery. Yes, I know that you have already stitched the design, but this is step #1 in an easy way to add stippling to an embroidered design.

10. Frame (crop) the image with the corner handles. Press OK and “wait a while” as instructed.

11. Press OK again then Set.
12. Enlarge the view as much as 400% for better visibility of shadows. At 200- 400% you will see stray shadow stitches that are not visible at 100%. They will haunt you when the stipple pattern detours around them.

13. Engage the Eraser Key circled in orange to clean up the image.

• Several options will appear. Choose the larger erasers for larger areas, smaller for small areas.

14. Use your stylus to remove unwanted portions of the scan. Remember that you have the black BACK arrow if your erasing goes too far and you erase a part of the original embroidery.
15. Lift the stylus frequently. Doing so sets the previous erasures. The BACK arrow will go back to the place where you last lifted the stylus. NOTE: You may also switch to different erasers.

16. Notice the sliding scale at the bottom left of the screen. This allows you to brighten or darken images for better visibility.

17. Return the magnification to 100%.
18. Select the Region Key circled in orange. The next screen offers options.

19. Select the options in blue because the block will be square. Click OK.

20. Click on the Size button.

21. Resize the design to 6.90.

22. Select the Line Property key in the black box below. Another screen will appear.

This creates a light gray box around the area to be stippled. But you don’t want that box to be stitched. So…

23. Select the No-sew box option boxed in red. Press OK.

24. Select the Line Property Application key, circled in yellow.

25. Apply that function by touching the perimeter of the box with your stylus. That line becomes a broken gray line which will not be stitched.
26. Select the Region Key in the purple box to create the stipple region. When this screen comes up select the highlighted icons. Press OK.

27. Select the Stipple Function in the purple box on the next screen.

28. Select a color for the stipple stitches. This does not have to be the actual color you will use. It needs to be one which gives good contrast. You can see that grey, in the green box, has been chosen. Press OK.

29. Select the Stipple Fill key (pitcher) circled in blue.

30. Touch next screen with stylus to insert stippling.

31. Select PREVIEW at the bottom of the page. It will inform you that the image will not be saved as you leave My Design Center for embroidery. Click OK to continue.

32. Chose the Run Pitch (stitch length) and Spacing of the Stippling. Leave the defaults or make other selections. Because the designs are relatively small compared to the size of the block, I chose a shorter stitch length and closer spacing, as shown in the orange boxes. Make your selection and press OK. Then “Please wait a while,” while the information loads.
33. See the stipple pattern surround the design but does not stitch over it. Tap SET.

• A message will inform you, “Converted to the embroidery pattern, and My Design Center will be exited. OK to continue to embroidery edit screen?” Sure. Tap OK.

34. Tap on Embroidery at the bottom of the screen, because at last the time has come to embroider.

35. Now you know how to add stippling to an embroidered design. Repeat this process for the remaining quilt blocks.

Scrap Sashing and Construction

[caption id="attachment_7925" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Diagram 1[/caption]

Overview

• Please try not to laugh at my pitiful attempt at graphics. Or just go ahead and chuckle. You know I’m not bragging when I say that I do much nicer work in front of my sewing machine than I do in front of my computer. This illustration/diagram may be ugly but it has the essential information. Let me explain.

1. The green xxx’s indicate green gingham. Those 7 ¼” squares will be trimmed into triangles near the end of the quilt top’s construction.
2. The color of the name of each embroidered block indicates the color of the stippling.
3. The rows are constructed first by joining the blocks. To the first and last embroidered block add another scrappy sashing. These blocks already have batting but there is none below the added sashing or the gingham square which will be joined. So before adding the green gingham, join a batting scrap to the existing batting in the row. This will rest beneath the trimmed
4. Each row begins with a green gingham block, vertical sashing, embroidered block, vertical sashing, embroidered block, etc. ending with a gingham block. The diagram shows triangles at the end of each row, but you begin with a square and later cut it to the triangular shape.
5. After each row is constructed, the horizontal sashing is joined at the bottom of the row. Three inches of sashing must be joined to each of the gingham squares. Two rows differ from this pattern.

Enough with the chit chat. Let’s get started

1. Begin with the 3 x 8” rectangles of foundation fabric. I used scraps from trimming the embroidered blocks or you could use other scraps for these small pieces.
2. Place two Christmas scraps right side together near the center of the rectangle. Stitch along one side. This is the perfect place to use up those almost empty bobbins. Color doesn’t matter.

3. Finger press the seam open.
4. Continue in this manner, working from the center on each side until rectangle is covered. Vary the width of the scraps. Use wider scraps for the ends of the rectangle, allowing them to extend a bit beyond the foundation fabric.

• While trimming away some of the black gingham, the foundation fabric was cut. Not to worry—I just zig zagged it back together and carried on.

5. Trim the rectangle to the width of the foundation piece, 3”. Leave excess at ends. This extra length allows you to move the sashing to the right or left, whichever direction leaves you with a wider end piece.

6. Join border to block with ¼” seam. The border should begin at the top point of the diamond/square and be joined on the right side of the block. TIP: I found it helpful to draw a line a scant ¼” above the top of the stippling. The raw edge of the sashing was then placed along that line and stitched.

7. Press sashing to right side.

• Notice the yellow cutting line goes through a wide scrap at the end of the sashing piece.

8. Trim 3 sides of block ¼” from stippling as shown with the yellow line. Then trim away excess fabric and batting above the scrappy sashing which was accurately cut at 3”. The finished block should be 7 ¼” x 9 ¼”.
9. Trim batting close to stippling. Trim batting ¼” from sashing pieces. This reduces bulk at the seams.
10. Repeat with each of the remaining 22 blocks.
11. Seam existing blocks together according to the diagram above. For example, row 2 will begin with Mickey Santa stippled/ sashing/Christmas tree/sashing/Minnie Pluto/sashing. More will be added to them shortly.

12. Prepare to add sashing and gingham block to the beginning of the row. Since the batting does not extend beyond the embroidered block, place the 3 x 8” sashing foundation fabric rectangle ¼” away from a 7 x 11 batting scrap.

13. Stitch Christmas scraps to foundation piece. Trim even with embroidered block.
14. Join gingham to newly made vertical sashing. Press.

15. Prepare to add gingham block to end of each row.
16. The blue X’s on the partial diagram show where batting must be added. Add batting and additional sashing in this manner to the remainder of the blocks. Join the gingham to the sashing. This completes the row.

17. Prepare to join gingham square to the top of the stocking block in row #1 and at the bottom of the snowflake block in row #7. First add batting by butting a piece of batting to the existing piece and join them with a triple zig zag stitch.

• The horizontal sashing has been added but you’re not there yet so please disregard that.

• When constructed it will look like this:

18. Construct long 3” wide border foundation pieces for sashing. Use scraps left over from trimming blocks to size. Foundation fabric scraps were simply overlapped and stitched flat.
19. Cut batting to 2 1/4” and pin in place down the center of the foundation fabric. This eliminates catching batting in the seams. Batting scraps were cut to size, butted together and joined with three-step zig zag to reach the needed length.

20. Trim scrap edges on long sashing piece to 3” as was done when trimming 3 x 8” border pieces.
21. Seam sashing to bottom edge of each row, extending an inch beyond each gingham block. Ideally the end scrap is wide.

• The gingham and the border are folded under here for explanation. Later they will but cut away to make a straight edge for binding. But not now.

22. Join rows together in pairs. Again, corners are folded for easy visualization of how this will go together.

23. Square up quilt by rotary cutting the edges ¼” beyond the points of the gingham.
24. Measure the quilt top and cut backing 2” longer and 2” wider than that measurement.
25. Starch and press backing.

Making Quilt Sandwich.

1. Place the quilt top face down on a flat surface.
2. Treat back of quilt with basting spray.
3. Center backing on top of the backing or
4. Pin liberally or baste by hand.
5. Use the walking foot or MuVit to stitch any machine quilting as desired. Ideally, stitch along each side of vertical and horizontal sashing. At the very least, stitch in the ditch along one side of each row of horizontal sashing and one side of each vertical sashing.

Binding

1. Cut larger scrap pieces 2 ¼” ” parallel to the selvage for the scrappy binding.

2. Seam scrap pieces together. Press seams open.
3. Measure the length of the quilt at the center both vertically and horizontally. 66” x 40” Add 1” to each measurement and that is the yardage required for the binding.
4. Press binding in half lengthwise and pin one thickness to the BACK of one long side, matching raw edges at beginning of seam and at side. That leaves 1” for any necessary fudging. In a perfect world, the binding will be a perfect fit. But that’s not where I live, so I always add a little extra.
5. Stitch binding to back with 3/8” seam.

6. Cut away any excess side binding,making it even with the raw edge of the quilt bottom.
7. Repeat on the opposite side.
8. Fold bindings to right side of quilt and pin in place.
9. Stitch binding to quilt with a decorative stitch such as 7-021, w 6.0 L 5.0.

10. Pin binding to wrong side of top. Fold under the extra ½”at either end and pin in place.
11. Stitch binding to top and bottom as done on sides.
12. Make a label for the back with your name, date, and any pertinent information. This is important for both memory making and marking that it’s yours in case it were lost.

YEAH! Your Christmas quilt is done. Now make some Christmas memories.