Free Embroidery Files for Machine Stitched Eyes

March 29, 2017
Free Embroidery Files for Machine-Stitched Eyes - from Shiny Happy World

I know the eyes are the trickiest part of my applique patterns.

I’ve got a video here showing some tips for outlining them, and I have a tutorial here showing a cheater-pants way to stitch the very small Paper Doll quilt eyes on many regular sewing machines.

But I’ve heard from several of you who have embroidery machines and want embroidery files to satin stitch those eyes – including the larger ones.

That would be awesome! But I don’t have an embroidery machine and I have no idea how their files work. 🙁

We were chatting about this in one of the video Q&A sessions, and Ceil followed up after the session by putting me in touch with Titania Creations – someone who specializes in designing patterns for embroidery machines.

Thanks Ceil!

Titania Creations created a set of files for oval eyes that I’m giving away for free here.

Yep – free!

The eyes are all ovals in various sizes – from 1/8″ tall (great for the Paper Dolls quilt pattern) up to 1 1/4″ tall (great for the Silly Sloths quilt pattern).

You can find all the files here.

Here are the details. . .

Sizes

  • 01 = 1/8 inch tall
  • 02 = 1⁄4 inch tall
  • 03 = 1⁄2 inch tall
  • 04 = 3⁄4 inch tall
  • 05 = 1 inch tall
  • 06 = 1 1⁄4 inch tall

Machine Formats

  • PES – Brother / Babylock
  • XXX – Singer
  • JEF – Janome
  • VIP / VP3 – Pfaff / Husqvarna
  • HUS – Husqvarna
  • EXP – Melco / Bernina (Bernina also uses .ART but this is not available commercially)
  • DST – Tajima / Industrial machines. Any machine can use DST format but most home embroiderers don’t like to use it because it does not retain any colors.

So if you need a 1/2″ tall eye and you have a Janome embroidery machine. . .

  1. Go to this link.
  2. Double click on folder 03 for the half-inch eyes.
  3. Download the file ending in JEF.
  4. Wave a magic wand to get that file onto your embroidery machine.
  5. Stitch your eyes.

You can see that my knowledge of this process breaks down at Step #4. 🙂

I’m hoping that if anyone has a question they can ask it in the Shiny Happy People group and someone who actually HAS an embroidery machine will be able to help. 🙂

Oh! And these files can also be used to machine-embroider eyes on softies, for those of you making them for kids too young for the safety eyes. Hooray!

Here are links to all the posts showing how to applique with fusible adhesive – my favorite method. It’s fast and easy and (with the right materials) it holds up beautifully to rough use and repeated washing.

Here are links to special posts about eyes.

Here are links to some extra fun things you can do with your applique.

Other Applique Methods

Finished with this topic?

Return to the Let’s Make a Quilt main Table of Contents.

Move on to the lessons about outline stitching.

Happy stitching!

Quilting from the Center Out to the Edges – a video tutorial

March 21, 2017
detail of modern quilt block in grey, orange, and purple with diagonal quilting lines

What does it mean to start quilting in the middle and work your way out?

I get this question a LOT – so I made a video showing the answers.

That’s right – answers. Plural.

Because the answers are different depending on whether you’re quilting by hand or by machine!

See?

Here are all my posts about layering and basting your quilt, and the final round of quilting.

Here are all my posts about hand quilting and Big Stitch quilting. I don’t use these techniques with fusible applique or Quilt As You Go, but I LOVE using Big Stitch Quilting with my cheater fabric.

Finished with this topic?

Return to the Let’s Make a Quilt main Table of Contents.

Move on to the lessons about binding and finishing your quilt.

Happy quilting!

How to Assemble a Quilt that Uses an Alternate Grid – video tutorial

March 8, 2017
quilt showing applique woodland animals - fox, raccoon, owl, deer squirrel, bunny, bear, etc.

Quilts that “break” the traditional simple checkerboard grid can be really fun and dynamic, but if you’ve never worked with an alternate grid before, figuring out how to assemble the blocks can be kind of tricky. Take a look at the Noisy Farm quilt.

applique farm animals quilt

You can’t just sew all the blocks into rows and then sew the rows together!

Instead of rows or columns, you break these quilts into chunks – and there’s an easy way to figure out how. That’s what I show you in this new video. 🙂

See? Now that you know how easy it is, try breaking the grid on your own! You could take the Playful Puppies pattern – a simple grid. . .

applique quilt featuring lots of cartoon puppy faces

. . . and add a bunch of half-blocks with puppy sounds using this free alphabet pattern. Arf! Woof! Yip!

Copy the layout of this Woodland Critters quilt. . .

Woodland Critters quilt pattern from Shiny Happy World

And you could have a really fun and dynamic version of the puppies quilt all your own! Noisy Puppies!

Here are a few more posts you might find helpful. . .

Find links to all the posts about pattern size and layouts here.

Quilt Sizes and Supplies Needed

Play with Your Layouts – Multiple Possibilities for One Quilt Pattern

Sashing

How to Make Applique Bust Out of Its Frame

Alternate or Broken Grid layouts (adding half and double blocks)

How to Make an Applique Rag Quilt

How to Make a Polaroid Quilt

How to Make a Wonky Churn Dash Frame for Any Block

Finished with this topic?

Return to the Let’s Make a Quilt main Table of Contents.

Move on to the lessons about choosing your fabric.

Happy quilting!

QuiltCon 2017

March 2, 2017

QuiltCon 2017

I went to QuiltCon for the first time and it was So Much Fun!

QuiltCon is a modern quilt show – so it was right up my alley. I didn’t get into any of the classes – but next time I’ll be more organized and I’ll be online the day those registrations open. They had a great slate of instructors there!

So for me it was a shopping and soaking up inspiration weekend. 🙂

The quilts in the show were amazing! Here are some of my favorites. . .

Bling by Katherine Jones

Bling by Kat Jones was the big show winner. I’m completely in awe of it. Isn’t it amazing? Abby Glassenberg recorded a podcast with Kat during the show and it was really interesting to listen to her talk about it. You can listen to that here.

Arches by Leah Pahlmeyer

Arches by Leah Pahlmeyer was inspired by her time in Alhambra, Spain. I just love the repetition of shapes, the solids, the simple quilting.

Cursive by Paige Alexander

I loved Cursive by Paige Alexander – it made me look closer and closer. The quilting is like those practice pages of letters we used to do in grade school. 🙂

Inner Monologue by Anne Sullivan

You all know I’m a sucker for stripes, so of course I loved Inner Monologue by Anne Sullivan. I love everything about this! Here’s a closer look at the stitching detail – a mix of machine and hand stitching.

Inner Monologue detail

Yum!

Mend by Melanie Tuazon

Speaking of big stitches – look at Mend by Melanie Tuazon! It makes me think of huge running stitches!

Moonie McMoonFace by Melissa Averinos

This is Moonie McMoonFace by Melissa Averinos. That title just makes me smile. 🙂 She does a lot of improv face quilts and this was her first attempt to make one that she could release a pattern for that people could reproduce. I love it!

My Cat Is a Jerk by Monica Solorio-Snow

My Cat Is a Jerk by Monica Solorio-Snow was made after she took one of Melissa’s improv face classes. I love it! And I think I really want to take one of these classes sometime. It would be loads of fun!

Organic Mid-Century Mod by Laura Bennet

This one is completely different – Organic Mid-Century Mod by Laura Bennet. Beautiful!

Sunday Best by Michelle Wilkie

Sunday Best by Michelle Wilkie really caught my eye. She made this in bits and pieces every Sunday over a period of months.

Vertigo by Elaine Poplin

Vertigo by Elaine Poplin knocked my socks off and made me dizzy. If you look closely you’ll see that it’s four simple circles – but the way they’re offset and the angles of the squares that make up the rings make the whole thing spin. Wow.

There were more show quilts that I loved – but I accidentally took videos of a lot instead of photos. Oops!

My favorite booth quilt was this one at Michael Miller Fabrics.

Michael Miller booth quilt

Look closer!

Michael Miller detail

Most of the quilt is quilted so densely that it makes the less-quilted parts really stand out. Just awesome!

Michael Miller makes the fabrics I used in my two newest fabric bundles – Box of Crayons and Dots.

And here’s my favorite purchase.

Malka Dubrawsky fabric and Wonderfil thread

The fabrics are hand-dyed batiks from Malka Dubrawsky and the threads are gorgeous 8 wt. (that’s even thicker than 12 wt.) rayon threads from WonderFil. You’ll be seeing more of these soon. I can’t wait to play with them!

Happy stitching!

Best,
Wendi
Wendi Gratz from Shiny Happy World

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Silly Sloth Fabrics

January 29, 2017

Silly Sloths Quilt Pattern from Shiny Happy World

A lot of people have asked about the fabrics I used for the Silly Sloths quilt pattern.

They’re all from Dear Stella Design.

I used five different prints, with three colors (a dark, medium and light) for each print.

I used the darks for the background blocks and the eye patches.

I used the mediums for the bodies.

I used the lights for the faces.

I used solid black for the eyes and noses.

Here are the specific prints I used. . .

Scallop Dot Fabrics from Dear Stella

Scallop Dot

  • dark – Tangerine
  • medium – Sorbet
  • light – Whisper

Wee Gallery Hearts fabric from Dear Stella

Wee Gallery Hearts

  • dark – Turquoise
  • medium – Mint
  • light – Smoke

Positive fabric from Dear Stella

Positive

  • dark – Ink
  • medium – Atlas
  • light – Smoke

Net fabrics from Dear Stella

Net

  • dark – Mustard
  • medium – Butter
  • light – White

Polka Dot fabrics from Dear Stella

Polka Dot

  • dark – Coral
  • medium – Blush
  • light – Silver

Here’s a photo showing the binding and a bit of the back.

Finished Sloth Quilt - pattern from Shiny Happy World

I used charcoal Cuddle Fleece for the back and Steam Texture in Smoke (also from Dear Stella) for the binding.

Happy quilting!

Best,
Wendi
Wendi Gratz from Shiny Happy World

Stitching Eyes and Mouths – video tutorial

January 27, 2017
Stitching Eyes and Mouths - a video tutorial from Shiny Happy World

I get two questions a lot when people are ready to start outlining on my face applique patterns.

  • How do you stitch around small parts like eyes and noses?
  • How do you stitch the mouth?

I made a video to show exactly how I do both of those steps!

That’s it!

Remember. . .

  • Shorten your stitch length.
  • Go slow!
  • Stop with the needle down and pivot your work as often as you need to to keep a smooth curve.

This post shows my favorite sewing machine feet – include the clear applique foot I use to get good visibility. That’s essential if you want to neatly outline applique pieces.

If you like that adorable sloth face I used in the demo, get the Silly Sloths applique pattern here. It’s one of my easiest patterns – great for beginners!

Here are links to all my posts about outline stitching.

Finished with this topic?

Return to the Let’s Make a Quilt main Table of Contents.

Move on to the lessons about how to trim and assemble your blocks.

Happy stitching!

Fast & Easy Free Placemat Pattern

November 30, 2016
Free Fast & Easy Placemat Pattern - perfect to use with any quilt or applique pattern


Use this free placemat pattern and get a little bonus use out of your favorite blocks from your quilt patterns!

I love seeing people make things besides quilts with their Shiny Happy World quilt patterns.

Don’t get me wrong. I love seeing your finished quilts!

But if you make quilts – it’s a great way to get extra use out of your patterns.

And if you’re new and a little nervous about making a whole quilt, it’s a nice small, single-block project to dip your toes in. 🙂

Today let’s talk placemats.

They’re so easy to make!

Placemat Pattern Instructions

A typical placemat – one that easily fits a standard place setting – is anywhere from 12″ to 14″ tall and 18″ to 20″ wide.

(A fat quarter is typically 18″ x 20″ so any placemat in this size range will take two fat quarters and some batting.)

I cut my rectangles (a front, a back, and a batting) 13″ x 19″ – right smack in the middle of the normal range.

If you’re going to use Quilt As You Go and you like to quilt before you applique (that’s what I do) layer your placemat top with the batting (no backing yet!) and quilt however you like. Press it flat.

Next – add your applique character.

Positioning the Applique

Almost all the characters in my quilts are designed to fit in a 10″ square, and I find they work really well with this placemat pattern without any resizing. If you’re using another designer’s pattern, just enlarge or reduce the image to be 8-9 inches tall.

I like to position my image to one side or the other. If it’s centered it gets completely hidden by the plate, plus I like things to be asymmetrical. 🙂

Look at the way the image is framed/cropped. Maurice (my favorite cat from this Cats quilt pattern) is chopped off straight at the shoulders. I designed him to look like he was in a portrait. You’ll want to be sure to position that straight cut edge flush with the bottom edge of the placemat – like he’s popping into the frame and we just snapped a photo.

gold applique cat on a blue placemat - made with the free placemat pattern from Shiny Happy World

This bird from the Chirp pattern, on the other hand, isn’t cropped anywhere. Position complete images like this fairly close to the bottom edge of the placemat (that will anchor the image and keep her from looking like she’s floating in space) – but not so close that any part of her gets cut off when you sew up the edges.

chubby pink applique bird on a light green placemat - made with the free placemat pattern from Shiny Happy World

See the difference?

Applique your image in place using your favorite technique.

You can find all my applique tutorials here. I used applique with fusible adhesive and outlined with simple straight stitching in black thread.

Now comes the extra fast and easy part of this placemat pattern.

Finishing Your Placemat

You can, of course, layer on the backing and bind the edges just like a quilt. I love binding and would choose this technique unless I was in a hurry.

But not everyone shares my love of hand-sewn binding. 🙂

For all of you – here’s a fast and easy finish.

Layer the placemat front and back right sides together. Pin or clip all the way around the edges.

partially-sewn placemat marked to show leaving an opening for turning when you sew up the edges

Sew it up around the edges (I used a 1/4″ seam allowance, but you can fudge that a little) leaving a few inches open on one side for turning.

Don’t forget to backstitch at the beginning and end of your stitching!

sewn corner of fabric shown with attention drawn to how you need to clip the corners

Clip the excess seam allowance off the corners – very close to your stitching. That will allow you to get nice crisp points.

Turn it right side out, smooth and straighten all the edges, gently poke out the corners, and press. Turn the seam allowance of the opening inside (so that folded edge lines up with the sewn edges) and press that too.

No need to sew up that opening by hand! Topstitch all the way around the edge of the placemat and that will close up the opening.

zoomed in detail showing edgestitching

I like the topstitching around the edge of the placemat to be about the same distance from the edge as my topstitching on the applique pieces. That keeps everything looking neat and unified.

pink applique pig on a brown placemat made with the free placemat pattern from Shiny Happy World

Finished!

There are so many possibilities for this! You can use any applique pattern. (I used blocks from Cats, Chirp, and Noisy Farm.)

Add some lettering from this free alphabet applique pattern to personalize each placemat with someone’s name!

Oooh! Instead of a name, use the Paper Dolls quilt pattern to create images that look like the person the placemat is for. That would be so much fun!

Use some of my free applique patterns to make a set of holiday placemats. I have free Halloween, Easter and Christmas patterns. 🙂

Instead of applique, do some embroidery. The placemat size and construction method is exactly the same.

You can make traditionally pieced placemats too! Just start with your favorite pieced block, and add enough fabric around it to get it up to the standard placemat size. The method is just like this one for turning any quilt block into a pillow.

Have fun with it!

Here are several free patterns that work with my basic 10-inch applique squares – no resizing needed!

Here are several free patterns that work with just some simple resizing. This post about making coasters has info about resizing an applique pattern that can be applied to any of these projects.

Return to the main Let’s Make a Quilt Table of Contents.

Happy quilting!

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer – a free applique pattern

November 11, 2016

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer - a free applique pattern from Shiny Happy WorldI know it’s not even Thanksgiving yet, but I wanted to share this free reindeer applique pattern early enough that you would have plenty of time to make it before Christmas. 🙂

It’s designed as a 10″ finished block, just like this free Santa applique pattern, this free Snowman applique pattern, and this free Mrs. Claus pattern. Use them all together to make a fun quilt or wall hanging!

Free Christmas applique patterns from Shiny Happy World

 

Or you can use Rudolph combined with one of these free patterns. . .

You can find all the free Shiny Happy World patterns here.

Ready to make him? Here’s how. . .

You won’t need much fabric – less than a fat quarter of everything, so you can probably find what you need in your scraps. Here’s what I used – all from Timeless Treasures. . .

  • Pop in Poppy for the background block
  • Sketch in Latte for the head and shoulders
  • Sketch in Coffee for the antlers
  • Sketch in Linen for the face
  • Sketch in Ruby for his shiny nose 🙂

Want to give him a truly shiny nose? Use this tutorial to make the nose out of satin, or this one to make it out of shiny tissue lamé.

The instructions that follow are for Quilt As You Go and applique with fusible adhesive. You can, of course, use other applique methods. Find videos teaching other methods here.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer - a free applique pattern from Shiny Happy World

Step 1

Cut a piece of background fabric and a piece of batting each 11″ square. You’ll trim it down to 10 1/2” square later, so it doesn’t have to be exact. If you’re using Quilt As You Go, quilt your block now. The quilting wouldn’t really show up on the busy fabric I chose, so I just quilted a simple grid and show it here from the back (batting) side.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer - a free applique pattern from Shiny Happy World

Step 2

Download the templates here.

Trace or print the pattern onto the paper side of the fusible adhesive. I use printable Heat & Bond Lite fusible adhesive so I just print out the page. No tracing! The image has already been reversed, so just trace or print.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer - a free applique pattern from Shiny Happy World

Step 3

Rough cut around each shape. Leave a little bit extra all the way around – a little extra extra (at least 1/4 inch) where there’s a dotted line. That’s the allowance that will tuck under other bits or into the seam allowance for a nice clean finish. Follow the package instructions and fuse each piece to the wrong side of the fabric.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer - a free applique pattern from Shiny Happy World

Step 4

Cut out each piece neatly. Cut directly on the solid lines. Leave a little seam allowance past the dotted lines (like at the base of the antlers and the top and bottom of the shoulders). Cutting after you fuse ensures that the adhesive goes right up to the very edge.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer - a free applique pattern from Shiny Happy World

Step 5

Trace any features onto the face. If you hold the piece up to a window, the light will make the lines very visible – even on dark fabric. I mark directly on any lines to be sewn (like the mouth) and inside the bits marking the appliqué position (like the eyes and nose).

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer - a free applique pattern from Shiny Happy World

Here it is after tracing so you can see the eyes, nose and mouth marked. I just use a fine Sharpie, but you can use something erasable if you’re worried about being able to stitch right over that line for the mouth.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer - a free applique pattern from Shiny Happy World

Step 6

Peel off the paper backing, arrange the pieces, and fuse in place according to the adhesive product instructions. Remember – dotted line edges tuck behind other bits. The bottom edge of the shoulders should be lined up with the bottom edge of the block.

If you’re using Quilt As You Go, press your already-quilted block before adding the appliqué.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer - a free applique pattern from Shiny Happy World

Step 7

Stitch all the edges down. You can use any stitch you like, in matching or contrasting thread. I really love the cartoony look of a simple straight stitch with black thread.

I demonstrate sewing with different thread weights here.

This post will help you with the order in which to stitch.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer - a free applique pattern from Shiny Happy World

Step 8

Trim your block down to 10 1/2″ square.

Finished!

I hope you have fun with this guy – and I can’t wait to see what you make! Share your photos in the Shiny Happy People group so we can all see. 🙂

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer - a free applique pattern from Shiny Happy World

Happy quilting!

Best,
Wendi
Wendi Gratz from Shiny Happy World

How to Couch by Machine – a video tutorial

November 2, 2016

How to Couch by Machine - a video tutorial from Shiny Happy World


Couching is a method of sewing 3-dimensional “stuff” (cord, braid, strings of beads or sequins, etc.) to fabric by zigzagging over it. It allows you to sew down things that can’t be sewn through. 🙂

I’ve got a video here showing how to couch by hand, but you can also use your machine!

That’s what I demonstrate in this video.

You do need a special foot for couching. I the video I show you the one I use with my Bernina, and point out the features you need to look for when you’re buying one for your machine. They’re usually pretty inexpensive and it’s a nice foot to add if you do any decorative stitching.

You’ll also get a sneak peek at the three new blocks for the Shiny Happy Houses Quilt Club!

Watch the video here or below.

See how easy it is?

You could use it to add raised whiskers on cats, raised stripes on a snake, pearly snow on the ground, and lots more. I can’t wait to see what you do with it!

Happy stitching!

Best,
Wendi
Wendi Gratz from Shiny Happy World