Wednesday, December 14, 2011

GO! Ornaments Tutorial and Giveaway

Last year I made up a snowflake ornament using snippets and the GO! Holiday die. This year, I decided I needed more than just one! And a number of dies work well for these pretty ornaments.

The Holiday die is good for both the tree and the snowflake.

1 Xmas tree in tree cropped

1 snowflake in tree cropped

The Dove die is also very pretty.

1 Dove in Tree cropped

I’m sure other dies would work well also – the cardinal, the snowflakes, the deer . . . .

Supplies – makes up 4 ornaments

  • Eight cream and gold fabrics cut 7 inches square (I like a little holiday glitter so I made sure half of my fabrics included gold metallic)
  • One 11" square of backing fabric
  • One 11" square of batiste or lightweight muslin
  • Eight 7" squares of Steam-a-Seam or other fusible
  • One 11" square of Steam-a-Seam or other fusible
  • One 11" square of heavier fusible interfacing, such as Décor Bond
  • Four buttons
  • Ribbon – four pieces, approximately 7 inches each
  • gold metallic thread

Making the Snippet Fabric and Ornament

1. Fuse the Steam-a-Seam onto the backs of the 7" square fabrics

(I was having a Goldilocks moment: the picture shows ten fabrics that were 5 inch squares. That was just a little shy of what I needed. With my next set I used 8 fabrics 8 inch square, which was more than I needed, so this number is the final thought. The lesson here is that you have wiggle room: if you want more fabrics, cut a few more and just use a smaller size square).

2. Peel the paper off the fusible and lay the fabric square (one at a time) right side up on a cutting mat. Free cut narrow strips across the square.

3. Then cross cut more strips so that you wind up with little squares. Repeat with all your 7" squares and fill a bowl with little fused snippets.

4. Layout the 11" square of batiste. Begin to randomly place snippets (fused side down). (Tip: I like to work on an ironing surface so that I don’t have to move the layered snippets in order to stabilize them).

5. Keep going until you have all of the batiste covered. You will do a lot of layering as you go.

Tip: It helps to place a pressing sheet over your snippets before you iron them in place – just in case any of those snippets got placed fused side up instead of down. You don’t want little pieces fused to your iron!

Tip: to ensure that you have fully covered the batiste, iron and then hold your fused fabric up to a light source. Any snippet free spots will show right up.

6. Fuse the 11" square of heavier interfacing to the back of the fused snippet section. First, free motion quilt fairly densely using a cream colored thread. Secondly, free motion more lightly using the gold metallic thread. (Using a metallic needle will help but, honestly, even with a metallic needle, I had a fair amount of thread ravel and breakage. Patience helps).

A close-up of the stitching:

7. Fuse the 11" square of Steam-a-Seam onto the wrong side of the backing fabric. Then fuse the backing fabric onto the back on the snippet fabric square.

8. Cut the 11" square into four 5 1/2" squares.

9. I like to mark my dies with a quarter inch line around the outer edge of the cutting blade so that I can line up my fabric easily.

10. Run the snippet fabric through the GO!

11. Use the button to attach the ribbon to the ornament and you’re done. Now, aren't they pretty?

And Let’s Not Forget the Giveaway!

In order to be eligible for these two ornaments, just leave a comment here (be sure you are not a Do Not Reply blogger). I’ll use our old friend the random number generator to choose a winner on Sunday, December 18.

Remember to visit these other bloggers in our AccuQuilt Christmas Theme Blog Hop. AccuQuilt is giving away a GO! Baby so visit SewCalGal for more on that!

Monday, December 12th
SewCalGal

Tuesday, December 13th
Leona’s Quilting Adventure

Cherry (Cherry Bossoms)

Wednesday, December 14th
Terrie (Bits & Pieces)
Nancy (Tattered Garden)

Thursday, December 15th
Katrina (Sunflower Quilts)

Jacque (Lily Pad Quilting)

Friday, December 16th
SewCalGal
Paulette (Sweet P Quilting and Creations)

74 comments:

  1. Your ornaments are beautiful! I'm a new follower. Thanks for the giveaway.

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  2. They are lovley! Great idea! Thanks so much!

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  3. I love these! What a great idea! Thanks for the giveaway! Merry Christmas!

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  4. Love the ornaments. What an interesting way of making them.....Thanks for the giveaway. And hope you have a Merry Christmas

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  5. Beautiful ornaments!
    My birthday is Saturday, so this would be such a great birthday present!

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  6. Those are beautiful. Years ago I made felt ornaments much like your birds and trees. I remember how tedious it was to cut each on. Of course, then there weren't any other options, if you wanted it you had to cut by hand. Thanks for the giveaway.

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  7. So many things you can do with this -- I had no idea. And the intricate cuts that are so difficult by hand.

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  8. What a great tutorial. I do love snippets and this technique looks great on your Christmas ornaments. Excellent tutorial. Definitely goes into my list of favorite tutorials. Inspirational.

    SewCalGal
    www.sewcalgal.blogspot.com

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  9. What a great idea. I never would have thought to use my cutter for this.

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  10. How simply beautiful! How ingenious these ornaments are! These would be simply gorgeous in any color scheme!

    New to quilting and yet I have learned so much in less than a month!

    trainwife1962 at hotmail dot com

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  11. That is very interesting. Love the finished product. I would like to try that. Making material, just like making paper. Well, almost. lol. Really neat.
    SallyKingemail@gmail.com

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  12. Your ornaments are just gorgeous..such a fun project..

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  13. Pretty ornaments! Now if the GO! could only make the snippets for you!

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  14. What beautiful ornaments. Your other projects are really interesting also.

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  15. what a lovely giveaway you have and great tutorial...I so hope to win this...lol
    Merry Christmas

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  16. Both ornaments are beautiful! I would love to win one!
    Happy Christmas!

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  17. Lovely ornaments! So pretty what a great way to use up scraps! Thanks so much for the chance to win one!

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  18. What a great idea! These are lovely. Thanks for entering me in the draw.

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  19. Your ornaments are just beautiful and I love the way you mixed the plain and metallic fabrics, that gives the ornaments lots of depth and dimension.

    Thanks for the great giveaway!

    Katina
    kjkoukla(athotmail...

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  20. Pretty.
    Thanks for the chance to win!

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  21. What a great idea, thanks for the great tutorial and giveaway.

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  22. Those are so pretty, and would make a great gift, or project for a group of friends. Great idea! Thanks for sharing.

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  23. What beautiful ornaments!!! Great idea...thanks for sharing and for the chance to win!!

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  24. What a great idea. Gosh, now I'll be forced to put the shape dies on my wish list too. I've been trying to ignore them and focus on the ones I need more even if I did really love so many of the shapes. Not anymore. I'm going to blame you. LOL
    I LOVE this idea and yours are gorgeous. Thank you very much for the tutorial.

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  25. These are cute! :-) Thank you for telling us how to do them. :-)

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  26. excellent! i will certainly make some. had a quick browse of your blog ... i am a new follower!

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  27. Love the ornaments! Thanks for the giveaway.

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  28. These are adorable!! I gotta try to make some!!!

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  29. The ornaments are beautiful. Fan4may at aol dot com

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  30. Beautiful ornaments! Cutting up the fabric gives the ornaments a wonderful look.

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  31. I'd love to win your beautiful ornaments. Thanks for the tutorial & giveaway.

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  32. whow these are so lovely,thankyou for a chance to win one.

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  33. Love these ornaments...okay so really thinking I need a Go Cutter now....

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  34. I loved the look of the fabric you created. I don't know that I would take the time right now to do that since I have to grab moments to sew as I can but that is such a neat idea. Thanks for sharing. dorthac@aol.com

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  35. Alas, I have some "snippets" fabric left from a project, but no cutter!

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  36. These are so attractive and look wonderful hanging up.

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  37. How pretty! Great tutorial on making your snippet fabric. Thanks.

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  38. The ornaments are beautiful, I just got an accuquilter in Oct and I don't have any Christmas dies yet but next year!

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  39. Love the idea! Merry Christmas! L

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  40. What a wonderful way to make pretty fabric for these ornaments. I am going to bookmark this tutorial for next year.

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  41. What great ornaments...and a wonderful tutorial...now just to win that Go!!!

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  42. Hi Terri,I can't believe how much work went into those! That is a labor of love!

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  43. Your ornaments are lovely. Thanks for the chance to win.

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  44. You are so creative. Love the ornaments and your tutorial. I have your book and I do follow your site.

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  45. Oh how I love the ornaments. I can't wait to try them. I do hope I win

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  46. The ornaments are so pretty---and they look so fun to make-----I need a Go Cutter!!!!

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  47. Your ornaments are so clever, I love them.

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  48. I just love the dove...very pretty. Have a wonderful holiday. Thank you for the tutorial.

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  49. How precious are these. Thanks for the giveaway.

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  50. Thank you for sharing the technique, can't wait to play it looks like so much fun. I'd be honored to win the ornaments you've made, they're beautiful.

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  51. What a wonderful idea. So many great ideas are going to come out for the go dies.. I'm just not so creative to come up with them.

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  52. Great ornaments.
    jowynj(at)blueyonder(dot)co(dot)uk

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  53. What a great way to create fabric!! By the time you've done that, cutting out the shapes with the Accuquilt is quick and easy!
    Thanks for a fantastic lesson!

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  54. Thank you for sharing this great tutorial and of course the opportunity to win.

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  55. OH, those are stunning! Thanks for the tutorial and the chance to win. Merry Christmas!

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  56. What a great idea! Thanks for the tutorial!

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  57. what a great way to use up all the fabric...

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  58. beautiful ornaments. what a nice giveaway. Thanks for having it.

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  59. I couldn't stand it any more and order myself a Accquilt baby go yesterday for Santa to give me this year.....this will be on my to try list.
    How adorable.

    thanks so much for the chance to win!

    Happy sewing and Merry Christmas

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  60. those are gorgeous ornaments! would make a great gift too! thanks for the chance to win!

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  61. These are very pretty. Thank you.

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  62. Love how you made these ornaments.

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  63. Absolutely gorgeous ornaments and wonderful tutorial - this one I have to try soon! Thanks :-)

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  64. They are beautiful ornaments- Thanks for sharing your tutorial.
    Regards from Western Canada,
    Anna

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