ITH Nativity Applique Mini Quilt Embroidery Project

For the center block:

a. 1 10” x 12” rectangle each of Black Kona Cloth®, White Kona Cloth® and Battilizer®.
b. Cut the applique pieces per the materials list, with Heat N Bond Lite® applied to the back of each applique.
c. Tautly hoop the stabilizer in your embroidery hoop.

Run the 1st color stop (CS) in black as a placement line.

Spray adhesive on the back of the Battilizer® and position it over the placement lines so the Battilizer® exceeds the placement line by ½” on all sides.

Spray adhesive on the back of the black fabric and align over the Battilizer®. Run CS 2 in black to tack the fabric and batting down.

Run CS 3 in 50wt metallic silver and CS 4 in 50wt metallic gold to embroidery the star and halo. If you do not wish to use metallic thread use silver and gold colors or your choosing. For those of you using metallic thread do make sure it is 50wt as the density in the star is digitized for that weight. 40wt metallic will likely be too heavy.

Run CS 5 in Loofah for the baby’s head and CS 6 in White for the sheet. The next CS is the placement line for the first applique, stitch it in Caramel.

Remove the paper from the Heat N Bond Lite on the manger applique, spray a little adhesive on the back and position over the placement lines, tack down with CS 8 with Carmel.

Remove the hoop from the machine, do not unhoop. Trim the excess fabric from the applique right up to the tack down lines. Press the applique with an applique iron.

Return the hoop to the machine and run CS 9 in Carmel to stitch the detail and border on the manger.

Repeat this applique method for Mary’s robe with CSs 10, 11 and 12 in Rustic Pink. Applique Joseph’s robe with CS 13, 14 and 15 in Little Boy Blue.

The two headdresses are slightly different as the placement line and tack stitches for Joseph’s headdress run with CS 16 and 17, then Mary’s headdress is applied with CS 18 and 19 using white thread. Then you remove the hoop to trim and press down both headdresses at one time. Return the hoop to the machine to border both with CS 20.

Run CS 21 in Little Boy Blue and CS 22 in Rustic Pink to embroider the bands on the headdresses.

Remove the hoop from the machine, do not unhoop, lay the hoop face down on a flat surface. Spray the back fabric with adhesive spray and position over the placement lines so that the fabric exceeds the placement lines by ½” on all sides. For ease in cutting out the quilt block do use a light-colored fabric for the back.

Return the hoop to the machine and run CS 23 and 24 in black thread to tack down the back fabric and to quilt the block.

Remove the block from the hoop. Lay it face down on your cutting mat. Lay the ¼” mark of a see-through ruler along the tack down stitches and trim to a ¼” seam allowance on all sides.

For the borders cut:

a. 4 border fabric strips 10” by 2”
b. 4 border fabric strips 15” x 2”
c. 2 Battilizer® strips 10” x 2”
d. 2 Battilizer® strips 15” x 2”

Make quilt sandwiches for the borders by spraying adhesive on one side of Battilizer® strip and aligning a corresponding fabric strip over the top. Spray the other side of the Battilizer® and align a corresponding strip of fabric on that side.

Butt one of the shorter border sandwiches across the top of the quilt block, having the sandwich strip exceed the width of the block about an inch, without gaps or overlaps. Using a wide zigzag stitch (5 to 5.5mm) widely spaced to zigzag the block to the border. Use black thread. The white thread was used in the photo so that you could see it. Attach the remaining short border to the bottom of the quilt block in the same manner.

Trim the border strips even with the sides of the quilt block.

Attach the side borders in the same fashion and trim them even with the mini quilt top and bottom.

Cut two strips of sashing 1 ¼” by the width of the fabric and two strips 1 ½” wide by the width of the fabric. Press both sides of the sashing into the center of the strips. I used the same fabric as the borders intentionally so they would not break up the star pattern in the borders. You may use a contrasting color if desired. Keep the narrow strips separate from the wider sashing strips. The narrow strips will be used on the back of the mini quilt, the wider ones will be stitched to the front. Cut 2 2 ¼” strips of black fabric for the binding.  

I generally use a serpentine stitch to sew the sashing strips to the mini quilts though you can use a straight stitch.

Working on the back of the quilt first, center a narrow sashing strip over the vertical seams the sashing strips should extend approximately ½” over the top and bottom of the mini quilt. Stitch down both sides of the sashing. Turn the mini quilt face up and stitch the wider sashing strips across the vertical seams on the front. Turn the mini quilt face down and stitch the narrow sashing strips across the horizontal seams and stitch down. These two should extend all the way across the mini quilt and have the sashing exceed the width of the mini quilt by ½” on both sides. Turn the quilt to right side up and stitch the corresponding wider sashing strips over the horizontal seams and across the borders on the front.

Trim the excess sashing from the mini quilt.

Bind the quilt using your preferred method. If you do not have a preferred method see our article Binding Small Embroidery Projects

Sew on a hanging sleeve to hang your mini quilt from a 12” x 14” Ackfeld Wire Manufacturing stand. The fabric for this sleeve was cut at 12” x 3 1/2'”. If you do not know how to make one see our article Attaching a Hanging Sleeve to a Mini Quilt.Congratulations your Nativity Applique Mini Quilt is complete!