Mariachi Guitars Wall Hanging Embroidery Project

For each block cut 2 rectangles of black Kona Cloth® and 1 rectangle of Battilizer® 11 ½” x 7 ½”. Cut an applique fabric 7” x 6” for all blocks except MARIQB04, cut 1 5” x 5” turquoise fabric and 1 5” x 3” Hot pink fabric for that design.  Cut Heat and Bond Lite® to match all applique pieces. To be able to cut the appliques right up the tack down line, it is recommended that you iron your applique piece 3 or 4 times with spray starch and then fuse the Heat N Bond Lite® to the back of the applique.  Tautly hoop the cut-away stabilizer in your hoop.

Run the 1st color stop (CS1) in black as a placement line for your fabric.

Spray adhesive on a black rectangle and position over the placement lines so that the fabric exceeds the placement line by at least ½” on all sides. Run CS 2 in black to tack down the fabric.

Run CS3 in a thread to match your applique fabric as a placement line for the guitar body.

Remove the paper backing from the applique piece, spray adhesive on the back and position the fabric over the placement lines so that the fabric exceeds the placement lines by ½” on all sides. Run CS 4 to tack down the applique.

Trim the applique right up next to the tack down lines.  It is easiest to get this close to the tack down lines if you hold the excess fabric straight up with one hand while you trim with the other. Use an applique iron to iron down the applique after trimming.

Follow the color chart to stitch the design and borders of the applique.  Stop stitching before the last two CSs are run.

Remove the hoop from the machine, do not unhoop.  Place the hoop face down on a flat surface.

Spray adhesive on the Battilizer® and place over the back of the design so that the Battilizer® exceeds the original placement line by ½” on all sides.

Spray adhesive on the remaining black rectangle and align over the Battilizer®.  If you ever have problems with the back fabric flipping over when you insert the hoop back into the machine you can run a piece of embroidery tape along the edge of the fabric that will go back into the machine.

Return the hoop to the machine.  Run the next to last CS in black to tack down the fabric.  As mentioned in the preface have a white or contrasting thread in the bobbin.  If you stitch this out with a black bobbin in the machine it will be difficult to trim the block. Run the last CS to quilt the block.

Remove the block from the hoop.  Lay the ¼” line of a see-through ruler along the tack down lines on the back of the block. Trim all sides to a ¼” seam allowance.

Cut 3 strips of black Kona Cloth® 1 ½” wide across the width of the fabric.  Cut 3 strips of black Kona Cloth ® 1 ¼” wide across the width of the fabric.  Spray the strips with spray starch, fold both long edges of the strips to meet in the middle and press to form the sashing.  Keep the narrow and wider sashing strips separate as the narrow strips will go on the back of the blocks and the wider strips will go on the front.

Lay the blocks out in the order that you want for your wall hanging.

Set up your sewing machine with black thread in the top and bobbin.  Select a zigzag stitch at 5.5mm wide with a spacing of 4.5mm.

Join three rows of three guitars each by butting two blocks together without gaps or overlaps and zigzag the blocks together.

After joining all the blocks into sets of 3 rows, make minor trimming adjustments to each long side to ensure that the tops and bottoms are straight.

Align the three rows, butting, aligning and zigzag them together in the same manner.

Turn the wall hanging wrong side up.  Align the center of the narrow sashing strips over the two horizontal zigzag seams.  Have the sashing extend about ½” over the sides of the wall hanging.  Edge stitch down both sides of each of the sashing strips with a straight stitch about 3mm long.

One sashing strip should be used to cover both of these seams reserving two whole strips for when we cover the vertical seams.

Turn the wall hanging right side up.  Align and stitch the wider sashing strips over the front horizonal zigzag seams.

Turn the wall hanging wrong side up again.  Stitch the remaining narrow sashing strips over the vertical zigzag seams on the back of the wall hanging.

Turn the wall hanging right side up.  Stitch the remaining wider sashing strips over the vertical zigzag seams in the same manner.

Trim the excess sashing from all sides of the wall hanging.

Cut three 2 ¼” strips of fabric for the binding.  Since the stripes run horizontally for this Fiesta Fabric they had to be cut vertically from a yard of the fabric.

Bind using your preferred method.

Add a hanging sleeve if you will be hanging this from an 18” quilt hanger.  If you do not know how to make a hanging sleeve see our article “Attaching a Hanging Sleeve to a Mini Quilt” 

Congratulations your Mariachi Guitar Wall Hanging is complete!  The applique designs are also available without the quilting block if you would like to make additional coordinating projects.