What better to hang on the door of a quilter's home than a quilted Christmas wreath!




I'd like to invite you all to quilt along with me today!

Are you ready? Okay! Let's go!


You will need:
Green fabric - I used various shades but you could use as many or as little variation as you like!
Fabric for the middle of the wreath - I used a white with a subtle white triangle print but it would look cute if you could match the centre circle to your door!
Batting.
Embellishments.


Set your iron up close to your sewing machine because we will be pressing after each piece. You'll thank me later!

Stitch length: Set your machine to a stitch length around 2. You want small stitches close together so it perforates your paper and makes tearing the foundation out easier at the end.

When pressing: Set your iron to cotton setting, NO STEAM. Steam can pull and stretch your pieces as you press. When pressing, slide your iron from the base piece onto the new piece you just sewed on.



1.

Trace your pattern on to some paper - the more light-weight the better. Here I've used freezer paper.



2.

Cut out some templates for your fabric, making sure to leave at least 1/4" seam allowance. The best thing about this particular pattern is you'll only need two! A circle and triangle. 



3.

NOTE: When cutting out your fabric, make sure to pin the templates to the WRONG side, otherwise your fabric will come out reversed. 



4.

Pin piece number one to (un-printed) side of your paper, RIGHT SIDE UP. For this whole tutorial we will be pinning to the WRONG (un-printed) SIDE of our paper.

To make sure you have an even allowance, hold up to a window so you can see the lines showing through from underneath. 



5.

 

6.

Flip your pattern over. Sew on the RIGHT SIDE (printed side) of your pattern, right along the line that separates piece 1 from piece 2. For this first step it's only a short line. 



7.

( Pop over to your iron and press. )

Pin piece number 3 matching it up with the edge of pressed piece number two. Make sure to check check check your seam allowances! 



8.

Flip your pattern over and sew along the line that separates piece 2 from piece 3.



9.

( Pop over to your iron and press. I hope you keep your iron close to your sewing machine! )

Pin piece number 4 matching it up with the edge of pressed piece number 3.



10.

Flip your pattern over and sew along the line that separates piece 2 from piece 3.

Press. 



11.

( Continue along until you have all your pieces sewn on. )

Now we're left with a gap between piece one and piece 15. ( there's probably a correct way to not end up with this gap but it's my first paper-pieced pattern so if anyone has any tips, please let me know! )

We're going to tear away the paper at this point - you'll be glad you used tiny stitches! Be careful not to pull too tightly. If you used freezer paper it should just tear right out. 



12.

Fold your wreath RIGHT SIDES together and pin. We're going to sew this gap closed. You might like to finish it off by hand as it gets a little fiddly the closer you get to the middle of the wreath. 




13.

Press and tada, we're done!

If you want to make this into a regular quilt, you'd just go on to make your quilt sandwich right now. I didn't want the effect of binding on this one however, so I'll be finishing mine up a little differently. If you're not a bias binding fantatic and want to keep stitching along, please read on!



14.

Grab your backing fabric and pin with right sides together. Now is the time to insert a ribbon loop for hanging, too!

Sew around the edge leaving a gap of about 3-4 inches. Turn right way out through this gap. 



15.

This is why you needed to leave such a big gap!

Cut out a circle of batting to fit your wreath and insert through the gap, smoothing it out to lay flat. This is a bit fiddly so it helps if you can get your entire hand inside. 



16.

To quilt I just ditch-stitched and top stitched around the wreath, catching the opening closed in the process.



17.

Add your label with your Christmas wishes and we're nearly done!



18.

Embelish as desired! I think these would look really cute with some white ric rac, but I just went with some juicy Holly (hehe) berries made by cutting out circles of material, stitching around the edges with a running stitch and placing a ball of stuffing in the middle and pulling the thread taut around it, then stitching it to my wreath.



I hope you had fun stitching along and if you make one of these quilted Christmas wreathes I would love to see it! 


Happy Holidays everyone!