Dear Reader,
This is probably the most unusual Christmas quilt you have ever seen.
Text accompanying the photo: The elephant strides majestically through the night under a starry sky, bringing gold, frankincense and myrrh to the baby Jesus.
Sewing instructions for the Christmas quilt
It began with this sumptuous material I discovered at a quilt show last year. I just could not pass it by. A piece had to come home with me.
For a whole year, the beautiful print lay in the fabric cupboard, occasionally being brought out, admired and stroked and then disappearing back into the depths of storage.
Detailed view.
Then two days ago, I suddenly remembered the elephant embroidery file I had stored on my computer.
I cut off a piece of the beautiful fabric and embroidered the design with my BERNINA 780, using only metallic threads. I chose Bobbin fil from Amann Group Mettler as the bobbin thread.
When I looked at the embroidered design, I was rather disappointed. The elephant was literally swallowed up by the colourful fabric. What now?
I coloured the background dark with fabric paints…
and the elephant stood out clearly in the foreground. The original design is still clearly visible despite the colouring-in.
I appliquéd the embroidery onto a sandwich and decorated the border of the appliqué with a decorative stitch from the BERNINA 780. Again, I used metallic thread.
A starry sky and hints of a path complete the picture.
The metallic threads reflect the colours in the fabric very well.
For the back of the quilt, which also forms the border, I chose a heavy silk, but the colour was not quite a perfect match. It lacked a blue cast.
So on the spur of the moment, I decided to cover the silk with blue-gold iridescent tulle.
View of the back.
I used Poly Sheen from Amann Group Mettler as the bobbin thread for quilting.
On the next photo, you can see part of the back and the border on the front of the quilt. The lustre and sparkle of the embroidery is repeated in the tulle.
The quilt now sits on a chest of drawers in the upstairs hallway at home.
Kind regards,
Susanne
Yes, Jennifer, the embroidery file is from Sue Box Creations:
http://www.suebox.com/store/Creative-Embroidery-Designs/Metallic-Thread-Designs/01LG-Elephant-Large.html
Please show a photo in the Community. 🙂
Susanne, do you know where you bought the elephant embroidery? I love elephants as does a good friend of mine and I’d love to know who the digitizer is or the website where you bought it, if you know. I would love to make her a gift with this on it!
It is beautiful! Tudy
Thank you very much. 🙂
It is simply gorgeous! Very inspiring. Did you quilt the top and lining separately of after you had assembled the quilt? Beautiful!
Thank you very much, Karen. 🙂 I quilted the sandwich (top, Thermolam, silk and tulle) after I had appliquéd the elephant.
Thank you very much, Hilary. 🙂
I can understand the lure of that beautiful fabric. Sometimes it needs
patience to wait for the pieces of the jigsaw to fall into place and
remembering the elephant embroidery was a moment of magic. I love the
piece and the way you have used the embroidery stitches to applique the
piece in the centre.
Hilary