Happy Spring & Happy Easter! I hope you are ready to experience spring like weather & some new innovative ideas for the BERNINA Circular embroidery attachment # 83. The Circular Embroidery Attachment is a versatile tool for creatives. This is Part 1 of a 3 part series. This series of posts will discuss 6 awesome project ideas so be sure to follow along. Todays’ post is about making a Colour Wheel Art Quilt. I just could not stop playing with this circle making tool for BERNINA sewing machines. I hope you are as excited as I am about this amazing attachment!
When you purchase the Circular Embroidery Attachment #83 it comes with the slide, silicon stop, 2 screws, a screw driver, instruction manual & 2 protective boxes.
Despite the fact that the Circular Embroidery Attachment #83 incorporates the word ’embroidery’ it’s actually even more versatile. In addition it’s an appliqué & quilting tool & extremely useful for making circles. A very helpful video about the Circular embroidery attachment #83 & installation is shown below:
Todays’ Project:
The colours represent the 6 warm & 6 cool colours of the colour wheel. I have a class to take at Quilt Canada this summer and a discussion of the colour wheel is part of the class. What better way to learn about the colour wheel than to make an art quilt for my sewing studio? The Circular embroidery attachment #83 is the perfect tool to assist me.
Materials Needed:
- 22″ square of background cotton, 22″ square of backing, 4- 4″ square of backing fabric for facing, 4- 2 1/2″ x 18″ strips of backing fabric for facing
- Free PDF download available How to Make a Faced Edge for Your Art Quilt or bind as desired
- 22″ square of batting
- 4″ squares of fabric in yellow, yellow green, green, blue green, blue, blue violet, violet, red violet, red, red orange, orange and yellow orange
- Fusible interfacing 12 -4″ squares
- Circular embroidery attachment# 83
- Reverse pattern foot #1
- Open toe embroidery foot #20
- A water soluble marking pen or erasable marking pen
- Spray starch optional but helpful
- A way to draw a 14 1/2″ circle on the background fabric ( I used the base of a lampshade)
- Neutral thread for circle appliqués & quilting thread to match the background
- A colour wheel for reference (optional)
- Red thread for satin stitched primary line, blue thread for secondary & green thread for tertiary lines (optional)
- Stitch #1 straight, #2 zig zag, #7 blind hem
How to make it:
Select & cut all fabric & interfacing. Spray starch & iron all fabric (only) for added stiffness
Mark the center wrong side of the coloured fabric with a wash out marker
Insert the Circular Embroidery Attachment #83 as shown in the above video. Place the circle fabric (yellow) right side against the fusible side of the interfacing & place it on the pin of the Circular Embroidery Attachment #83. Insert the Reverse Pattern Foot #1 on the machine
Measure from the pin of the attachment to the machine needle so that you achieve a 1 1/2″ space allowing for a 3″ circle when completed. Move the slide of the pin along to the right spot. Sew with a straight stitch, holding the fabric lightly and smoothing it as it turns with the attachment
Trim close to the circle with scissors, carefully cut a slit in the interfacing only and turn to the right side through the cut in the interfacing.
Finger press the circle and make 11 more.
Draw a 14 1/2″ circle on the background fabric with a wash out marker, place your appliquéd circles carefully spaced on the circle.
Iron & appliqué your circles with a #7 stitch & thread to match (or invisible thread on the top threading only). I reduced the width & length of my stitches so that the appliqué stitches are almost invisible. Mark lines for primary (red) secondary (blue) & tertiary (green) as shown on the quilt (optional).
Satin stitch the primary, secondary & tertiary lines. Recommended to use a stabilizer on the back to avoid puckering & test out stitch length & widths ahead of time on scrap fabric. I used a zig zag stitch #2 with the length & width modified as shown. Width 2.4 & length 4 bars.
After all the appliqué & satin stitching is done, sandwich & quilt your quilt as desired & bind or use my free tutorial available on my website How to Make a Faced Edge for Your Art Quilt.
I sincerely hope this post inspired you to make your own colour wheel art quilt and try out the versatile Circular embroidery attachment #83. The Circular Embroidery Attachment is a versatile tool for creatives! Check out the Monday April 10 post for Part 2 of The Circular Embroidery Attachment a Versatile Tool for Creatives. Next up is easy reversible coasters, centering fabric designs and drunkards path blocks.
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