Fall-Themed Wall Hanging Tutorial
I love decorating in autumn, but I don’t always find decorations in the store that I absolutely love and want to bring home. So I decided to make my own fall-themed wall hanging with pumpkin and acorn appliqué hat I will enjoy putting up each year. I drew the appliqué shapes myself so you can choose different shapes like fall leaves for example.
Follow along to make your own!
Materials & Tools Needed
- Back, front, tab, applique, and applique backing fabric
- Fusible Fleece Batting
- Clips and/or pins
- Fusible Web
- Seam Gauge
- Coordinating Thread
- Iron
Prepare the Fabric Pieces
Cut the front fabric and the fusible fleece 14 inches wide and 35 inches long. Press the fusible fleece onto the wrong side of your front fabric following the manufacturer’s instructions.
Cut your backing fabric 1 inch bigger than the front piece in width and length - 15 inches wide and 36 inches long.
Cut 3 squares measuring 10” x 10”. These will be the base fabric for your appliques. Press all your fabric as needed.
The Appliqué Pieces
For your appliques- you can either free hand draw, or trace a pattern onto your applique fabric. These appliques measured about 8” x 8” by the time they were cut out. For the acorn, I started by drawing the base in a basic “U” shape with my heat erasable gel pens. Once that was drawn, I moved onto the “hat” of the acorn. I used the base to get an idea of how wide the “hat” needed to be. Pinking shear the edges is optional, but not necessary as the fusible fleece will prevent raveling.
Once your appliques are cut out, lay out your front piece, the applique backing, and the appliques to get an idea of how you want the wall hanging to look.
Using your appliques as pattern pieces, cut out fusible fleece for the pumpkin and the hats of the acorns. I didn’t worry about the stem of the pumpkin because I wasn’t quilting that part. Press the fleece onto the appliques following the manufacturer’s instructions.
Draw some sections on the pumpkin and the hats of the acorns. Then pin the appliques in place on the applique base. Sew your appliques onto the base fabric using a small zig zag stitch, or satin stitch. For the acorn, I sewed the base first and then attached the hat.
Once the appliques are sewn onto the backing, sewn along the lines you drew on the pumpkin and acorn hats. Press with a warm iron to remove the marks.
Assemble The Wall Hanging
Arrange your applique squares on the front fabric. Using fusible web, iron the squares onto the front fabric and then do a small zig zag stitch around the edges to secure them.
**To make this next part much easier on yourself, do the next few steps on your floor or on a table. I did them on my ironing board and it was more difficult than it needed to be.**
Make The Border and the Tabs
Take your completed front and lay it on the back, wrong sides together. Make sure the spacing from the front edges and the edges of the backing is even all the way around. Starting on one side, fold the back fabric to the raw edge of the front, and then fold it over again. My finished edges measured ½” wide. Clip or pin it in place as you go.
When you get to the corners, make a triangle with the side you’re working on, line it up with the raw edges of the perpendicular side, and then fold it over. Clip it in place.
Once your edges are all clipped in place, attach your stitch guide foot, line up the edge with the 5th line from the left, and topstitch all the way around.
For the tabs, I cut 3 4” x 4” squares. These tabs are the perfect size for the space where we’re going to hang this in our home, so depending on your preference and space available just adjust the tab size accordingly.
Once they’re cut, fold them in half and stitch around the open edges using your ¼” quilting foot with guide, leaving an opening for turning right side out. Clip your corners and turn right side out. Make sure to push out your corners.
Either iron or finger press the tabs you’ve just sewn. Top stitch around the entire tab. I used my ¼” quilting foot with guide but the stitch guide foot would work as well.
Once it’s top stitched, now you fold it in half again and stitch across the bottom, forming your tabs.
Take your tabs and put one in the middle of each applique square on the back side. Clip them in place, and then stitch along the top stitching you did on the binding.
Quilting the Wall Hanging
Once that’s done, now you’re ready to quilt the wall hanging. If it helps, draw out your design with a heat erasable gel pen, or marking tool of your choice. Attach your darning foot #23 and start quilting! At the start and end of your quilt stitches, pull the bobbin thread through to the top, this will secure your stitches without back stitching. Once you’re done stitching, go back to the beginning and ends of your stitches and tie a square knot.
Wham bam now you have a super cute handmade autumn wall hanging for your home! With these instructions, you can make different styles of wall hangings for different occasions or even as gifts for a close friend. Mix and match fabrics and appliqué shapes and create a unique piece of art!
Happy Quilting!
Cecilia
Blogging for Madam Sew
