Affiliate Disclaimer:This post may contain affiliate links. If you purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only recommend products I love and trust. Thank you for supporting Four Robbins!

I’ve had my eye on making a map quilt for a while, and I finally tackled it on a cozy day at home with a good movie playing in the background. If you’ve been thinking about making one, too, this step-by-step guide will walk you through the process.

Whether you want a US map, a different country, or even a world map, the technique is the same. You just need a clear map, some fusible web, and fabric scraps. Let’s get started!

Step 1: Print Your Map at Poster Size

First, print your map as an enlarged poster so you can use it as a template. Here’s how:

1. Open the map file and click Properties in the print settings.

2. Select the Page Setup tab.

3. Look for the Tiling/Poster option and select it.

4. Click Specify, then set Image Divisions to 16 (smaller divisions make tiny states like those on the East Coast harder to cut).

5. Print and tape the pages together, making sure everything lines up correctly.

This is the map I used but if you prefer a different map or want to do a different country or the world map, you can find a nice clear map and follow the same steps. Printable PDF

Step 2: Prepare Your Appliqué Pieces

1. Trace the map – Use Steam-A-Seam 2 (or your preferred fusible web) to trace each state or section of your design. Numbering your pieces helps keep things organized.

2. Cut out your shapes – Carefully cut out each piece along the traced lines. These are amazing scissors for applique or fine cutting.

3. Fuse to fabric – Peel off one side of the paper backing and press the fusible web onto the back of your fabric.

Step 3: Assemble Your Quilt Top

1. Position the states – Arrange the pieces on your background fabric, either lining them up exactly or slightly overlapping.

2. Press in place – Once everything is where you want it, use an iron to fuse the pieces securely.Optional: While Steam-A-Seam 2 holds the fabric in place well, you can also stitch around each state for added durability and a decorative touch.

Optional: While Steam-A-Seam 2 holds the fabric in place well, you can also stitch around each state for added durability and a decorative touch.

For a personal touch, I added little fabric hearts to mark where my family has lived and where each member was born.

Step 4: Add Borders and Quilt

1. Cut (46) 3.5-inch squares from coordinating fabrics for a scrappy border.

2. Piece the border and sew it around your map.

3. Quilt as desired – I chose a meander quilting pattern over the states and an outline stitch around the background.

Final Quilt Size and Finishing Touches

The finished quilt measures approximately 42” x 32”—perfect for a wall hanging, learning tool, or unique home décor piece.

I love how mine turned out, and I’d love to see yours! Share your creations with the hashtag #FourRobbinsQuilts on social media.

Happy quilting!

Krista

The post How to Make a Map Quilt – Step-by-Step Sewing Guide first appeared on FOUR ROBBINS.

I came across an ad the other day in a craft magazine for these cute little muslin bags for Valentine’s Day. They were so cheap, I thought, “They’ve gotta be super easy to make!” So, I decided to give it a try. Turns out, they really are quick and simple to whip up. The best part about making them yourself is you get to use better quality fabric and add your own personal touches, like embellishments. I did use a sewing machine, but honestly, you can totally hand stitch these bags if you prefer. I’ve included links to the supplies I used and recommend throughout the post. Just a heads-up, those are affiliate links, so I might earn a small commission if you decide to make a purchase, at no extra cost to you!

Getting Started

The first thing you want to do is to prepare your fabric. For this bag, my fabric measures 5-1/2 inches wide by 14 inches long. I’m using Kona Snow but you could use muslin or novelty fabrics or whatever you like. First, I like to go ahead a press approximately 1/4 inch in on each side to the wrong side of the fabric so I know where my seam is going and I know how much room I have to play around with applique, embroidery or whatever else I want to do.

Next, fold the top down 1/2 inch. Press and then fold down another 1/2 inch. Then fold in half, wrong sides together, and press your bottom seam.

Embellish Your Bag!

For this bag, I decided to do some applique. First, I cut out a 2-inch circle. I like to take just a tiny bit of invisible Elmer’s glue on my finger and apply it to a few spots on the back of the applique piece and then press with a hot iron. That way my shape stays in place while I stitch and I don’t have to mess with pins. Stitch around the edge. Note: Make sure your seam allowance is open and does not get caught in your stitching.

Next, I cut out a little heart and repeated the glue, pressing, and stitching.

I cut out strips to make an X. I did my glue and press with the first strip and then the second and then I stitched into place. Again, be sure your seam allowance is open and doesn’t get caught in your stitching!

Assemble Your Bag

Stitch up each side using 1/4″ seam allowance back stitching at the top and bottom. Stop approximately 1 inch below the bottom pressed seam line so your top tubes don’t get caught in your seam. Backstitch athe pressed top seam. Clip bottom corners.

Press side seams open. Press your top tube down again .

Finally, turn right side out. Stitch along the bottom edge of each top fold to create a tube in front and in back to place your ties.

Finish the Bag

Using a pin to secure the end of the ribbon or cord. Feed one end of your ribbon into the tube and out the other side and then into the second tube and out the other side so that your ends are both coming out of the same side of the bag. You are basically making a U with the ribbon, with both ends coming out on the same side.

Tie ends together. Repeat with cord or ribbon going the opposite direction.

Have Fun and Add Your Own Style

These little bags are perfect for party favors and Valentine’s treats! You could even use them as part of a table setting, with personalized names on each one and little surprises tucked inside. Another fun idea is to use them for Advent gifts, just add numbers to the bags. I’ve put together a cute assortment using different fabrics and ties (like ribbon, cord, and twine), and I love how versatile they can be!

Finally, I embroidered this bag with some cute hearts. This bag starting fabric measurement was 5 inches wide x 11 inches long. I used a water soluble marker to draw my hearts and 12 weight Sulky thread for the stitched hearts.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this tutorial! These little bags are seriously quick and fun to make, and I’m already working on a few more myself! Ready to dive in? Check out my recommended products and get started on your next project today!

Krista

The post Make These Quick Sweet Drawstring Bags for Valentine’s Day first appeared on FOUR ROBBINS.

In getting organized, I discovered just how many scraps I really have so (yikes) so you can expect to see a lot of scrap buster tutorials in the future!

Since I’ve been on the fall pillow kick, I thought I would make a couple of quick applique pillows to add to my #fourrobbinspillowofthemonth collection. And I love leaves!

• Birch leaves PDF
• Maple Leaf PDF
• Sharp Scissors
• Scrap Fabric
• Backing Fabric
• Lite EZ Steam II

Cut out your leaves to use as templates then follow the instructions from my mum tutorial substituting your leaves for the mum petals. It will show you step by step how to use the EZ Steam for your pieces. I cut out the large birch leaf and then just two (2) of the other smaller ones to cut out the six smaller leaves. For the maple leaves, my pillow has about 21 leaves. I quilted these with a layer of batting behind but no backing. I used Aurifil 50 wt. #2340, which is a golden tan color. The birch leaves idea came from this beautiful free photo by @chrislawton

I tried to follow a similar look with my quilting.

Next, for the maple leaves, I laid them out in a heart shape. To quilt, I free motioned hearts over and over in multiple sizes and then free motioned fall over and over as well.

To finish the pillow backs, you can use my hidden zipper pillow back tutorial or turn them into minis to hang up.

I think they turned out so cute!

If you make one, I’d love to see! Post using #fourrobbinsscrapbuster on social media!

The post Wow Your Friends and Family with these Beautiful Fall Leaf Pillows Made from your Fabric Scraps! first appeared on FOUR ROBBINS.

This mum is such a fun block to make so I thought you might like to make it, too! And it’s a good way to make a dent in your scraps.

You’ll need some EZ Steam II or equivalent, a sharpie, some small sharp scissors, a backing fabric, scraps, and this template
. Don’t print it yet! Keep reading below.

You will want to decide what size you want your finished mum before printing. This one I printed at 70%.and it measures 9.5 inches .

This one at 85% measures 11.5 inches.

And honestly, I’m not sure what percentage I used for this but you can play around and go as large or small as you want.

Once you decide what size, print out your template. If you can, print on cardstock so they have a little more weight and are easier to trace around. If you plan to do multiple blocks, say for a quilt, I would suggest getting stencil mylar or template plastic to make tracing much easier.

I like to letter my pieces on this full mum printout and then I cut out one of each piece and label it. As well as write how many I need of each piece.

The next step is to trace your pieces on your fusible. Be sure to use the grid side to trace. I forgot and it was a little bit of a pain. However, if you mess up like I did, put the traced side down and use something firm press all over to kind of make the fusible stick to the traced side and be careful when peeling.

They don’t need to be perfectly smooth as the scissors will help with that when you’re cutting them out. I like to fit them as closely as I can so I don’t waste any.

Cut pieces out, peel the unmarked side, and press on to the wrong side of the desired fabric scraps.

You can make each piece the same color or use random scraps. The top left and bottom right keep the pieces the same colors. The top right and bottom left, I used random scraps but in the top right, I followed kind of a color wheel. And the center is random except sticking to one color.

Now, take your time and carefully cut out your pieces.

Before peeling and sticking, arrange all your pieces on your background and make sure you like the placement and spacing.

And then peel and stick.

When they are all adhered in place, press carefully with a hot iron, placing the iron on top and then picking it up and moving it. Do not iron back and forth or you may mess up your edges.

Now, finish as desired! You can stitch around each piece or you can free motion quilt and make sure you catch most of your piece. Think about how often it will be washed. The more washing, the more chance of fraying so you’d want to be sure your edges are all stitched.

On this quilt, I free motion quilted a meandering pattern over all the petals making sure to catch all my edges in the quilting. It has been washed a lot and the pieces have held up really well.

I did the same with this mini quilt.

I started to stitch around each petal on this mini but honestly, I hate it. I got bored of it and ended up free motioning all over. I also added mini log cabins as a border. I think I may do a medallion quilt like this.

I’m thinking of making another mini with log cabins for this one.

And maybe pillow covers with these two with some sort of border. I love the color wheel mum!

If you make one, I’d love to see it! Use #fourrobbinsscrapbuster

Enjoy!

Shop related products:

The post This Scrap Buster Applique Mum Quilt Block is as Easy to Make as it is Stunning! first appeared on FOUR ROBBINS.

You will need:

• Assorted scraps
• some background fabric
• Pellon Lite-EZ Steam II or other two-sided lightweight fusible web
• sharp scissors
• batting
• backing
• binding

Now, you can absolutely make a template and draw a perfect tree and leaves if that is what works for you but I didn’t do that. This project really is a great opportunity to practice a little improv and exercise that right brain.

Make sure your background and tree fabrics are pressed to start but don’t worry about your scraps.

First, roughly draw out your tree on the paper side of the EZ-Steam. Don’t worry too much about how perfect your drawing lines are. When you cut, the scissors will naturally work out a smooth line and you can trim what isn’t. And even though it looks not so great on the paper, it’s exactly the tree I cut out in the photo above and it turned out pretty cool.

Cut out your tree roughly. You’re going to adhere this to fabric and cut it out again and you’ll get more precise during this step.

Gently and carefully peel off one side of the paper and adhere your tree to the wrong side of your tree fabric. No ironing – we’ll do that at the end when our design is done.

And now cut it out.

Here it is with the back peeled off – a nice fabric sticker tree.

Now, position your tree on your backing fabric wherever you want it. Press down to adhere when you’re sure it’s good!

Now, cut little leaves out of your EZ-Steam. Again, you’ll be cutting again once you adhere them to the fabric so don’t worry about cutting them out of the EZ-Steam too neatly.

Add to fabric just like you did for the tree.

Cut out and clean up the rough edges. Place them around your tree but don’t peel the backing until you like your arrangement.

Once you like how it looks, peel your labels and stick away.

And then press to really adhere them for good. Ignore my iron. It is ugly and my good one died. I really need a new one but not sure yet what to get. Suggestions?

Once everything is nicely adhered, it’s time to make your quilt sandwich and baste.

Remember, cut your batting a little bigger than your top and your backing a little bigger than that. Doesn’t have to be perfect because you will be trimming it down once you finishing quilting.

Remember that fabric that you loved when you bought it but now not so much and you’re not sure what to do with it? That will make a good mini quilt back. At least, that’s what I do!

You can use spray or pins or whatever works for you. I like pins. Don’t pin your applique pieces. This is small enough that you don’t need to go crazy and we’re going to be focusing on appliqueing all the pieces down first.

Time to quilt. And here’s where again, you can take your time and go around each leaf like I did for this smaller tree.

Or, you can free motion and get creative. I love how this turned out. I went quickly and went up and around the leaves three times: once for the center and twice more going around the edges. If this will get washed a lot, play close attention to get close to all your leaf and tree edges to prevent fraying but the EZ-Steam really helps with that, too.

I love how the lines between the leaves almost look like branches.

And then I just did some random up and down on the tree.

Finally, I did the background in a kind of horizontal stipple. Once you’re done quilting, trim and square up (make sure you’ve cut your sides, top, and bottom in an even square or rectangle).

My binding strips are 2.5 inches. I sewed my binding to the back instead of the front so I could do machine binding. I also trimmed close because I want the binding on the front a little wider than on the back, kind of like a frame.

I folded it to the front and lightly glue basted it in place. Just add a tiny bit of glue and press.

I’m not super good at machine binding yet and here I do get frustrated when my lines are not straight and perfect. So rather than freak out and pull stitches when my binding wasn’t perfect, I decided to make it “folksy” like my leaves. I went around the binding three times.

And here it is! I think it turned out really cute!

If you make one, I’d love to see it! Post it using #fourrobbinsscrapbuster so I can find you!

Shop related items:

The post Scrap Buster Applique Tree Mini Quilt Tutorial first appeared on FOUR ROBBINS.