Crazy Quilted Fan Ornament

Sandie Willmott © 2007

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Materials Required:

Pattern piece
Calico/muslin fabric
Ruler
Scraps of fabric in five shades
Small glass seed beads
Fancy glass flower/butterfly beads
Six small crystals or glass fancy beads
7mm silk ribbon for spider web-roses
Thin lengths of lace pieces and/or ric rac
4mm and 2mm silk ribbon for bows and leaves/stems
Tiny dyed lace pieces
Variety of silk threads
Nymo thread (for beading)
Beading needle
Embroidery needles (I use a needle with a larger eye when using silk embroidery thread; saves it getting twisted and worn)
Pins
SRE needles
Embroidery scissors
Blue water erasable pen
Piece of strong cardboard for pattern template
Sewing machine (optional, can be hand stitched)
Optional - fray stop product

Please read ALL instructions before commencing!

Gather all the items you need to create your fan ornament. Once you have printed out the pattern to the correct size (or whatever size you wish to do) trace your pattern onto a piece of cardboard and carefully cut out the shape; add the fan lines onto your cardboard pattern piece.

Cut two pieces of calico/muslin to 9 inches X 11 inches; take one of these pieces and cut in half so you have ONE piece that is 9 inches X 11 inches and TWO pieces that are 4.5 inches X 5.5 inches.

Next - take the cardboard pattern template, place in middle of the larger piece of fabric and draw around edge with water erasable pen. Place dots where your "fan" lines should be with erasable pen and then draw lines in, using your ruler. Best to mark upwards outside of lines of the original fan pattern, so when you are sewing you can see where you need to sew. This is, of course, optional but I find it best to be more accurate when sewing - I can see the lines.

Set your sewing machine to a small stitch length, taking the first colour choice and sewing along the second line on your fan. (NOT the outside edge line, but the second one in)

Using the flip and sew method, add your next piece of fabric - carefully sewing as close as you can to the lines marked. A word of warning, I used several thick fabrics (velvets) which I would not recommend - the bottom edge of fan was too bulky and would have looked so much nicer had I of used finer fabrics.

When you have completed sewing in all five pieces of fabric, you should have something which looks like this photograph.

Mark your fan shape using the water erasable pen onto your newly pieced CQ fan. I use one strand of cotton and stitch just outside of edge of fan shape to hold all fabrics in place while it's in my hoop.

Place your work into a hoop (if you use one) and begin embellishing to your own desire. I started off placing fine lace on my fan, hand stitched in place. (Fine laces do not add bulk, which we are trying to avoid.) Then I feather-stitched down the sides of the lace which also helps adhere lace to fan, adding the seed beads later - avoiding areas near the edges where I need to sew. Next, I added the silk ribbon (spider web-roses), and stitched in their stems and leaves. The tiny butterfly was next with beading, the glass flower beads, stems and leaves, all the beading and lastly the silk ribbon embroidered bows.

Now it's time to start putting together! Take your 5.5 inches X 4.5 inches fabric, and with your water erasable pen and using your cardboard template ... trace pattern onto the middle of your fabric piece. The next part is a little tricky, but with patience you'll be fine. Lay your embellished piece face up on the table and your newly drawn pattern piece on top. Lift the edges of your fabric and match the "fan" markings on the top fabric to your embellished piece and pin together.

Important: Remember you have to leave an opening to turn your fan inside out, mark this onto your fabric now and before sewing!

When sewing your fan ornament together, go slowly, with small even stitches. You are sewing just "outside" the lines you have marked. Make sure you leave the area marked to turn right side out.

When sewn together, clip around outside leaving one cm of fabric around outside edge. (Clip the corners closely (not too close though), and clip curves.

Carefully turn inside out. DO NOT IRON YOUR ORNAMENT ... you will heat set your pen markings ... a big no no! We will remove these markings later, by running water gently over your fan and letting dry on a towel. Carefully checking to see if all erasable pen markings are gone, then iron. I used a ladder stitch to close my fan ornament, with very tiny stitches weaving back and forth ... you do not see these tiny stitches. Use a little fray stop on unraveling threads (and it is brilliant for knots.) Word of warning: use a pin head to apply fray stop, not the bottle nozzle.

Beading

It is better to use a brand of bead which is pretty uniform in size; this will give you a neater and more even finish, which always looks nicer.

Thread your needle with your beading thread and double it, placing a nice knot at the base and cutting away any excess strands. You start at the top - middle of your fan - take your threaded needle into the seam or very close to it and secure well.

You will bead over the top of this to hide any small knots. You can apply "fray stop" to prevent your knot coming loose at any time in the future - again, just a wee drop off the end of a needle or pin will do.

Thread on five beads. Lay beads down along seam - more to the front of the fan, taking note of where they sit - making sure they are nice and snug. Take your needle into the fabric right at that point and then back behind the laid out beads, bringing out mid way (your needle comes up behind bead three). In other words, you are stitching backwards, which reinforces your beading and gives you a nice neat and very secure finish.

You will see in the photo I have placed five beads on my thread, then my thread has been taken back through the fabric behind my beading and back out half way between the beads - I then take the thread back through THREE beads in a forward motion. Thread on five more beads and keep repeating the process explained above until you have fully completed the beading around the outside edge of your fan ornament.

Running out of thread can be a bit daunting, but just remember to slip stitch in-between two beads, taking the thread through the loop, tugging gently to form a knot. Again, you can use a tiny bit of fray stop on the end of a pin to secure that knot. Re-thread your needle with a new amount of thread (doubled again) and secure as you just started your last strand - easy!

Your thread should be still attached to your fan and you have now completed the outer edging in beads. Find the middle bead in your centre CQ panel, and threading your needle through the beads you have already put on to this point, and bring out. Make sure your thread is long enough to complete the string of beads to form "hanger". Thread on as many beads as it takes to make the "hanger" as long as you desire. Tie off securely as described above.

To complete your ornament, we need to add some pretty "dingly dangly" beads. With a new threaded (double) needle, take your needle into the back of the ornament, right close to the beads and secure. Start threading on beads in a sequence of your choice, the addition of larger beads, add to the charm. Do not be afraid to play around and be creative. When you have your "string" of beads how you would like them, and you have a larger bead for the end drop - add a seed bead for the very last bead, this will anchor your beading.

With your needle, miss the seed bead and head straight into the next bead, going back up through ALL beads you just threaded on. Secure with tiny knot. Do NOT cut your thread off. Return it through the back of fabric and close to the string of beads you just created and repeat process, do this again for a third.

Remember to securely tie off at the back of your work, close to the beading to hide knot.

Finished CQ Fan Ornament

Pattern:

The fan pattern measures 4.5 inches from one point to the next - going ACROSS the fan, then measures 2.75 inches from main point to top middle part of fan.

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