Circle Art with Scrap Fabrics Tutorial

A couple of weeks ago I gave you a sneak peek of my latest mini art quilt. I was about half way finished with it, making it up as I went along. In today’s post, I’m going to show you the finished quilt with the details of how I made it. This fun quilt features a collection of twelve little pieces of art. Each one starts with a 3” circle cut from your scrap fabrics to make the base of each art piece. You’ll create small art clusters for each circle using your favorite bits of fabric, decorative papers, buttons, charms, and decorative fibers. This finished size of this small art quilt is 14” x 17”.

Supplies

• Fabric for quilt top, 16” x 19” – this will be trimmed after quilting. I used a neutral color fabric for the front and the back of the quilt, so the 12 art circles are the focus of the quilt.
• Backing fabric, 16” x 19”
• Batting, 16” x 19”
• Binding Strip – I used 2 1/4″ yards, of multi-colored fusible binding from Clover.
• Twelve assorted fabric scraps, each one large enough for a 3” circle.
• Paper-backed fusible web for the back of the circles.
• Thread – I used a neutral color (gray) that blends with the background/backing fabric.
• Assorted Art Clusters (see below).
• Temporary Spray Adhesive
• Quilting Clips

Presser Feet

The numbers below indicate BERNINA presser feet but most sewing machines have these presser feet.

• All-purpose Presser Foot #1 or #34
• Overlock Foot #2A
• Open Embroidery Foot #20

Marking and Quilting the Quilt Top

Using a fabric marker, draw a grid on the quilt top using the measurements on the diagram below. The two sections in the center are 4″ squares and the outer sections are larger to make room for trimming and binding the edges.

Stitching the Grid

Place batting on the wrong side of the quilt front, using temporary spray adhesive to hold it in place. The backing will be added after the embellishments on the front are complete. Using a straight stitch or a serpentine stitch, sew on the marked lines to create a grid. More quilting will be stitched later after attaching the art clusters.

Cutting and Fusing the Circles

Fuse the web to the wrong side of the fabric scraps and cut out twelve 3″ circles. I used my Accuquilt Go Baby to cut my circles, but you can draw a 3″ circle to use as a pattern.

Fuse the 12 circles onto the background fabric, centering each one on the intersection of the stitched lines.

Circle Stitching

After fusing, I added some stitching to the circles. Technically, this step is not needed. Your circles are fused and will stay in place. I chose to stitch them in a variety of ways to create texture on this layer. Decorative stitches, free-motion stitching, simple straight lines, sideways morion stitches, and doodling are just a few stitching styles that I used. It won’t show much but will add to the overall character of the quilt by peeking out from under the clusters.

Art Clusters

Use small bits of fabric, decorative papers, buttons, charms, and decorative fibers to add interest to the circles on your quilt. Stack 2-4 items and stitch or glue them together. Then, place one cluster on each circle and stitch or glue it in place. Some clusters are attached by stitching a button through the quilt top. Others have brads holding them to the quilt top, and one has blanket stitching along the edge.

In case you missed it, here is my YouTube video on what you need to make art clusters. There is a FREE printable that identifies a variety of materials you can use to make art clusters. In this video, you’ll see a few clusters that I used for my circle art quilt. Click here or on the image below to watch this video.

More Quilting

Place the backing and the quilt top wrong sides together to make a quilt sandwich, using temporary spray adhesive to hold the layers together. At this point, I added more quilting between the rows of circles/clusters, both vertical and horizontal. There should be room to add 2-3 lines of stitching but go slowly and stitch carefully, lifting any cluster edges if needed to stitch on the quilt. The original quilting lines that form the grid and are covered by the circles will remain single lines.

The back of the quilt should now look something like the photo below.

Trim the quilt sandwich to 14” x 17”. Using an overlock presser foot and an overlock stitch, sew along all four edges to “seal” and compress them to make it easier to put the binding in place for stitching.

After I stitched the edges, I decided to round the corners to mimic the curve of the cluster circles and the circles printed on the quilt top (I told you I was making this up as I went).I used a small bowl to draw the curve at each corner. I did not go back and overlock the corners because it was just a small unstitched area at each corner.

Binding the Edges

I used a fusible bias tape from Clover. The tape is multi-colored, using bright, rich colors that coordinate with the circles. I covered the edges of the quilt with the tape and fused the binding. For extra security, I used quilting clips to hold the binding place.

The last step was to stitch the binding along the inner edge because I have found that the fusible tape is great for holding the binding in place but it also needs to be stitched to last.

I know this is a long blog post with a lot of photos but if you made it to here, thanks for hanging in there. Please let me know if you make your version of this art quilt. I’d love to see a photo of your piece of art!

As Always,