RETRO SANTA CLAUS QUILT TUTORIAL

It is never too early to work on Christmas crafts. Whether you wish to grace your hallway with a new wall hanging, cover your guest bed with a whimsical quilt design, or create a Christmas gift for a loved one, this full/queen-sized quilt is sure to be a treasured keepsake that will bless your generations for years to come. In the following tutorial, we will walk you through the project, step by step. All of the fabric and notions are available on our website. See the appropriate links in the "Items Needed" section below. Go ahead and download and print the handy PDF tutorial to make following instructions easy and simple. This project takes roughly 20-24 hours to sew using a longarm machine or 25-30 hours without a longarm machine. The finished quilt size is roughly 73" x 79". It can easily be made larger by making the binding wider in STEP FORTY-ONE. GENERAL NOTES

• Read all instructions completely before starting the project.
• Unless otherwise noted, all seam allowances are sewn at 1/4".
• Measure fabric twice, cut once.
• When cutting fabric strips, a rotary cutter is recommended for accuracy.
• The use of an iron is suggested for this project.
• The use of a quilt frame and longarm quilting machine are shown in this tutorial, but they are not required.

ITEMS NEEDED Along with typical sewing items like scissors, pins, iron/ironing board, and a rotary cutter/rotary board, you will need the following:

• 1 panel - Springs Creative, Retro Santa Claus Fabric Panel
• 1 yard - Moda Classic, Medium Dottie, Christmas Red Fabric
• 3 yards - Moda, Grunge Basics, Pear Fabric
• 2 yards - Moda Classic, Marble Swirls, Christmas Red Fabric
• 2 yards - Holiday Wishes, Season Greetings Fabric in White
• 2 yards - Classic Collection, Swirls, Red
• 3 yards - 108" Quilt Backing, Gray on White
• Quilt Batting
• Signature Quilting Thread

BEFORE YOU BEGIN You will want to cut your strips an inch longer (lengthwise) than what is documented in this tutorial. This assures that your strip will be long enough as you sew. After sewing on each of the strips, you can square up the ends by cutting off the excess fabric. It's always easy to cut off excess fabric but impossible to add it back. Measure the quilt top after every strip is added. After you have added strips to the sides, measure the top and bottom before you cut out the fabric strips for the next step to ensure that each one is the correct dimensions for the next step. Also, when putting the quilt together, always attach the strips to the sides of the quilt first. Then, attach the strips to the bottom and top of the quilt.

STEP ONE:

• Press all the fabric before you begin. You can starch the fabric if you like.

STEP TWO:

• Cut out the strips/squares of the Moda Classic, Medium Dottie, Christmas Red Fabric.

• Cut two - 4 1/2" x 44" (for the sides of the quilt).

• Cut two - 4 1/2" x 44" (for the bottom and top of the quilt).

• Cut four - 4 1/2" x 4 1/2" squares.

STEP THREE:

• Pin the 44" strips of the Moda Classic, Medium Dottie, Christmas Red Fabric to the sides of the Retro Santa Claus panel.

STEP FOUR:

• Sew the strips on both sides.

STEP FIVE:

• Press open the seams you just made with an iron. You can choose to press the seams open or to the side.

• Square up the ends by cutting off any excess fabric.

STEP SIX:

• Pin the strips of the Moda Classic, Medium Dottie, Christmas Red Fabric to the top and bottom of the center panel.

STEP SEVEN:

• Sew the strips you just pinned.

• Square up your quilt by cutting off the excess fabric on any strip that has an overlap of fabric.

STEP EIGHT:

• Press the seams open toward the outside of the quilt top.

• This is what your quilt will look like at this point:

STEP NINE:

• Cut the strips of the Moda, Grunge Basics, Pear Fabric.

• Cut two - 4 1/2" x 50 1/2" strips (for the sides of the quilt).

• Cut two - 4 1/2" x 52" strips (for the bottom and top of the quilt).

• NOTE: We will be cutting more of this fabric later on...

• Pin the 50 1/2" long Moda, Grunge Basics, Pear Fabric strips to the sides of the quilt top.

• Sew the sides.

STEP TEN:

• Cut off the excess Moda, Grunge Basics, Pear Fabric, squaring up the top of your quilt.

• Press seams open toward the outside of the quilt top.

STEP ELEVEN:

• Pin the 52" long Moda, Grunge Basics, Pear Fabric strips to the top and bottom of the quilt.

• Sew these strips onto the quilt.

• Press seams open toward the outside of the quilt top.

STEP TWELVE:

• This is what your quilt will look like at this point:

STEP THIRTEEN:

• Cut out strips of the Moda Classic, Marble Swirls, Christmas Red Fabric.

• Cut two - 1 1/2" x 60" strip (for the sides of the quilt).

• Cut two - 1 1/2" x 54 1/2" strip (for the bottom and top of the quilt).

• NOTE: We will be cutting more of this fabric later on...

STEP FOURTEEN:

• Pin a strip of the Moda Classic, Marble Swirls, Christmas Red Fabric to each of the sides of the quilt top next to the Green Grunge strips.

STEP FIFTEEN:

• Sew the Moda Classic, Marble Swirls, Christmas Red Fabric strips onto the quilt.

STEP SIXTEEN:

• Square up the quilt top by cutting off the excess fabric.

• Press seams open towards the outside of the quilt top.

STEP SEVENTEEN:

• Pin the remaining two strips of the Moda Classic, Marble Swirls, Christmas Red Fabric to the top and bottom of the quilt.

STEP EIGHTEEN:

• Sew these strips onto the quilt.

• Press the seams open.

• Square up the quilt top by cutting off any excess as you did previously.

STEP NINETEEN:

• Here is what the quilt will look like at this stage:

STEP TWENTY:

• Cut out strips of Holiday Wishes, Season Greetings Fabric in White and Classic Collection, Swirls, Red Fabric.

• Of the Holiday Wishes Fabric, cut two - 4 1/2" x 62" strips (for the sides of the quilt).

• Of the Classic Collection Fabric, cut two - 4 1/2" x 52" strips (for the bottom and top of the quilt).

STEP TWENTY-ONE:

• Cut strips of the Moda Classic, Marble Swirls, Christmas Red Fabric.

• Cut four - 1 1/2" x 5 1/2" strips.

• Pin each strip to the Moda Classic, Medium Dottie, Christmas Red Fabric squares.

STEP TWENTY-TWO:

• Sew each of the strips you just pinned on the four squares.

• Press each seam open.

• Cut off excess fabric.

• Set these blocks aside for later.

STEP TWENTY-THREE:

• Cut strips of the Moda Classic, Marble Swirls, Christmas Red Fabric.

• Cut four - 1 1/2" x 5 1/2" strips.

• Pin each strip to the ends of the Holiday Wishes, Season Greetings Fabric in White.

• Sew four seams. Press and square up strips by cutting excess fabric.

STEP TWENTY-FOUR:

• Pin each stripe to each side of the quilt top, making sure the wording is facing the same direction (down) to match the direction of the panel.

STEP TWENTY-FIVE:

• Sew together, stopping about two inches short of the end.

STEP TWENTY-SIX:

• This is what the quilt layers will look like at this stage:

STEP TWENTY-SEVEN:

• Take the blocks you made earlier (step twenty-two) and pin to both ends of each of the Classic Collection, Swirls, Red Fabric strips.

STEP TWENTY-EIGHT:

• Sew the pieces together.

• Press open the seams.

STEP TWENTY-NINE:

• Pin the Classic Collection, Swirls, Red Fabric strip you just made to the top and bottom of the quilt. Make sure to match seams to the previous row's seams.

STEP THIRTY:

• Sew together.

• Press seams flat.

STEP THIRTY-ONE:

• Cut strips of Moda Classic, Marble Swirls, Christmas Red Fabric.

• Cut two - 1 1/2" x 72" strips (for the sides of the quilt).

• Cut two - 1 1/2" x 65" strips (for the top and bottom of the quilt).

STEP THIRTY-TWO:

• Pin each 72" strip to the sides of the quilt.

STEP THIRTY-THREE:

• Sew each strip onto the quilt.

• Square up the quilt and cut any excess fabric.

• Press seams open.

• Pin and sew the 65" strips to the top and bottom of the quilt and sew.

• Press seams open.

STEP THIRTY-FOUR:

• Here is what the quilt will look like at this stage:

STEP THIRTY-FIVE:

• Cut the last strips of the Moda, Grunge Basics, Pear Fabric.

• Cut two - 4 1/2" x 72 1/2" strips (for the sides of the quilt).

• Cut two - 4 1/2" x 74" strips (for the top and bottom of the quilt).

• Pin the 74" strips to the sides of the quilt.

STEP THIRTY-SIX:

• Sew the strips to the quilt and press seams open.

• Square up the quilt and cut off any excess fabric.

• Pin the 72 1/2" strips to the top and bottom of the quilt and sew.

• Press seams open.

STEP THIRTY-SEVEN:

• This is what the quilt will look like at this stage:

STEP THIRTY-EIGHT:

• Now is the time to put all of the fabric on the longarm sewing machine (if you have one).

• First, pin the backing to the top leader cloth (wrong side up). We suggest pinning the bottom of the backing to the bottom leader cloth and winding it back to keep the backing fabric taut for easier application of the rest of the fabric.

• Next, pin the batting to the backing. Make sure you give yourself at least 3 inches of extra backing on all edges before you start pinning.

• Lastly, pin the quilt top to the backing (right side up). Make sure you give yourself at least 1 inch of extra batting fabric on all edges when you lay down the quilt top.

STEP THIRTY-NINE:

• Once assembled, the quilt will look like this:

STEP FORTY:

• Baste across the top of the quilt to ensure that the layers stay in place as you are sewing.

• Take time to sew your own free-motion quilting designs on the entire quilt to secure the layers in place.

STEP FORTY-ONE:

• Cut the batting to just one inch extra all along the quilt. Remove excess batting.

• Cut the backing fabric to three inches extra all along the quilt. We will use the backing of the quilt as our binding.

STEP FORTY-TWO:

• Press the backing 1/4" under (wrong sides together).

• Pin the backing onto the quilt top, overlapping the Green Grunge fabric about 1/4".

• Miter the corners and pin.

STEP FORTY-THREE:

• Sew the backing/binding down using whatever stitch you like.

STEP FORTY-FOUR:

• Here is the completed quilt:

Click here to download your own printable instructions for this tutorial (PDF): Retro Santa Claus Tutorial

We are looking forward to seeing your rendition of this project. Please tag us in any picture you post of this quilt on social media. EX: @SewingPartsOnline or #SewingPartsOnline or you can send us an email message with your photos of the completed work to info@sewingpartsonline.com.

***Special thanks to Kaye Shelton for sewing this gorgeous amazing quilt.***