Orange You Glad- a tutorial

Thanks for all the love on my 'Orange You Glad' quilt. I sure do love it. 

I thought it would be cool to walk you through the process I used to make my orange peels. You know, just in case you want to make some. And you should. :o)

Let's get started:

You will need a light weight fusible interfacing. I used a Ultra Lightweight Fusibile Interfacing by Pellon. The lighter the better, just make sure it's fusible on one side and not on the other. 

Draw or print your peel shape onto plain white paper. To determine the size first decide what size your block will be. I was using charm squares 5") so I knew my finished block would be 4 1/2". I decided to make my peel shape just smaller than that- about 4 1/4". I started with a 4 1/4" square and then drew a peel to fit inside corner to corner. It's important to remember that the size of your peel is determined by the size of the square it fits into, not the measurement from tip to tip. 

Trace the peel shape onto the non-fusible side of the pellon (this is lots easier than on the fusible side). I tried lots of different writing utensils and settled on a dull sharpen yourself #2 pencil. But you can use whatever works best for you.

Roughly cut out traced shapes leaving about 1/4" seam allowance.

Place on top of your fabric square with the fusible side on top of the right side of the fabric.

Place a couple pins to keep pieces from shifting.

Shorten the stitch length on your machine to a 2 (I know machines vary in the way stitches are measured- you just want a smaller stitch length for this part).

Stitch on the drawn line pivoting with needle down at points.

Trim around the peel 1/8" from stitched line. Trim across the tip a little closer being careful to not cut through the stitching.

Gently pull the interfacing away from the fabric creating a bubble as shown.

Using sharp scissors, cut a small slit in the interfacing. DO NOT cut the fabric.

Using a stylus ( I love my Purple Thang!) carefully pull the fabric through the cut hole in the interfacing and turn right side out. The right side of the fabric and the fusible side of the interfacing will be facing outward. Working gingerly, use the stylus to smooth the sides and point the ends.

Finger press the sides to smooth edges.

Place the peel on top of the background square. Center on the square making sure there are seam allowances in each corner.

Press in place with a hot iron to fuse. Flip over and press from the back as well.

Make as many peels as your heart desires.

At this point some people opt to stitch the peel to the background square with a variety of methods 

(various machine stitches or hand stitching)

With my quilt finishing technique I find this is an unnecessary step.

Once your quilt top is complete, layer with batting and backing and baste.

Using a walking foot I quilt and secure the peels at the same time by topstitching the very edge of each peel. 

You can see the amazing quilting lines that this creates (I added a few more in between the peels as well).

Now you can make an orange peel quilt just like me.

Orange you glad!?  :o)