Choose Your Adventure Jackalope Quilted Wall Hanging

Hely ghouls and creeps! I’ve always been a fan of geometric wood art, so I figured, why not use that as inspiration for a quilt pattern? I’ll be reviewing a few quilting and fiber art techniques in the making of this wall hanging. Which include two different applique application methods, quilt piecing, quilt binding, and embroidery. I entitled this post with “Choose your own Adventure,” because you can include as many, or as little, of the embellishment options as you would like to!

Depending on the adventure you choose, this will determine the difficulty of the project. The quilt top is a super easy design, the appliques are more time consuming and a little more challenging. However, the thorough step-by-step instructions won’t leave you guessing. So don’t be spooked to give this project a try!

Step 1: Cutting Fabric: *Important side note: WOF represents width of fabric.

Begin by cutting your material for your quilt top, binding, hanging tabs, and backing to the follow dimensions:

Step 2: Quilt Top Assembly: *Important side note: WOF represents width of fabric. All seam allowances= 1/4″.

Now that you have finished cutting out your quilt pieces, we get to begin our quilt top assembly! You will ultimately be constructing two different quilt block layouts, this is because the blocks need to mirror each other to appear to radiate from the center of the quilt.

Follow the diagrams below for assembly steps, when applicable make sure to assemble rows first before sewing row to the rest of the block. When sewing my rows together, I would fold each row in half, and finger press to mark the center. Matching the centers I would then sew the rows together. This ensures that when you go to square up your block, there are no shortages of material anywhere around the perimeter of your square.

Once your blocks are fully assembled, you can now make them square. I took some wax paper from my kitchen and taped two widths together to be able to make a 13 1/2″X 13 1/2″ square. Other materials you may consider using are tracing paper, or possibly a plastic template sheet.

After making my template I then drew a line from one corner to the center that measures 10″, this line will line up with the bottom corner of the 7 3/4″ brown piece. Having this point of reference helps make all the blocks look uniform. Pin template in place, and cut the excess off the edges.

You now have all your blocks ready to be assembled to make up your quilt top! At this time I took a moment to press each block so I didn’t have to use as many pins to keep my seam allowances going the direction I wanted them to and to match up my seams.

After pressing all blocks so they are nice and crisp, sew blocks together so that identical blocks occupy opposite corners. Make sure assembly matches diagram below so that strips appear to radiate from the center. Your quilt top is now assembled!

*If you wish to include appliques on your quilt continue following the tutorial to step 3 below! If you do not want embellishments on your quilt top proceed to step 4: Prepping for Quilting!

Step 3: Applique Construction & Application:

A) Jackalope Head: Use template PDFs below to cut out head pieces. Cut the head from the tan Kona, the antlers and eyes from the bone Kona, and the ear interiors and iris’ from your premium cotton print. All pieces will be backed with Wonder Under or Heat n’ Bond interfacing (or interfacing that is solely adhesive only).

Use the templates to lay on top of Heat n’ Bond to cut generally around the shape to have just enough for precisely cutting the shape later, make sure to mirror antlers, inner ear pieces, and eye pieces. Fuse Heat n’ Bond to wrong side of cotton, and then trace template on the paper side of the Heat n’ Bond, you can now cut out your pieces! Cutting both the Heat n’ Bond and cotton at the same time saves time, and saves you from having to line up and fuse pieces later.

At this time take your sheet of contrasting tracing or chalk paper and lay paper chalk side down on right side of head, be careful to not press or rub paper too much as to avoid transfer of chalk on to your material that is not necessary. Use face outline on the template as a guide to transfer marks with a tracing wheel/ pen/ pencil to material. This will be your hand embroidery guide later! Cut along the eyelid ridge (or the yellow lines below) to be able to embed eye pieces for a more realistic touch.

Peel off paper of Heat n’ Bond at this time to begin fusing pieces to quilt top. I took my jackalope head first and positioned it making sure the center of the top of the head was two inches below the center of the quilt. You can visually use reference points on the quilt top to make sure that your head is centered and straight.

Fuse iris’ to eye pieces and lift eyelid cuts to place eyes slightly under the brow. Press the head in place with eyes situated under brow with your iron on the cotton setting. Use pupil template to trace the pupil outline. This area will later be filled in with embroidery floss.

Next, fuse the inner ear pieces so that the top ear points line up exactly on the head and the inner ear pieces. The bottom point on the inner ear should sit 3/4″ from outside ear edge on both sides.

Then you’ll fuse your antlers in place. The antlers will sit slightly above the brow line, line up almost exactly with the inner ear edge, and be 1/2″ from the outer ear edge. The tips of the antlers lay 1/2″ from the center, and 1 3/4″ from the top of the quilt.

Matching my thread to my fabrics, I then sewed about 1/8″ from the raw edge of exposed edges of appliques to keep them in place and to negate excessive fraying.

I included a color-coded breakdown of the color floss I used and the direction of my stitches. In short, I used a backstitch for outlining, and then used a series of cross-hatching stitches to fill in the face to provide it depth.

B) Flower Power: Examine your flower material, and pick out three groups of flowers of varying sizes. Use a pen and ruler to create an outline 1/4″ from the area you wish to be visible on your applique. Cut out all three patches along the line you just created and then use these pieces to cut out sheerweight interfacing pieces. Lay flowers right side down against the fusible side of the interfacing and cut along applique edge.

Sew these newly made fabric sandwiches together (keeping right side of material against the fusible side of the interfacing) with a 1/4″ seam allowance. Make sure to leave an opening about 1 1/2″ wide to be able to turn appliques right side out later. Another tip: try to have opening situated on a flatter side of your applique. Also, trim small wedges out of your seam allowance so that your applique’s curves are smoother once turned.

Turn your applique’s right side out using a bodkin, or other blunt poking tool. Turn appliques completely and then lay them on your quilt top to determine positioning prior to fusing in place. After you’ve chosen where you would like your blooms to be placed, use an iron to press and fuse where desired. I used a slip stitch to strengthen the attachment of my appliques and to conceal any of the interfacing exposed along the edge.

Step 4: Prepping for Quilting: I then took my fusible fleece and fused it to the back of my quilt top. If you choose to use quilt batting, cut your batting to a 33″ X 33″ square to match the backing. This will allow for migration while quilting.

Now take your layers (your quilt top fused with your fusible fleece and your backing, or your quilt top, batting, and backing) and make a sandwich. Lay your backing right side face down, then your fused quilt top face up pin, baste, or tack layers together. If you are using quilt batting, lay backing right side face down, then your batting layer, and then quilt top face up pin, baste, or tack layers together.

Step 5: Quilting your Quilt: To quilt my layers together I stitched in the ditch every other seam line. This step is arbitrary, you could stitch over every seam, you could go more freeform and quilt a pattern to provide the surface with more texture. I provided a diagram below to show where I applied my quilting stitches (yellow lines).

Step 6: Attaching Hanging Tabs: Take the three 2 1/2″X 7″ pieces and fold them in half lengthwise right sides together. Sew a 1/4″seam along the 7″ side, flip your now tubes of fabric right side out and press.

Attach your tabs to the top edge of your wallhanging positioning one in the center and the other two an inch in from the top corners. To attach my tabs I laid them against my backing, lining up the ends with the edge of my quilt, and sewed back and forth a few times a quarter-inch from the edge.

Step 7: Binding your Quilt: Now for binding your wallhanging! Begin by sewing your binding pieces together at the short ends to create one continuous strip. I like to attach my pieces with a diagonal seam, by laying the ends on top of one another right sides together forming a right angle. Trim excess away from seams to a quarter inch seam allowance. Fold your binding in half lengthwise and press.

Attach your binding starting in the middle of one of the sides with the quilt top facing up. Fold end to form a forty-five degree angle, so that all raw edges will be concealed within the finished binding.

When approaching a corner, sew up until 3/8″ from the edge. Lift presser foot, and fold binding back at a forty-five degree angle to align with the corner.

Fold binding back over top of the forty-five degree fold and continue sewing starting right at the corner. Repeat these steps for the other three corners.

When you reach the starting point sew binding end 2″ past the beginning to conceal the raw end. Fold binding around quilt edge, and pin in place lining fold with stitch line on the reverse side. Slipstitch your binding to the back of the quilt.

This wall hanging would be great in a main living area, a bedroom, or even as decor for a whimsical nursery! Use the appliques to embellish other home decor or apparel!

Liking the content you see here on Britni Jade DIY? Make sure to subscribe to the email list and follow Britni Jade DIY on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest! Links are provided below!

Ready for your next project? Here are some tutorials on the blog I think you’ll like! Frame Flip tutorial: https://britnijade.com/frame-flip/, Macrame Wall Hanging: https://britnijade.com/macrame-wall-hanging-w-bones/, or the Spider Web Macrame: https://britnijade.com/spider-web-macrame/. Enjoy!