INSIDE: How to Make a Bewitching Halloween Spider Mini Quilt in an Afternoon
I have this unrealistic fantasy of one-day creating fabulous quilts, bags, wall hangings, and any number of things using up all of my sewing scraps. I occasionally dream of sewing them all together to form new fabrics that I’ll cut up into applique designs.
While I haven’t quite gotten around to creating a fully fleshed out plan on how to achieve this grandiose dream, I have made a teeny, tiny dent in my stash.
I’ve created the Bewitching Halloween Spider Mini Quilt, a super easy Halloween quilting project that makes good use of a few scraps and can be made in an afternoon.
How to Make a Bewitching Halloween Spider Mini Quilt in an Afternoon
Of course, y’all know I’m crazy about black and white. And, I’m also pretty fond of appliqué.
It started like this. One of our vehicles needed a repair which meant I was stuck at home without a car for two days. For a while, I have been wanting to create some sort of project with a Halloween theme. This would be the perfect opportunity to find a pdf pattern and sew something from scraps.
After searching online for a bit, I gave up because I couldn’t find anything that I liked. Most of the projects I came across were not my style or required fabric I didn’t have laying around. No car ~ no-go-to-store
Then I squashed a spider in my entry hall and inspiration came to me. I would appliqué a black spider onto a white background. It would match my style and I was sure I had enough fabric for a mini-quilt.
Hmmm. I thought it might be fun to create an improv spider by sewing some of my black fabrics together to create the appliqué fabric.
And that’s exactly what I did. I just started sewing the black and nearly black fabrics together until I had a piece large enough for my spider design. Then I ironed some fusible web to the back of the patched-together black fabric, traced the design, cut it out, and ironed it onto a piece of white-on-white fabric.
Click Here to Download the Spooky Spider Appliqué
Using a very small zigzag stitch I stitched around my spider. Nothing really difficult at all. For about half a second I considered doing some free motion stitching around my spider, but decided against this. Feel free to embellish your spider in any way ~ possibly even using orange thread.
I decided to do the quilting with a spider web design. I thought about using orange thread for the quilting but I wanted to stick to the whole black and white theme.
For my back, I had this piece of fabric left over from the Arrow Quilt. I also had a perfectly sized piece of wool batting that was sitting on a table.
All in all, it took me an afternoon to conceive the idea, create the design, appliqué, quilt, and bind. It was a great way to use scraps and make something fun. I know it’s not one of those projects that will grace the pages of a quilting magazine, however, I was looking for something that was simple and could be made in an afternoon
Mission accomplished.
Post Update:
Well, I spoke too soon. It turns out that this design was featured in the 2016 Better Homes & Gardens Holiday Crafts magazine.
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Subscribe to The Seasoned Homemaker for FREE and receive clever sewing tips, quilting inspiration, and a dash of this and that.
PLUS, I'll send you Chapter 1 from my eBook Appliqué Made Easy.
Fun mini plus almost instant gratification, my kind of project! Thanks for sharing!
That is a fabulous spider mini quilt! It looks just like our Black Widows and we`ve had a lot of them this year. Thank you for the tutorial!
How fun! What a cute Halloween idea!
Neat! I’m not into spiders, even for Halloween. I would like a bat. Hopefully I will have time to create one before Halloween. Thanks for the great ides. Your mini quilt does look great!
Very clever! Quilting the web is really a cute idea.
Love it! Classy and fun. Great job making the quilting a spider web. Love the black and white theme.
‘Love the improvising while car-less! What are dimensions of your creative spider piece?
I think it’s about 18″ x 18″. It’s now hanging in my daughter’s home so I can’t be exact. I used a fat quarter for the background, so you can make that a starting point.
Thanks!!! I really don’t like applique, but your tutorial really inspired me. I posted photos on my Pintrest page https://www.pinterest.com/pin/416090453050955455/
I used different size bowls to mark the spider web; after I stitched the “spokes” I made 3 circles using large bowls then used smaller bowls to make the connecting lines.
I love it! Especially since you added your own touch and experience.
I love this idea for an even smaller project such as Halloween pot holders! i’ve never done applique but this is inspiring me as an easy step into it!
What a fun quilt! It turned out so neat. Would love this for my house! Have a great week:)
I love it! and your quilting is perfect. xoxo
I soooo want this for a pillow for my 4yo son who loves spiderssss… :-<
This pattern will soon be in the Better Homes and Gardens Holiday Crafts magazine.
I love it! Do you have any tips on how to make the Web look so nice?
I will be updating the pattern to include better web instructions. This design is in the 2016 Better Homes and Gardens Holiday Crafts.
Congratulations on your success!!! I hope they pay you well
Do you quilt the quilt and THEN sew the spider on or see on the spider and then see the web ..?
Great question. When I originally made the quilt, I appliquéd the spider, then quilted. If I were remaking it, I would probably quilt first, then sew on the spider.
I wonder how it would look with a little trapunto on the spider’s thorax (?) .
This is adorable! Congratulations on getting into the BHG magazine – so exciting! I have to buy the magazine, if only to say, “This is from one of my favorite bloggers!” 🙂
Thank you…love the spider and little project.
Love this idea and quick projects are a nice break from big quilts and what a fun design. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for this quick, fun project Leslie! I am sharing my version of your Spooky Spider Mini-Quilt on my blog, giving you due credit and sharing the link to your post.
I loved making this quick, easy, and fun idea! Thank you.