Sharktopus Crossing Quilted Sign Pattern free from TheBoredZombie.com Supplies 1 yard of construction yellow fabric and matching thread 3/4 yard of black fabric and matching thread 1 yard of paper backed fusible web Small sharp scissors General Sewing Supplies Printed Shaktopus template (If you d like your sign to say XING, print pages 7 14. If you d like your sign to say WARNING print pages 7 12 and 15 17) Assumptions This pattern assumes you are familiar with raw edge applique and Free Motion Quilting. There are some tips and suggestions, but it is not written for an absolute beginner. I ve included some references and links with more information though the pattern for newbies to raw edge applique. Google searching Raw Edge Applique will also return several tutorials and videos. Design process and other fun tidbits I tried to keep this pattern straight forward and quick to consume. If you d like to know more about where I got the idea, some of the design iterations, or my thoughts on monster movies in general, check out my blog post about this pattern! Contact Me! I m Susan from TheBoredZombie.com. I love to hear all of your feedback and I love to see your projects! Email me anytime at susandowenby@gmail.com or find me on social media (facebook.com/theboredzombie Instagram.com/theboredzombie) Sharktopus Crossing is a free quilt pattern provided by Susan Owenby at TheBoredZombie.com under a creative commons attribution license for personal use only. Susan loves it when you use it and share it, just remember to link back to TheBoredZomibe.com or mention Susan when you share! Thank you!
CUT BACKROUND FABRIC With the yard of fabric still folded selvage to selvage, cut 10 off and save it for binding. Cut the fold away as near to the fold as possible leaving you with (1) 10 x WOF and (2) 26 x ~21 PREPARING THE TEMPLATE The applique template prints to the finished size across several pieces of plain 8.5 x 11 paper. The red grid lines are there to help put the templates pieces together in the right places and keep everything square. Trim the margins off the paper using the end of the red grid lines as the edges of the template. Place the pieces together to create the whole image using the grid lines and the image lines as placement guides. Use a few small pieces of clear tape to tack them into place. Note: The size of Sharktopus and the word required at least three rows of paper. Rather than have the last row with just a few inches of the design, I created a fair amount of overlap between each section leaving virtually no room for error.
TRANSFER TO FUSIBLE WEB Tape your printed and assembled template to a stable surface. Place the yard of paper backed fusible web over the template paper side up and tack it down with tape. Trace the contour lines of Sharktopus and your letters directly on to the paper using a permanent marker. Do not trace the red alignment lines, they are only for lining up the template Pro Tip: I made these lines wide and dense so they could be seen easily through the fusible web. I traced on the outside side of the lines to make sure Sharktopus was as large as possible. Also This was drawn in Adobe Photoshop with a mouse, not the most amazing graphical tool for this type of project. Because of that, some of the lines are a bit shaky. Don t be afraid to smooth them out as you trace them or add your own details if you d like.
FUSE THAT SHARKTOPUS Before fusing your Sharktopus, be sure to remove any tape that may be on your fusible web, your iron won t like it! Following the manufacturer of the fusible web s instructions, fuse your web to the back of your black fabric. Cut along your traced lines including the centers of the tentacles. Pro Tip: Scissors matter! Small sharp tipped scissors will help immensely in the sharp turns and tiny spaces. Carefully remove the paper from the fusible web and place Sharktopus and the letters on the background fabric. More than likely, you can see through the yellow fabric. If you work on a cutting mat, you can use the grid on the cutting mat through the fabric to get your letters centered and Sharktopus centered. If not, consider trimming your paper template around the outside edge of the Sharkopus and the bottom of the letters and use to get the placement exact. Once you have Sharktopus and the letters where you want them, fuse them to the background following the manufacturer s instructions. SEW THE EDGES Sew around all of the raw edges to permanently affix Sharktopus to his background. There are many choices in stitch style for this step. I like to use a zig zag stitch with an open toed foot and a lightweight tear away stabilizer. I keep the zig zag fairly skinny (2.5) and short (.9). You can read tons more about my approach on this previous blog post.
CUT TO SIZE AND ADD BORDERS The inside of the Sharktopus sign should be cut 16.5 x 22.5. Again, you can use the see through property of the yellow to square and center him by placing it on the cutting mat. If you cannot see through the fabric to your mat though the fabric, you ll want to cut roughly.75 from the bottom of the letters and the top of his nose and.5 from the right tip of his nose and the left tip of the leftmost tentacle. Measure, measure, measure, double check and measure again then cut. Cut two 1.5 x [actual length of long sides] from the black fabric and sew them on to the right and left sides of the yellow background fabric. Cut two 1.5 x [actual length of the short sides including side black borders] from the black fabric and sew them to the top and bottom. Note: For the black borders, I m not giving you the length of the strips to cut. If everything went really well, the long sides should be 22.5 and the short sides with border should be 18 If not, no biggie, cut it to what you have. QUILT AS DESIRED Use the remaining large yellow piece of fabric for the backing and quilt sharktopus and the sign as desired. BINDING and hanging Cut three strips from the 10 x WOF piece of yellow fabric. The size is your preference I did 2.25 straight cut single fold. There is plenty of fabric for 2.5 if you prefer. This is a small piece, I added two corner hangers and two tabs near the center with leftover bits of yellow fabric. Any hanging sleeve or tabs will do.