Modern Christmas Tree Wall Hanging

Even though it’s less than 2 weeks until Christmas, there’s still time to make one or two last-minute gifts. I want to share a quick little Modern Christmas Tree wall hanging that you can make with your Janome MC9450 and fabric scraps you probably already have around from other projects you’ve been working on.

To start, you’ll need a rectangular piece of background fabric. I used white fabric and cut it 7½” x 14½”, but you can choose whatever size and fabric colour you wish. You’ll also want to have 5 strips of green fabric, varying in width from about 1” to 1½” and approximately 3” to 8” in length. These will be the tree branches and the longest strip will be at the bottom, working up to the shortest at the top of the tree. You’ll also want to free cut a star from gold fabric for the treetop. Cut a tree trunk from brown fabric which will be placed partially under the bottom green strip. You may need to change these measurements if your background fabric is a different size.

 

You’ll want to add at least one border. I cut mine 2” wide, but again, if you use a different size background fabric, you may want to adjust this width. Measure the width and length of your background fabric and cut your borders using this measurement.

Add your borders to the sides and top and bottom of your background fabric. I find the HP2 foot on the Janome MC9450 is perfect for this type of stitching. Be sure to have the HP needle plate installed and activate the AcuFeed Flex system.

Next, arrange your appliqué pieces on the background fabric. When you are satisfied with the arrangement of these pieces, use a glue stick or other temporary fabric adhesive to affix them to the background fabric.

If you’ve been using the HP2 foot and HP needle plate on the Janome MC9450, you’ll want to change out your foot and needle plate (use the zigzag needle plate) so you can use a blanket or other decorative stitch to finish the raw edges of the appliqué pieces. I used one of the appliqué stitches on the Janome MC9450 to do this and the F2 foot as it gives me great visibility. Now comes the fun part!

The Janome MC9450 comes with Stitch Composer software that allows you to make your own decorative stitches. I used this program to create two new designs that resemble Christmas tree lights and Christmas ornaments. It didn’t take long to create these stitches and I then transferred them from the Stitch Composer program to the Janome MC9450 via USB stick. If you are interested in learning how to use the Stitch Composer software, check out my Stitch Composer Basics course.

These new stitches show up under “Created Stitches” in the stitch groupings.

I used Madeira silver metallic thread to stitch these onto the background fabric between the green fabric strips so they look like decorations and lights on the Christmas tree.

I used a metallic needle to do this and Janome pre-wound bobbins. The Madeira thread stitched these teeny tiny stitches beautifully and using the Janome pre-wound bobbins saved me time and worked so well with this type of thread. Check with your local Janome dealer to purchase Madeira thread and the Janome pre-wound bobbins.

The next step is to use the pillowcase method to put the top, batting and backing together before quilting. I also added some rod pockets at the same time so I would be able to hang my wall hanging easily. If you don’t know how to do these methods, you can find information on them on my YouTube channel.

Once the project corners are clipped and it is turned right side out, the final step is to quilt the wall hanging. I used the HP2 foot, HP needle plate, and AcuFeed Flex system on the Janome MC9450 to stitch 1/8” in from the outside edge of the project, being sure to completely stitch the open area closed. I then stitched in the ditch between the background fabric and the border and then added free motion quilting swirls to the interior of the design.

It’s that easy to make this quick Modern Christmas Tree wall hanging with the Janome MC9450, Stitch Composer software, and Madeira thread.

I hope you have some fabric scraps left over from your gift making frenzy that will be perfect to create your own Modern Christmas Tree project.

Happy creating from Kim Jamieson-Hirst, a Janome Canada Artisan in Calgary, Alberta.