Free Evolve Wall Hanging Appliqué Pattern

Hello friends, and welcome to a very fun, fresh take on raw-edge appliqué! Making this wall hanging appliqué pattern was a last-minute decision after receiving a lot of requests from you at QuiltCon 2024 and in the comments of this Aurifil announcement post.

When I initially designed and made this it was purely with the intention of trying out my new 8wt thread and sewing a quilt sample to reflect the packaging design of that thread. As some of you may know, I went to school and worked as a professional graphic designer for many years before starting Suzy Quilts and pivoting to textile design.

I have a passion for bold graphics and consistent company branding. I think not only can branding be beautiful, it can also be multi-faceted and interactive. So on that note, I'm excited to share this FREE Evolve wall hanging appliqué pattern with you!

Evolve Wall Hanging Appliqué Inspiration & Design

As I mentioned before, the design for this wall hanging appliqué pattern is pulled from the packaging design of my new 8wt thread with Aurifil. Here's a photo of that so you can see what I mean.

This is a 20-spool set that coordinates perfectly with my fabric collections for Art Gallery Fabrics — Duval, Signature Solids, and Evolve. You can see some of the motifs in the packaging are pulled directly from Duval and Evolve.

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Here is my daughter, Joanna, showing off her Boho Birds Snapdragon dress from Duval.

And this Thrive quilt uses fabric from Evolve — which showcases even more of the design elements used in the packaging.

The Aurifil booth at QuiltCon is where the wall hanging first made its appearance. Above is a photo of me holding my Evolve appliqué wall hanging sideways...oops!

Another very exciting thing I got to do while at QuiltCon was share about the making of this quilt in a Go Tell It video through The Quilt Alliance. Through our Suzy Quilts Gives Back program, we are proud supporters of The Quilt Alliance and it felt incredibly special to be able to participate in what they do on a personal level.

Oh, and I was 34 weeks pregnant with baby #3 here...

Evolve Wall Hanging Appliqué Pattern Supplies

• Evolve Wall Hanging Appliqué pattern templates
• Pellon Wonder Under Fusible Web 805
• Appliqué pieces - FQs of the following fabrics: Suzy Quilts Signature Solid Poppy, Spiced, Queen Bee, Matcha, Hemlock, Honeymoon, Haze NOTE: You could use scraps of fabrics and even get away with using FEs if you're careful. You will have leftover fabric from the FQs.
• Background - 2 yd. Suzy Quilts Signature Solid Truffle
• Evolve 8wt thread collection by Suzy Quilts for Aurifil (includes 20 colors)
• Clover Gold Eye Embroidery Needles
• Leather thimble (I use a size small - they stretch as they are used)
• Snips
• Water soluble marker
• Light fabric chalk (this is because the water soluble marker doesn't show up well on the dark Truffle fabric.
• Quilting ruler and rotary cutter or fabric scissors
• Batting - I wanted my appliqué to really POP, so I opted for a high-loft wool batting. However, this is the trickiest batting to hand quilt with for two reasons:
  1. It can beard a little bit so you need to use a sharp needle and just pick off the bearding as it happens. 2. Because it's a high-loft batting it is harder to pull the needle through all of the fabric layers. If you are new to appliqué and hand quilting, choose a low-loft batting like cotton or bamboo.
  
  Actually, now that I think about it, a great option would be black batting if you are OK with using a synthetic material.
• Spray Bottle for water
• Safety Pins

How to Make the Evolve Wall Hanging Appliqué Pattern

One big reason I am choosing to post this pattern for free on our blog rather than releasing it as a pattern for purchase is because to make this, you need a moderate amount of sewing skills. We have free tutorials here on the blog that cover every aspect of making this wall hanging, however because I'm 36 weeks pregnant, I don't have the capacity to offer the amount of help many people in our community will need to make this project.

So with that said, let's dive in and make a fabulous appliqué wall hanging! Just don't ask any follow-up questions. 😉 Just kidding! Kind of...

Step 1: Prepare the Appliqué Pieces

This wall hanging appliqué pattern uses the raw-edge appliqué technique. I did this to save time (it's A LOT faster than needle-turn appliqué) and I knew it wouldn't be getting touched and washed very much since it's a wall hanging. (As you know, raw edges like to fray the more they are handled.)

1. With your water soluble marker, trace the outline of your templates onto the right side of your fabric. (We are working with solid fabrics, so there technically is no right or wrong side.)
   NOTE! I actually never printed any of these templates. I just made sure they were 100% to-scale on my computer screen, held my fabric up to my screen, and traced them that way.
2. On the wrong side of your fabric, iron the textured side of your fusible webbing. Make sure there is webbing on all of your appliqué pieces.
3. Peel off the paper and cut out your shape precisely.
4. Set the pieces aside in a safe place where they won't get wet or be touched.

Step 2: Prepare the Background of the Appliqué Wall Hanging

I didn't make my wall hanging in this order, but after doing it once I think this is a better way to go. I originally fused my appliqué pieces to the background fabric and then made my quilt sandwich. However, since I am flipping and stuffing my quilt sandwich quite a bit to avoid using binding, some of my appliqué pieces came off in the process.

I'm just telling you this so you don't get confused when you see in the pictures that things are in a different order. Below is a closeup of the edging of my wall hanging. I finished it like I finish my table runners.

We will be following this table runner tutorial.

1. Cut two 31" x 31" squares of Solid Truffle fabric and one 31" x 31" square of batting. I think the simplest way to do this is to stack all three on top of each other on your cutting mat and cut them at the same time. You can use a measuring tape and your water soluble marker to draw guides and then either scissors or a rotary cutter to cut along the guides. Below is a video on cutting large pieces of fabric.
2. Stack your layers in this order: batting on the bottom then the two layers of solid fabric on top — giving you three layers (top, middle, and back).
3. Pin around the edges, leaving a hole large enough for your hand on one side.
4. Sew a 1/2-inch around the perimeter of the wall hanging, pivoting at the corners, and backstitching where you start and stop.
5. Trim the pointy parts off the corners to alleviate excess bulk.
6. Put your hand through the hole and pull your wall hanging inside out – like a sock!
7. Press the edges with an iron to get them as flat as possible then pin them down. You may need to put extra pins in the hole area so it stays closed.
8. After fusing your appliqué pieces to this background fabric, you will secure the edges with a hand quilted topstitch.

Just to remind you, I did Steps 2 and 3 in opposite order when I made this, but you can still see in the photo above how I pinned my edges before topstitching.

Step 3: Mark a Grid on the Background Fabric

Using your light-colored chalk, mark vertical and horizontal lines every 7 1/2". It will look like this...

Step 4: Layout and Fuse the Appliqué Pieces

Using the lines of the grid as a guide, place your appliqué pieces on the background fabric. It's OK if it's not exactly the same as mine. The main visual is the circle these shapes make, so before sewing them down, just make sure your pieces form a roundish shape.

I chose to do this at my ironing board with the picture set up in front of me. Once I got a section in place I would fuse it down so I could move on to the next part without all of the appliqué pieces falling on the floor.

How to Fuse Raw-Edge Appliqué

I'm going to let you in on a little secret I learned through trial and error. I still think following the fusible webbing instructions is a good idea, BUT I found that spraying water directly on the appliqué pieces you wish to fuse down is quicker and more effective than using a damp pressing cloth. So here are the Suzy Quilts instructions. Follow at your own risk...

1. After you've laid your appliqué pieces in place, and removed the paper backing, lightly spray a little mist over the fabric. When I say lightly, I mean LIGHTLY. I think this is why the instructions tell people to use a damp pressing cloth. It's because they don't trust people to use a little mist rather than drenching the fabric. But I trust you! SPRAY LIGHTLY!!
2. Change the heat setting on your iron to wool/silk. Or if you only have numbers from 1-10 with 10 being the hottest, change it to a 7.
3. Gently place the iron directly on the appliqué piece and hold it there for about 4 seconds, then slowly start moving it around so the fabric doesn't burn.
4. Before shifting your wall hanging to work on the next section, check to make sure all of your pieces are, in fact, secured down.

There's my coordinating Evolve sticker making a sneaky appearance on my water bottle.

Step 5: Baste Around the Appliqué Pieces with Safety Pins

This will help your three layers stay in place while you're hand sewing.

Step 6: Sew a Topstitch Around the Perimeter of the Wall Hanging

You can do this with your sewing machine or by hand. I chose to do it by hand so visibly there would only be hand stitching on my wall hanging. Just remember that these stitches will be seen so use a thread color that blends.

I used the dark velvet color (2345) seen below.

Step 7: Hand-Stitch the Appliqué Pieces in Place

Typically when hand quilting I can grab multiple stitches at a time before pulling my needle through. Because of the curving shapes and angles of these appliqué pieces, I mostly just kept to one stitch at a time. This ain't a speedy process!

For a full tutorial on hand quilting, visit How To Hand Quilt. Here is a tutorial video.

Sometimes I matched the thread to the fabric, and sometimes I used a coordinating thread that matched the fabric next to it. When making mine, I chose to add echoing decorative stitches to the negatives spaces as I was sewing down the appliqué pieces, but if you have the patiences, I recommend waiting until all of your appliqué pieces are secured to the wall hanging before getting fancy.

I say this just because you don't want to run the risk of a dog or child or strong breeze messing up your appliqué pieces before they get the chance to be locked into their correct place.

I also want to mention that I made this process easier by not popping my knots AND by fully ignoring what the back of this Evolve wall hanging was going to look like. I mean, it's going to hang on a wall! Who cares?

So I hopped around and sewed multiple pieces down without snipping my thread and rethreading my needle. Here's a pic of the back to show you. I actually kind of love how wild it is.

Step 8: Add Decorative Stitching

This is where you can have a lot of fun. Play with thread colors! Add stitches here and there and anywhere you think they would look good. My one suggestion is that you hop all around the quilt while doing this so no one area becomes more densely stitched than another.

If you want to add stitching in the corners like I did, here is the design I followed. Below is a link to the PDF of the entire design. Make sure you are tracing the templates to-scale. I reused a lot of the same shapes too.

Evolve Wall Hanging Appliqué Pattern PDF - 100% To-Scale

As you can see in this pic, to get just the stitching of the shapes without the actual appliqué as a guide, I cut out paper, pinned it in place, then stitched around it.

And that's it! You're finished whenever you feel like being finished. 🙂 What do you think about this Evolve wall hanging appliqué pattern? Will you give it a try?

Even if you don't feel up for making a full wall hanging, what I love about appliqué is that you can just do a little bit here and there to jazz something up! Clothes, bags, pillows — whatever! And this 8wt Evolve thread collection is the perfect companion.

If you do make this and post to social media, be sure to tag @suzyquilts and use #suzyquiltsblog and/or #suzyquiltsfabric so we can see your beautiful work!