Crackle – Michael Miller Flower Fairies
We created this project as Michael Miller Brand Ambassadors. We are provided fabric collections and then get to create whatever we can imagine from them!
Whenever we get a new box of fabric from Michael Miller, it’s like Christmas morning. We know what collections we could get before it arrives, but we don’t know which one we will receive. When we opened this box of fabric last month from Michael Miller, my 4 year old immediately claimed them! Flower Fairies designed by Frederick Warne is a whole pile of adorableness and perfect for my pink, fancy, fairy loving child.
We immediately knew what quilt we wanted to create. When we have fabric that has big prints we want to show off, Crackle is our top choice! Due to the large pieces, you don’t have to worry about your print getting cut up into tiny unrecognizable pieces.
One of my favorite things about this collection is the variety of scale in the fabric. The variation of larger fairies and flowers, paired with smaller flowers and butterflies provides lots of opportunities and keeps things interesting!
We love sewing up Crackle because it looks complicated, but there are no y seams, we promise! All the templates are included in the pattern so you can easily cut the necessary sizes without having to worry about angles on the ruler. This is a fairly quick pattern, just be mindful of those bias edges from the 45 degree angles and use pins!
I quilted this quilt using large wavy feathers. When I do feathers all over like this, I alternate the direction of the feather so that they nest nicely as I move across the quilt. This design is quilted in rows, similar to how I did our Easy Vines quilting design a few weeks ago.
For binding, we opted to use the stripes in the collection. The stripe here is soft and colorful and dainty, and oh so perfect. We’ve admired lots of striped bindings, but hadn’t yet used one ourselves and it was way overdue. I can now see why they are so popular. Definitely expect to see lots more in our future!
Along with the fabric, Flower Fairies includes an adorable panel featuring 8 different fairies. Each fairy highlights a different flower and has a matching poem! I decided to make a big pile of throw pillows to match the quilt. My daughter carried around the panel for a week before I got around to cutting it up and finishing the pillows. I envision many days of book snuggling and pretend play happening with all those designs.
When making the pillows, I tried sewing the backs onto them while still on my longarm. This is a genius idea I saw from Handiquilter and I’m sold! If you want to see how I did it, check out our Instagram profile under IGTV. I used a simple envelope back. I love making envelope backs as there are no zippers or buttons to mess with.
After we got everything put together, I decided we needed pillowcases to match. I couldn’t dress up a bed with a new quilt and throw pillows if the main pillows didn’t coordinate! We used the burrito method and where has this been all my life?!?! I’ve heard of it, but never tried it. After how quick and easy it was, I think EVERYONE is getting new pillowcases. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, look for a tutorial on it in the future.
You can find the pattern to make your own Crackle quilt in our shop!
We can’t wait to share our next project. Until then, Happy Quilting!
Kimie and Missy
