Quilted Stained Glass Flower

Would you like to learn how to make a quilted stained glass quilt flower project? This little flower doesn’t take long to make and is a good way to see if you like this technique.

When I shared the Stained Glass Quilted Heart Flower wall hanging the other day, several of you asked for a tutorial on how I did it. There are many different ways to make a stained glass quilt, this is just a quick way I did it.

Quilted Stained Glass Flower

Supplies

• Black batik – 1/2 yard for the front, back, and binding
• Scraps of batiks for the flower and leaves
• Light blue batik for the background – one fat quarter batik
• Batting
• Heat n Bond Lite
• Thread – I’m using Aurifil 50wt
• 80/12 Schmetz needle
• Stained Glass Flower template

Tracing the stained glass pieces

The first thing to do is print out the stained glass flower template. I first printed mine in color but then switched to the black and white copy.

I am using painter’s tape to secure the template to my table so I can place the Heat n Bond Lite over the top of it and trace the design. There is a rough side (the adhesive) and a smooth side to the Heat n Bond Lite. Use a pencil and trace on the smooth side.

What I did wrong

I did a couple of things wrong when I was making this.

• I should have made a template with the flower reversed
• That way when the pieces were cut out, they could be laid on top of the template that was in color and they would match
• I didn’t label each piece

This is the way the template should have looked. It is reversed and I have labeled the sections. I didn’t label the flower as I figured it was pretty each to see what goes where.

Cutting out the stained glass pieces

Once I had the template pieces traced, I trimmed around them. For the flower, I traced both flowers at once and then I carefully cut out the center and outer flower. I had some perfect colors of batiks in my stash that I could use.

I even some of the green stripe I had used for the border of the stained glass heart flower wall hanging.

Iron on the fabric adhesive

You want to leave a little space around the cutting lines. Then when you cut out the shapes, the fabric adhesive will go right to the edge of the piece and help with fraying. I used Heat n Bond Lite, be sure to read the instructions for it or any other fabric adhesive you use. Glue would also work. You have to be very careful not to add too much heat, if you do your fabric will become like plastic. I applied heat for 2 seconds.

Creating the Stained Glass look

After you cut out your pieces, remove the fabric adhesive backing and then lay each piece on top of the template so you know where each one goes.

Since the background is black, you can’t use a light box to see where to put the pieces. I just eyeballed it by starting with the top light blue pieces and trying to leave about an ¼-inch space. As you can see, mine aren’t perfect.

Mistake #2

The template is 8½-inches by 11-inches so I cut the black background batik a couple of inches bigger all around.

It would have been smarter to cut the background piece 9-inches x 11½-inches (adding a ¼-inch all around) and then add a border. This would have made it much easier to line up the light blue pieces.

I also didn’t pay attention and my sides aren’t even which created a problem when I went to trim the finished piece.

Fuse the pieces of the stained glass

Once you have all of the pieces laid out, carefully iron them down. My stained glass quilt is a mirror image which meant I had to be careful picking the correct pieces especially around the top of the leaves. It will be much easier for you now that I have mirrored the template.

Stitching the stained glass pieces

Next you’ll stitch along the outside of each piece of the stained glass quilt design using a straight stitch on your sewing machine.

I am using my old 15-91 Singer which has a narrow foot. I just kept the edge of the foot along the edge of the pieces. You can still sew this close to the edge with a regular foot, just go slowly. You could also zigzag along the edge if you like.

Finish the stained glass flower

Add your backing and batting and then using black thread, stitch around each of the template pieces.

Back to mistake #2

This is where I wish I had added a border or been more careful arranging the stained glass pieces. There is no way I could trim the piece ¼-inch and then add the binding.

I left about ½-inch around the piece and then added my binding and stitched it by machine.

Stipple quilting

I also decided to add some free motion stipple quilting to the light blue pieces. Here is a photo of the back of the quilted stained glass flower.

The quilted Stained Glass Flower mini quilt isn’t perfect but it shows you how to make a quilt project like this.

Different ways to get a stained glass effect

Paper piecing – this will always give you the perfect stained glass look. I have a love/hate relationship with this type of work. Paper piecing something like this is very tedious, I’m more of a “get it done and move on to the next quilt”. LOL

Satin stitch – this is another way you could create the look. You could easily place your pieces right next to each other and use a wide satin stitch for the effect.

Bias tape – I have seen beautiful work done with narrow black bias tape, in fact I have some in my stash, along with a little iron and several bias tape makers.

Sashing – Adding black sashing to quilt blocks is my favorite way to create the stained glass quilt look. I have made several quilts using my Scattered pattern this way.

An easier stained glass flower design

Would you like an easier flower design? I have included the templates for this in the ad-free printable version.

I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial! This blog post has been converted to an optional PDF that’s optimized for printing.

Purchase an ad-free printable version of the Quilted Stained Glass Flower tutorial in my shop. The photos have been reduced in size and the tutorial is 10 pages long and includes full-size templates for both designs.

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