Landscape Quilts – How to Construct a Landscape Fabric Collage

Sep 27, 2010
Christine Mann

Layer Landscape Quilt Fabrics from Back to Front - Photo by Flickr.com User Zephrene, CC License

Step-by-step instructions for starching, cutting, layering and gluing the fabrics on a landscape fabric collage.

Once you have a landscape quilt design and a map of the quilt, it’s time to put the fabric collage together. This article shows you how to cut, layer, and glue the fabric elements onto a landscape quilt.

Supply List for Constructing a Landscape Quilt

The supplies for layering and sewing a landscape fabric collage are simple:

white or off-white muslin fabric for the foundation
lghtweight fusible interfacing such as Pellon or Heat n’ Bond
variety of colored fabrics for landscape quilt elements.
(optional) spray starch to stiffen the landscape elements and make them easier to cut.
fusible web or repositionable spray glue such as 505, Easy Tack, or Elmers, or fabric glue such as Aleene’s Tacky Glue, or a fabric glue stick.
(optional) quilter’s safety pins for pin basting the landscape quilt.
rotary cutter
sharp scissors for cutting small or detailed fabric pieces.
sewing machine with free-motion capability (feed dogs that can be dropped.)

Create a Muslin Canvas for the Landscape Quilt

This involves three steps:

Use a rotary cutter to cut a piece of muslin about an inch (2.5 cm) larger on all sides than the quilt’s image area. (Borders will be added later, if you want them.)
Cut a piece of fusible interfacing the same size as the muslin.
Use a dry iron to press the interfacing to the back of the muslin. The interfacing stiffens the foundation fabric and improves the quality of your stitches later, when you sew the fabrics together or use stitching to embellish the landscape.

If you have a quilt design wall, put the foundation fabric up on the wall to lay out the quilt. This gives you the most accurate view of how the quilt will look when it is finished. If you don’t have a design wall, lay the foundation fabric on a flat work surface.

Cut the Fabrics for Fabric Collage Elements

Quilt fabrics are much easier to cut and work with if you starch them first. The starch stiffens the fabric and makes it easier to cut. To starch a fabric, put down a piece of cardboard or newspaper to protect the work surface, then spray the fabric with starch until it is wet through but not dripping. Let dry, then repeat. Starch each fabric 2-3 times for maximum stiffness.

Once the fabric is starched, cut out the pieces either with scissors or with a rotary cutter, using your quilt pattern as a guide.

Glue the Landscape Fabrics to the Foundation Fabric

There are three different ways to glue the landscape fabrics to the quilt base:

Ironing fusible web to the backs of the landscape fabrics, then fusing the landscape elements to the foundation. This method makes a stiffer quilt than the other gluing methods. Learn the basics of fusing applique elements to a quilt.
Spraying the backs of the landscape fabrics with a repositionable spray glue and sticking them temporarily to the foundation fabric, then basting them with safety pins or a sewing machine.
Glueing the fabric pieces with a tacky glue such as Alene’s or a fabric glue stick, then basting the layers with safety pins or a sewing machine.

Layer the Landscape Elements on the Background Fabrics

Arrange the background fabrics on the foundation fabric, using your quilt pattern as a guide. Work in one direction -- either moving from from the top of the quilt to the bottom, or from the bottom to the top. Layer the fabrics from the back (more distant elements) to the front.

Once you like the way the quilt looks, you’re ready to secure the fabrics in place by basting if you used fabric glue, or to fuse the fabrics in place with a hot iron if you used fusible webbing.