Deco Foil United States Map Quilting Project

When I was first approached about making this foiled USA quilt, I thought it was crazy. The finished quilt is nearly 4 feet by 5 feet, and required overlapping multiple pieces of Deco Foil™. But it turned out AMAZING. I’m so thrilled with how it all came together!

To make this quilt, I used the Indygo Junction Modern America Pattern. This is a MUST for making all the shapes of the states. I didn’t take photos of the entire process, but it isn’t difficult (just tedious!).

I started by deciding the color I was going to make each state, and coloring it on a mini paper version of the quilt. Then I traced each state on the right color foil.

Okay, I didn’t trace. Because the foil isn’t see-through. I placed each state on TOP of the correct color foil, and then traced the design pressing HARD. Then I removed the paper, and was able to see the lines – I re-traced them with a sharpie.

Once I had them all traced, I cut out all states from the paper (leaving the Deco Foil to the side for the moment), then taped them all together to make the shape of the whole USA. I used this as a template for making the adhesive layer.

The Deco Foil™ Hot Melt Adhesive doesn’t come in a large enough sheet to make the whole USA, so I had to put pieces together. I peeled up the edge of each piece of Hot Melt Adhesive, separating the paper from the adhesive. Then I slipped another sheet between the two layers, and pressed back down.

I finger-pressed the layers together,and added a little washi tape to the paper side, just for good measure.

Once I had a piece of adhesive large enough, I cut it the shape of the whole USA, and fused it onto my background fabric. Then I started placing the states.

These are taped together to hold them in place. The outer edges don’t need to be cut to size, because they will only adhere where there is adhesive. Where two states touch, the bottom layer is cut on the traced line, and the top layer overlaps. This prevents there from being any gaps in the foil.

I fused the whole thing all at once. You can’t go back and fuse a second time, so make sure your iron is HOT and really get a good fuse going.

Then I let it cool overnight, and came back in the morning to peel away the foil backing, leaving the foil.

The finished foil wasn’t perfect – this is a lot of foil, and I was expecting a few flaws. Luckily, the dense quilting hid most of them. I pebble quilted over the foil, which completely transformed it! It went from looking like a flat mirror to looking like a dimensional mirrored ball – so much more fun!

When quilting, I had to remove adhesive from my needle fairly regularly. The Deco Foil™ Hot Melt Adhesive Sheets leaves a residue, and too much on the needle can cause the thread to fray and break. I used rubbing alcohol, and it came right off. After I finished the quilt, I cleaned out the hook system (where the bobbin lives), and there was plenty of residue there as well, but it was easily cleaned away with a cotton swab and some rubbing alcohol.

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