Cute Quilt-As-You-Go Appliqué Monsters – Craftsy Class Review

I’m so excited to share this project with you – a monster face quilt top! The pattern is designed by Wendi Gratz of Shiny Happy World and a part of an online Craftsy class, which gives you the pattern and accompanying video tutorials for how to make it. She sent me a free review copy of the class, but all opinions are my own and honest.

This quilt is included in my list of 25+ fun quilts to sew for kids, if you need more ideas!

When Wendi emailed me back at the end of summer about her new class Cute Quilt-As-You-Go Appliqué Monsters*, I was immediately on board because the monsters are adorable and it’s well documented that I love projects that use up scraps! I didn’t want to make an entire quilt, so I thought I’d make a floor pillow or maybe a soft baby book with their faces. Once I started, I couldn’t stop so I kept sewing along until I had a full “napping” size quilt top.

I made the squares with quilting cotton but all of the monsters are actually knit fabric scraps (more ideas on how to use up knit scraps in this post). I do a ton of upcycling for my kids’ clothes, leaving me with large chunks of tshirts that aren’t small enough to shred but not large enough for another shirt. It was so much fun, pawing through my bins of scraps and remembering the outfits they came from. I don’t blog all the clothes I make, lots of them are pretty un-noteworthy, but the monster above was made from this fun ‘Milk’ graphic t’s scraps.

Those polka dots are made with cotton velour, super soft to touch. If you aren’t familiar with the term “quilt as you go” it means literally just that – you quilt each square to the backing by itself, then applique, then attach all the squares to one another. I’d never tried QAYG before, but it was amazing to use up all my batting scraps on top of the knit fabric scraps! This method is also ideal for beginners or folks in a small sewing space.

I really love the “under/over bite” option that is shared in the class – there is something so delightfully impish about this monster’s expression! Cutting all out these faces is so easy when you trace the patterns on to Wonder Under or Heat’n Bond Lite.

Adding stripes in was a no-brainer, I love them.

Normally I am all about the brights, but decided to tone this down a little and use all neutrals for the background since I’ll be gifting the finished quilt. There are a ton of different options for making the faces, with teeth and ears and different size eyes/mouth; I tried to keep some sense of consistency, using the same shape of mouth on most of them.

That purple stripe is from a pair of pants that my son wore holes in, they’ve since been patched and my daughter is wearing them! I found that pink fur in a random Goodwill Outlet bin (they aren’t like normal Goodwills, see the difference here!) and also added some random pom-pom trim behind the orange monster’s face.

I love how it turned out! I tried a few of the 3D elements and mixed in different fabric choices for a really funky quilt that has lots to touch and feel.  I’m going to pair this with a movie gift card and some popcorn as a family gift – so much better than some toys, right. My kids absolutely loved the monster faces, so I saved all the scraps in a bag in the hopes of making one for our family soon.

I love how it turned out! I bound the edges in a simple grey and used Nature-Fil batting, buying a big bolt off Amazon* made it less than $5 a yard! I backed it with cuddle fleece from Shiny Happy World (Wendi is also the designer of this quilt pattern) and it made it SO thick and cozy. I sat underneath it while I hand sewed the binding and couldn’t believe what a difference the fleece backing made in terms of weight and warmth.

I included one of my favorite labels, because it is true. This is my third quilt (first one here that I made for my husband, and second one here that I made for my mother-in-law) and I was still surprised at how long it took to finish!

You can see the “model” quilt above, from the class, it is so fun! Wendi was much more adventurous in her quilting patterns, as you can see, and I’d love to work up to some of the more free-motion-esque designs.

I’ve never reviewed a Craftsy course before; this is actually the first/only one that I’ve watched all the way through! I downloaded all the episodes so I could watch on our Ipad during a road trip (while my husband drove), which worked really well.

What’s included in Cute Quilt-As-You-Go Appliqué Monsters! :

Six separate segments: 1. Quilt As You Go Blocks – 2. Making Monsters – 3.Pieced QAYG  – 4. 3D Effects – 5. Unique Fabrics – 6. Sashing & Finishing. There are printable templates for all the monster faces, a supply list, and then an easy interface to ask Wendi questions or other classmates. Scanning the project gallery* gives lots of visual inspiration, seeing what others have made.

Positives

• If I wasn’t writing this as a review, I admit I probably would’ve skimmed the videos and just used the patterns, since I knew how to applique. I would’ve missed out on a lot of valuable information that she covered, looking at color theory, contrast, and warmth in fabric choices – all things I have heard before but it was helpful to see them with examples and in the context of this project.
• There are a ton of examples for each step, which I love.
• She also uses the term “straightish” which is an apt description of almost all my sewing.

Negatives

• I wish the monster face shapes were organized differently, and labeled – while it doesn’t *matter* if something is an eye vs. a tooth, etc. I wanted to know. Different size pupils are squeezed in around other shapes, which is great for saving paper (something I really appreciate) but not as great for my style of applique assembly.