How to Create a Floral Collage Quilt of Your Favorite Pet

If you’re itching to stitch something truly one-of-a-kind, why not turn your favorite furball into a fabulous floral quilt? Creating a collage quilt is a playful, rewarding project that combines fabric applique with fussy cutting to bring out the unique personality of your pet—no fancy art degree required! In this tutorial, I'll walk you through the steps to make a floral collage quilt, much like the one I made of my Shiba Inu, Rocky, who now gets to look adorable in fabric form all day long.

My Inspiration from Susan Carlson

I have to give credit where it’s due—my love for collage quilting started when I stumbled upon the work of the fabulous Susan Carlson. Susan’s quilts are like masterpieces with fabric "brushstrokes," and each piece looks like it could walk right off the wall (or waddle, if it’s an animal quilt). After seeing her work, I just had to try it myself and make a special tribute to Rocky. Susan’s knack for layering and fussy cutting really opened my eyes to the creative possibilities of quilting—who knew a little fabric flower could become an ear, or a cluster of petals could look like a paw? So if you’re inspired by her work too, dive right in and have fun playing with fabric!

Materials You’ll Need:

• Plain background fabric – Choose a color that makes your collage pop. (Nothing too wild; we want Rocky to be the star here!)  It's better to use a light fabric, like white, so it will be easy to see your drawing from behind the fabric. (I'll tell you more about that later).
• Floral print fabrics – Look for bold colors, fun patterns, or even tiny characters like ducks if you want to add some personality.  Buy extra in case you want to make a second coordinating quilt.
• Fusible webbing – This adhesive backing makes it super easy to make applique quilts since it sticks fabric cutouts to your background.  Pick one that lets you remove and change the placements before you iron it down - you'll likely be moving things around as you make your design.  Steam a Seam 2 is my go-to choice for applique.
• Sharp scissors – Essential for fussy cutting. We want precision!  I use these Jim Holtz scissors.
• Iron and ironing board – For pressing fusible webbing onto the fabric.
• Fusing Mat - to protect your iron and ironing board.  The one I use is here.
• Quilt batting and backing fabric – To complete the quilt.
• Sewing machine (for assembling and quilting)
• Light box - If you find you have trouble seeing your drawing through the backing fabric, you may want to pull out your trusty light box.  I use this light box.

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Step-by-Step Guide:

Step 1: Choose Your Subject and Gather Inspiration

Start by deciding on a subject for your collage quilt—like your beloved pet, a favorite animal, or even that plant you always forget to water. For my quilt, I took a bunch of pictures of Rocky until he finally gave me a pose that said, “Yes, I am a masterpiece!” (You may have to bribe your pet with treats for this step. In my case, I made my husband do it while I took the pictures. Rocky was pretty stuffed at the end of his 'photo shoot'.)

Once you have your picture, you can print it out, then lay a plain piece of printer paper over it and sketch out the design so you have just the larger shape and important lines.  If you're computer savvy, you can also import it into a drawing application to create the sketch.  

In my case, I used Electric Quilt's Tracking Image feature to trace the picture and color the illustration.  I wanted my collage to be very large, so I used EQs tiling feature which allowed me to print the large design across several pages, which I then taped together to create a full-size template.

Step 2: Prepare the Background Fabric

Cut your background fabric to the size you want. For Rocky's quilt, I chose a light color to make those floral prints pop like nobody’s business.  

Step 3: Select and Prepare Floral Fabrics

Raid your stash or hunt down some floral prints with a mix of colors, sizes, and shapes. Look for fabric with interesting details, like tiny ducks or butterflies, to add personality. (Rocky’s favorite toy was a yellow duck, so naturally, a duck had to make a cameo!)

Step 4: Fussy Cut Your Floral Elements

Here’s where the magic happens! Fussy cut each flower or detail carefully to isolate the elements you want. This way, each piece becomes a “brushstroke” in your fabric painting. Don’t be afraid to mix larger flowers with smaller ones since, for my quilt, this gave Rocky’s shape some depth and dimension.

Step 5: Arrange Your Design

Now for the fun part!

Place the large printout under your backing fabric so you can see the shape you want to fill, then start placing the cutouts within the lines in the shape of your subject. Start with larger pieces to define the general shape, then fill in with smaller pieces, layering as you go. For Rocky’s quilt, I began by outlining his shape with larger flowers, then filled in details like his ears and paws with smaller pieces. Keep rearranging until you’re thrilled with the look. It’s like quilting dress-up for your pet!

I encourage you to have fun with this!

Step 6: Iron and Secure the Design

If you've done your paper tracing in pencil, you can leave the paper tracing  but if you've done it with markers, you'll want to remove it.  In this case, carefully remove your paper tracing from under the background fabric (without moving your cutout fabric pieces).  Now press each floral piece to secure it in place. Start from one end and work your way across, using your fusing mat to protect your iron from the fusible web. It is perfectly fine to layer -- some flowers will need to be on top of others to fill all the gaps -- just don't make too many layers or you'll have trouble quilting it.  You want to fill in every space. The quilt is starting to come to life!

Step 7: Add Quilting or Embroidery (Optional)

Follow your favorite applique technique to tack down the flowers.  Depending on your fusible web, you may not need to do so - but if you don't stitch them down, you'll need to be very careful with it throughout its lifetime (treasured wall-hanging only, like mine).  

Add any quilt blocks or additional applique. For Rocky's quilt, I added a patchwork strip down the side, following the rule of thirds.  I also added some fussy-cut butterflies to the plain white background to give it some movement and whimsy.  

 

Creating a collage quilt is a joyful art form that blends quilting with the essence of your favorite pet or image. Whether you’re inspired by Susan Carlson’s masterpieces or just excited to try something new, the end result will be a unique and personal quilt that captures your creativity and love for quilting. Just remember, no two collage quilts are alike, so have fun and let your personality shine through!

Step 8: Finish the Quilt

Layer your collage top with batting and backing fabric, then quilt as desired. Once complete, trim and bind the edges to finish your quilt.

For Rocky’s quilt, I used a beautiful edge-to-edge swirl pattern, enhancing the overall look and securing the fabric pieces in place a bit more.

Step 9: Repeat as desired!

This first quilt was so sweet and so much fun that I made another for Rocky's big sister Rachael.  I had to stop at that point -- because I ran out of wall.

 

Tips for a Stunning Collage Quilt

• Experiment with colors and textures. Don’t be afraid to mix prints and colors for a more dynamic look.
• Play with layering. Layering larger pieces underneath smaller details can add depth.
• Use fabric scraps. This is a great way to use up leftover fabric from previous projects.

Creating a collage quilt is an art form that allows you to blend quilting with your favorite images or animals. Whether you choose a floral theme like mine or another style entirely, the result will be a unique and personal quilt that captures your creativity and love for quilting.

Learn More

To see more beautiful collage quilts, check out Susan Carlson's page on this topic at Creating Fur in Fabric Collage | Susan Carlson Quilts.

Happy quilting!

-- Christine