How to Make a Terminator 2 Inspired Quilt

A while ago I made a Mandalorian inspired Quilt and I love it so much. I ended up hand sewing the applique pieces onto the background of the quilt, and it took about 2 months, working on and off.

My newest quilt is Terminator 2 themed, and with all the kinks worked out of my quilt creating method the process was much much quicker, as it was completed entirely on a sewing machine.

I completed the Terminator Quilt in about a week, spending roughly 3 hours a day working on it.

You will need:

• Cutting mat & Rotary cutter
• Scissors and Pins
• Sewing machine
• Thread to match your fabric colours
• Iron
• Ruler
• Fabric Marker

The amount of fabric you will need will depend on the size of quilt you intent to make. This pattern and image is very forgiving in its placement, so do what feels and looks right to you.

You will need at least a fat quarter size piece for the Hand and Arm section (I used some fake-ish leather), and some dark grey fabric for the chain. Some extra dimension can be added by using a lighter grey sections on the chain that appears on the far side of the chain.

In short, you will need:

• Fabric for the Hand Piece
• Fabric for the Chain Links
• Fabric for the Background
• Additional Fabric for the Applique Process
• Quilt Batting/ Wadding
• Backing Fabric
• Binding Fabric (Optional, depending on final finishing method)

You will also need to be able to print the pattern, or trace the image from a screen

I have attached a copy of the pattern I created.

If you save the image as a .pdf file you can print the pattern in any scale you need.

Mine pattern was printed at 400%

Once printed, assemble the hand and two lengths of chain.

I assembled all the pieces to be able to lay them flat on the background and confirm the spacing I liked, but realistically only the hand piece and one of each section of chain is needed.

I wanted lower section of my background to resemble the lava in the end scene of the Terminator 2 Movie.

As the lava has an uneven surface a strip of fabric was laid at the top edge of the yellow lava fabric, with right sides together.

A slightly wavy line is sewn following the edge of the fabric, and then the small piece flipped and folded underneath. The entire lave section, now with a wavy uneven top edge is laid over the bottom edge of the next colour of the background. I used an applique stitch on my sewing machine and a matching thread colour to top stitch the pieces together.

On some quilts a technique called "Turn leaf Applique" is used- this is where the raw edge of an applique shape is tucked under and the shape is sewin onto the quilt top. Usually this is done by hand and takes many hours to do (Example, my Mandalorian Quilt). The technique I used on the T2 Quilt may possibly be considered cheating, as I used a sewing machine to create the applique pieces, however all is fair in Love and War Fibre Arts.

1. Lay the piece of fabric you intend of having showing on you quilt right sides up.
2. Lay some additional fabric (this won't be seen and can be left over scrap fabric) on top.
3. Using the paper pattern piece, and a fabric marker trace around the image. It is important the pattern is not flipped over- it must be laid onto the fabric facing right side up, in the same way that you would like the final applique piece to face on the finished quilt. The traced line will be the stitching line.
4. Stitch along the line on the fabric using a small straight stitch, and then iron over the stitches. (Ironing over a recently sewn seem helps the stitches settle into the fabric.
5. Cut around the section leaving a 1/4 inch seam. Clip into any corners, ensuring that the seem itself is not cut.
6. Carefully cut a small slit into the scrap fabric and turn the piece inside out.
7. Iron the seems flat and admire the applique piece.
8. For the applique of the hand and hard section, I hand sewed these together to make the section easier to deal with.

The chain pieces are fiddly to do, however the edge result is very neat looking thanks to the cheats Turn Leaf Applique method.

1. Cut out a section of chain from the pattern. A little variation is good, so you could cut multiple of slightly different parts. I ended up with one long oval chain piece for one of the chains, a smaller short oval chain piece and an oblong shape for the second chain.
2. Trace, sew and cut a section of the chain, using the same method the hand piece was completed.
3. Cut out the inner section of the chain, and carefully clip into the edges of the inner circle
4. Cut a ring around the inner circle through only One layer of the fabric
5. Flip the outer edge of the cut side over, so the piece is mostly inside out and iron.
6. Flip the inner edge of the cut side inwards, so the chain link is fully inside out, and all raw edges are concealed.
7. Iron each chain link thoroughly.

I also created some orange pieces to sit where the chain would meet the lava. A piece of quilt wadding is hidden inside to make it a little thicker.

This process also seemed to go faster when doing multiples of a piece at once.

When all the applique pieces have had the turn edge treatment, lay all pieces out onto the quilt background.

One of the lengths of chain is easy; the oblong pieces can be pinned directly on top of the small oval chain links, and into one length of chain.

The second chain requires every second link to be cut so that it can be hooked through the next link of chain.

Cut, hook and loop the chain through each cut piece and pin each piece thoroughly together. Ensure each piece is arranged so that each uncut link of chain covers the cut section of the previous loop.

Pin the small orange piece onto the bottom of each chain and the bottom of the arm section.

Once you have determined the position of the chain, pin all pieces onto the quilt.

Use an applique stitch and a matching thread to secure all the edges to the quilt. I found it easiest to stitch down the entire length of chain, and then return to applique each inner section that was missed.

A lighter grey bit of fabric that is folded and slipped behind short oval chain sections can add a bit of dimension.

An applique stitch can take longer than a regular straight or zigzag stitch, so either of these can be sued as well.

Lay your quilt front on top of the backing fabric to ensure the size is okay.

Insert a layer or two of Quilt wadding in between the backing and the quilt front. It is okay if the quilt batting is larger than the quilt front, as long as the backing is larger still, as this can be folded over and used as the binding.

Spend some time moving and smoothing the backing, batting and quilt front, as any rippling that you find after the the edges are pinning can be difficult to fix.

To 'Bind' the quilt with the excess backing fold all edges of the backing over the sides and inwards, and then tuck the raw edge under. Pin the the edges in place.

My top and bottom edge ended up measuring 2 inches wide, and each of the sides were 4 inches wide. I had excess fabric on one side of the backing fabric, but instead of having differently sized borders the raw edge was tucked a little further inwards until both edges were the same width.

As long as you have a large enough backing piece to do this method it can be very forgiving.

The corners can be tricky, but a bit of finagling will have them sitting as though they were sewn in a nice mitered corner.

• Fold the edge over the quilt and tuck the raw edge under, and do the for the whole length of one side
• Complete the same for the adjacent side of the quilt
• Fold and tuck the edges so they are sitting neatly, and not squished down
• Take the top-most fold and tuck the inner corner piece underneath until a smooth corner is created.

Once all edges are thoroughly pinned in place use the applique stitch and some matching thread to secure the border. Use the same stitch to secure the corners into place as well.

An applique stitch takes longer to sew than a regular straight or zigzag stitch, so either of those can be used.

If you wish for an inviable seem the border can also be entirely hand sewn down as well.

I am loving the way the Terminator Quilt turned out (and how fast the process was this time).

The only limit to quilting is your imagination, and you can find plenty of inspiration to be found on Pinterest and online.

I can't wait to start thinking about my next project.

Thankyou to Instructables for hosting such great contests.

I hope you love this as much as I do!