Main Street Celebration Sew Along

I enjoyed my last sew along for Oh Sew Delightful so much, that I feel like I am ready to make anything now 😆. So the next project that I want to make is the Kimberbell Main Street Celebration Bench Pillow. This 4th of July inspired pillow is a much smaller project than a featured quilt, but has tons of tiny details that are going to make it lots of fun. This will be my first bench pillow I make from Kimberbell and I have a feeling it won’t be my last 😆 (Candy Cane Lane is on my wish list!)

I feel like I learned so much from my last sew along, and am ready to use those new skills on this next project. With that said, I will be using a lot of the same supplies and techniques as I did with Oh Sew Delightful. I also made us another FREE Organizational Chart to help us easily identify what we need for each block.

Video Class Schedule

All of the tutorials for this project will be recorded and uploaded to YouTube as soon as I have them ready. I am starting this project May 19th, 2025 and I have a goal to complete it by June. So this will be a little different than my last sew along where I went live every Thursday to complete some blocks. I do hope to have another sew along after the summer though where we meet live every week 🤞. So for this bench pillow you can just watch the video tutorials whenever you are ready to move on to the next block and not have to wait.

Each video should be around 1 to 2 hours long, depending on what we are trying to complete that class. Since these are recorded, I may speed up the video on the parts when the machine is just stitching so that they wont be so long. My goal is to have one tutorial for each block. There will also be classes dedicated to piecing the blocks together, adding boarders, and making a pillow back. I may even get brave and try to add some piping around the pillow.

You can find all of the videos for this sew along in this video playlist.

Gather Supplies

So good news is that this project will be cheaper to make than a featured quilt like Oh Sew Delightful. However it’s still $$ 🤑. There are times when things do go on sale and you can get a good deal. For example, I got the embroidery designs, and embellishment kit for Main Street Celebration for only $30 on Kimberbell’s Deal of the Week. Every week, they release new deals and sometimes they are really good. This is also how I got the Candy Corn Sweet Shoppe quilt. So just keep an eye on it and check every week. They change deals every Monday after 10am mountain time.

Below is all of the supplies I am using for this project. Some things can be found on Kimberbell’s website, but if you have a local quilt shop that sells Kimberbell, go and see what they have. You can also find some Kimberbell things on Amazon and I will link them for you below.

• Main Street Celebration Embroidery Designs (Digital Download with all designs and instructions)
• Main Street Celebration Background quilting designs
  • these are only available on Kimberbell’s website and are a digital download
  • only 2 are needed, Patriotic 1 and Patriotic Border 1
• Embrilliance Essentials
  • I love to combine my background quilting and block design before sending it to my machine, so I use software to do this on my computer
  • If you would like to stitch multiple blocks at one time, Embrilliance makes that process a lot easier
  • You can also merge the background quilting and block designs on your machine if you would like
• Main Street Celebration Embellishment Kit
  • This contains all of the 3D like pieces for the quilt, including velvet, embroidery leather, and embroidery glitter
• Stabilizer
  • Kimberbell recommends poly mesh no show however, I have seen lots of people use a lightweight muslin instead and this helps lower cost
• Quilt Batting
• Main Street Celebration Fabric Kit
  • This is optional if you would like to use the same fabric that is in the picture
  • You can use fabric you already have to help lower cost (this is what I am doing)
  • You can also change the color scheme which can be fun choosing you own fabrics
  • The kit contains 14 different patterned fabric in a variety of colors
• Pellon SF101 or Kimberbell Fusible Backing
• Heat n Bond Lite
• Spray Adhesive
• Water Soluble Thread
  • this can be use to stitch the basting stitch for each quilt block and allow for easy removal before trimming
• Invisible Thread
  • I use this for stitch in the ditch, but since this is a pillow case, I’m not sure if I will be using this for this project
• Kingstar Metallic Thread– optional
• Orange Pop Rulers
  • Square
  • Rectangle
  • These are optional, you can also use regular quilting ruler
• Rotary Blade
• Cutting mat
• Rotating Cutting Mat
• Mini Iron
• Wool Ironing Mat
• Quilt Clapper
• Embroidery Paper Tape
• Clover Stiletto
• Applique Snips
• Kimberbell Scissors Set
• Clear Blue Tiles (these are helpful if you have a small hoop and need to add background quilting to a large block or entire quilt)
• Kimberbell Tote Bag (this was my birthday present to myself 🥳)
• Optional- Folders I will be using to organize all of supplies for each block
• Prewound Bobbins
  • Flatbed machine style A
  • Multi-needle/ Free Arm Machine style L

Machines and Hoop Sizes

For this project, I will be using my Brother Stellaire XJ2 which is an embroidery and sewing combo machine. It also has a large hoop size of 9.5×14 inches which will come in handy for this project. However, to complete this project, all you need is a 5×7 hoop. All of the blocks for this project fit in a 6×10 hoop, but they do have options to split the blocks into 2 designs so that they can also be done in a 5×7 hoop and have special instructions. If you are doing background quilting, then the overall size is actually too big to fit in a 6×10 hoop. I have a solution for this by deleting the background fabric tackdown steps, but it you have a bigger hoop like a 7×11, 8×12, or 9.5×9.5 then you will have no issues. If you only have a 5×7 hoop, you will have to do your background quilting in multiple hoopings using Clear Blue Tiles or print outs of the quilting design.

A sewing machine will also be required in order to piece everything together. Some things that will be nice to have with your sewing machine is a walking foot, 1/4 inch foot, and stitch in the ditch foot. With my Stellaire I have what they call a dual feed foot, which is like a fancy walking foot. Recently I had a friend tell me that they offer attachments for this foot to also have a 1/4 inch seam and a stitch in the ditch. I purchased them both and will be excited to use them for the first time when making this project.

In the Market for a New Machine?

Remember that if you are ever considering upgrading to a new machine, call my friend Jean at Sewing Machines Plus. She will help you to get the best deal and financing! You can either call her directly at 800-401-8151 Ext: 139 or email her at [email protected]. Please be sure to tell her Karlie Belle referred you and ask her to use my discount on any accessories you may get. *Jean is the only sales person at Sewing Machines Plus that can take my referrals. I greatly appreciate you purchasing anything from SMP through Jean as it helps to fund my channel and allow me to keep creating free content for you all ☺️!

Thread Colors

There is a thread kit that you can buy that is specific for this project and contains Glide thread. However I will be just be using colors I already have. Below is a picture of what they recommend so that you can go ahead and make yourself a color pallet and be ready when its time to stitch.

Here are the Glide thread colors/ numbers used

• Sterling #10877
• Caramel #20467
• Bright Blue #30288
• Azure #30283
• Aloe #60371
• Avocado #60382
• Desire #70199
• Buttercup #80134
• Jubilee #80135
• Candy Apple #90186

Here is a thread conversion website that I used to figure out what these same colors are in my Exquisite brand thread. You can use this tool to convert the Glide thread into any other brand as well 😁.

FREE PDF Organizational Chart

To try and help keep us all organized, I have created a Free Organizational Chart for you to download. It contains all of the info you need for each block along with a batting cutting cheat sheet. Just complete the form below to get the chart emailed directly to you. Signing up for this chart will also put you on the email list to get notified every time we have a new class and details on what we will cover.

I’m so excited for this project and can’t wait to get started! Our will be all about how to prep everything ahead of time. We will be going through all of the fabric, adding interfacing, making all of our cuts, and organizing each block into envelops/ bags. This process may be a little bit tedious but I know it will set us up for success and allow us to finish this quilt quickly!

You can find all of the videos for this sew along in this video playlist.

I look forward to seeing in at the sew along. For YouTube, remember to be signed in so that you can chat with me during the live!

Thanks again for all of your support!

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