How to Make The Perfect 7 Skinny Star Topper

Published December 2025

This beautiful circle table topper looks far more complicated than it actually is — and the secret is a single specialty tool. The Perfect Seven does all of the heavy lifting on this project, turning precise pie-wedge cutting into a simple, repeatable step so a confident beginner can finish a striking skinny-star topper in just a few hours.

In this video, you'll learn:

• How pressing strip sets in opposite directions creates interlocking seams that help your star points line up automatically.
• How to use the Perfect Seven’s lettered guide lines and a spinning mat to cut clean, accurate wedges without lifting your fabric between cuts.
• Why piecing your wedges in pairs — rather than one at a time down the row — keeps your circle from twisting as it comes together.
• How fusible fleece secured to the underside of your pieced top keeps everything stable through top quilting.
• A simple, no-bias-cuts binding technique for a gently curved edge, including a clean, hand-finished join.

Check the links for everything you need.

Introduction

This table topper is one of seven projects included with the Perfect Seven tool — today’s version is called the Skinny Star, and it’s a circular design that’s perfect for a round breakfast-nook table. The kit fabrics shown here are limited and won’t be reordered once they’re gone, but the technique works beautifully in any high-contrast color combination you choose.

Contrast is what makes this star pop. A sharp difference between your light, dark, and center fabrics is what accentuates the star shape once the wedges come together — keep that in mind if you’re choosing your own colors instead of using the kit.

Strip Piecing With a Purpose

Before the Perfect Seven ever comes out, this project starts as simple strip sets — a center fabric with a light strip on one side and a dark strip on the other.

1. Sew your strip sets together, keeping the same center, light, and dark fabric order across every set. You’ll need enough length to cut seven wedges total.
2. Press the dark seam toward the dark fabric, and press the light seam toward the center fabric — pressing the two seams in opposite directions from each other.

Opposite-direction pressing sets you up for interlocking seams. When your seams press in opposite directions instead of stacking on top of each other, they nest together as you piece — which helps your points land exactly where they should, without the extra bulk of stacked seam allowances.

Cutting Wedges With the Perfect Seven

The Perfect Seven is a required tool for this project — not just a helpful notion — and it’s genuinely doing all of the geometry for you. The tool is printed with multiple lettered guide lines for different projects in the booklet; for the Skinny Star, you’ll only ever be lining fabric up with the letter S.

1. Since the tool’s underside is slick and this project calls for precise, repeated cuts, add a few no-slip grip dots to the back so it won’t shift while you cut.
2. Lay the tool on your strip set with the letter S running along your seam line, positioning it economically so you’re not wasting fabric between wedges.
3. Working on a spinning mat lets you rotate the fabric under the blade instead of lifting and repositioning it — turn, cut, turn, cut, all the way around the wedge shape.
4. Cut only as deep as you need to free the wedge — cutting too far will slice into fabric you need for your next wedge.
5. Repeat until you have seven wedges cut from this strip set, then cut seven more from your second strip set in the same way.

Piecing the Star

With fourteen wedges cut, it’s time to sew them into a circle — and the order you sew them in matters more than you might expect.

1. Pin your wedges together in pairs, right sides together, matching your seam intersections carefully rather than sewing straight down a long row.
2. Sew a scant quarter inch, using a seam guide if you have one so you’re not eyeballing the distance from your presser foot.
3. Press each seam open, using a clapper if any seam is reluctant to lie flat.
4. With an odd number of wedges, you’ll end up with three pairs and one single wedge — sew the pairs together first, then add the single wedge last to complete the circle.

Sew in pairs, not straight down the row. Piecing one wedge at a time in a long chain tends to let the whole row twist out of shape. Sewing pairs first, then joining pairs together, keeps everything sitting flat and even as the circle comes together.

Layering and Quilting

Once your pieced top is complete, secure a layer of Cali Del Fusible Fleece to the underside of the top — fusing it here, rather than treating it as loose batting, keeps everything from shifting once you start top quilting. Baste your backing fabric underneath using your preferred method: basting spray, fabric glue, or simple pins.

1. Choose a thread that showcases your fabric — a metallic thread is a lovely way to pull out any metallic accents already woven into your fabric.
2. Pair your metallic thread with a thread director and a metallic needle to minimize the thread breakage metallic threads are prone to.
3. Quilt your top as desired, working through the fused top, fleece, and backing together.

Trimming the Circle

Before you trim away any of the excess fleece and backing, stabilize the whole stack.

1. Stitch about an eighth of an inch from the outer edge of your pieced circle, sewing through the top, fleece, and backing together to lock all three layers in place.
2. Trim away the excess fleece and backing using scissors or a rotary cutter, cutting right along the circle you’ve already created.

Binding a Curved Edge

Because this circle is a gradual curve rather than a tight scallop, there’s no need to cut your binding on the bias — regular straight-of-grain strips have more than enough give.

1. Join your binding strips together with a corner clipper for a clean, simple diagonal seam.
2. To start, fold the raw end of your binding strip down at least a quarter inch so there’s no exposed raw edge, then fold the strip in half lengthwise and trim away the small triangle that’s left over.
3. Beginning partway along one side with the folded end open, backstitch and sew a quarter inch all the way around the circle.
4. As you come back around to your starting point, trim your ending tail so it isn’t any longer than it needs to be, then tuck it inside the little pocket created by your folded starting end.
5. Fold the binding to the back and secure it with Wonder Clips as you go — clip side down, pretty side up.
6. Because this project has already been top quilted, hand-stitch the binding down rather than machine stitching, using thread that coordinates with your binding fabric.

A folded starting tail makes for an invisible join. Tucking your ending tail into the little cove created by your folded starting end hides the join completely — there’s no bulky overlap and nothing that’s ever coming loose.

Finishing Touches

The last element is the topper’s prefused, laser-cut center shape.

1. Position the shape and press to fuse it in place.
2. Stitch it down at the same time you’re doing your top quilting, so you’re not going back over the piece a second time later.

Between the Perfect Seven doing the geometry for you and a straightforward, no-bias binding, this is a project that looks far more advanced than it actually is — a confident finish in just a few hours.

For personal use only, not for commercial production. No part of this pattern may be reproduced, shared, or distributed in any form unless given express written consent by Shabby Fabrics. Not to be used with any online classes or video tutorials other than the official Shabby Fabrics tutorial. All designs, photographs, and images are protected by federal copyright law. All rights reserved.