practicing a variety of quilting designs on a simple quilt top

 

recently quilted

Quilting is probably my least favorite step in the process of making a quilt.  It’s also, probably because I send quilts out pretty often, my biggest problem growth area.  I just haven’t put in the time on quilting that I need to in order to have those gorgeous even stitches and in order to get onto the quilt what is in my head.

I tend to like quilting that is somewhere between an all-over pattern with no relationship with the patchwork and a one that is micro-coordinated to the patchwork.  Usually, this results in either a fairly minimal all-over design (see the The DoublePlusGood Quilt, Miss Stinky’s Particle Board Cabin) or for a long time I have favored straight-line quilting (The Full Stops Quilt, The Green Quilt, The Kelp Quilt).  It probably helps that these designs are pretty straightforward requests for me to make of my lovely local long-arm quilter, Bernie.

I also tend to send things out to the long-arm quilter when I’m short on time or when I’ve made a large quilt (and most of my quilts are large!)

I recently realized that I need to do more of my own quilting.  Why?  Because I came across this work in progress:

The Martha Quilt

I made this quilt top in 2005.  2005.  2005.  I f**king love this quilt top and it hasn’t been quilted because I haven’t developed the skills to execute what is in my head.  ARGH!!!!  Time to grow some ovaries, slap that darning foot on my little Janome, and get to work!

I had a few lap-sized quilts in need of quilting, so I decided to woman-up and quilt them myself.  Unfortunately, I can’t show you the quilt tops (gifts and such), but suffice it to say that I wanted something non-swirly and non-straight-line and moderately dense.

My go-to-spot for browsing free-motion quilting designs is The Free Motion Quilting Project from Leah Day.  More than 365 designs being given away for free with pictures and videos and explanations?  Yes, please!  They are also, very helpfully, categorized in multiple ways, including difficulty, design type, and directional texture.

I decided to practice on a small quilt I anticipate donating to charity.

Basic Chevron quilting practice

This is the Basic Chevron design.  Pretty easy.  I got much better as I went, so I was glad to be working on a practice quilt as I got the worst of the wobbles out of my system.

I then slept on it (your brain processes skills as you sleep, making you much better on the start of day 2, than you were at the end of day 1.  Seriously, here’s my reference: RadioLab. Yay science!)

On the second quilt, I decided to use the Square Spiral

Square Spiral design practice

Again, it was a bit clunky at first, but I practiced a bit, slept on it, practiced a bit more and then was competent enough to do it on a “real” quilt.

My practice quilt doesn’t look half-bad though!

Checkerboard quilt used for quilting practice

The actual quilts were similar to the practice quilt in that they had a columns of patchwork and I wanted to quilt in a way that went with the columns. Like the practice quilt, there are two passes of the quilting within each column. I tried the chevrons wider, but I lost control doing something that wide on my machine. I think I am going to invest in some grippy gloves and see if that helps with control. Leah Day sells quilting kits with gloves and sliders, so I’ll pick one up from her, since her shop is how she supports her awesome website.

For more tips and tricks on quilting, check out these other posts:

Quartered Log Cabins (with tutorial)

Hand Quilting with Perle Cottons

Rainbow Quilt of Experimentation

Rossie

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This Post Has 23 Comments

  2. Thanks for sharing your quilting practice! I've been practicing too ~ it's a lot harder than it looks 😉 Get the grippy gloves ~ they help a lot, you can cut the fingertips off too so you don't have to take them off to do other things. What type of machine do you quilt with?

    2. If you get the Machingers from Leah, don't cut off the tips. That's the only part of the glove with grip.

      I learned SO MUCH about FMQ from Leah's site and challenged myself to finish one quilt a month last year. My quilting improved exponentially. Before you know it, you'll be quilting like a pro!

  3. The gloves make a huge difference. So much more control. I use the Machingers and also enjoy constantly referencing my "machingers" when wearing them like I am a cyborg. Quilting without them is like writing with my left hand.

  4. Sweet! Keep at it! What changed my world was a desk that my machine drops into creating a flat level surface for the quilt to lay on. That and the Supreme Slider thing (in Leahs shop too) making the bed of the machine/ table glossy and slippery. I actually like quilting now but am thinking of sending off a king quilt to be done by a long armEr( which I've never done). Or better yet renting a long arm at the local quilt shop. I use a pair of gardening gloves with the latexy inner hand. I'll have to get a new pair to cut off the tips to thread, and clean and rebobbin in. Good idea… I take my gloves off and on constantly!

    2. oh so worth it! it makes such a difference ! well those gardening gloves are latexed on the whole hand so thats why cutting off the tips might work for those…not sure on the machinagers if they are nonslip just on tips or what.

    3. I put a 4X8 sheet of OSB on top of my old table spaced out by 2X4's….cut a slit in my OSB to fit machine, then shunned machine up just a tiny but. I rounded the corners of the OSB and shellacked the piss out of it. Works Luke a charm! Six bucks fir OSB and had the 2X's laying around. Also, turn your machine 90 degrees to quilt (like a long arm)….it makes a TON of difference!

  5. I can't quilt without the Supreme Slider. I have a pair of Fons and Porter's gloves because they are very thin. I like a snug fit, too. I'm a longtime follower of Leah's. I get super stuck with the quilting plan, too. I like the idea of the commenter to do a quilt a month. Maybe I'll make that my goal for 2013.

    Kris

  6. Yes! The more you do it, the better you get. And soon it won't seem like a big deal to do them yourself. Trust me, I went through the same evolution. So says the girls who just basted a king size quilt filled with negative space.
    That matrix design is so easy too, once you get the rhythm of direction.
    Like others have said, the right set-up will go a long way towards making it more enjoyable. My biggest tip is to have a beer while doing it. It will relax you and make your shoulders less tense. And it is tasty!

  8. I think the practice quilt has a bit of mid-century modern flair with the square spirals. I also need to practice (head dipped in shame) however it's totally my machines fault not mine. And I'm sticking to that story. The Slider looks pretty genius and I spent hours one night looking at Ms Day's videos, what a wealth of information!

  10. I love Leah Day and Radio Lab! Those guys are freaking fantastic! I thought I was the only one who knew them! You must love NPR Saturdays too!

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