Education
One More Echo – Free Motion Quilting for Beginners
One more super easy and super fun echo quilting design and I promise to stop. (Maybe) But can you see how echoing is a essential skill for a free motion quilter? It is a must-have in your tool box. This design was originated by my good friend and Handi Quilter Ambassador, Helen Godden. Helen […]
Read MoreFree Motion Quilting for Beginners – More Anything E2E Inspiration
Last week we got inspiration from fabric and created a design for stitching an Anything E2E. I hope it got you thinking about other designs and other places to draw inspiration. Look around All you need to do is take a look around your environment. There are quilting motifs everywhere! I love this bird […]
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Free Motion Quilting for Beginners – S shape
Continuing the series on free motion quilting for beginners, this week we will explore the S shape. You remember the shape of the letter S from kindergarten, right? The perfect S with the nice, perfect, counter-clockwise curve at the top that transitions smoothly into the nice, perfect, clockwise curve at the bottom. That perfect shape […]
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Free Motion Quilting for Beginners – Stipple
The time has come to talk about stipple. You see it all over the place on quilts. What is a stipple, anyway? Dictionary.com says: Stipple History Dots, small spots, small touches. In the quilting world stipple began with hand quilters. They placed single stitches randomly in the background of an applique or embroidery or a […]
Read MoreFree Motion Quilting for Beginners – For Real
I know you have been practicing every day for 15 minutes. You raised your right hand and made that promise. I saw you. I’m getting lots of comments from folks who are finding it to be very effective in improving their skills and it makes me so happy to hear that! It’s super easy to […]
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Free Motion Quilting for Beginners – Getting Loopy
Back for more free-motion quilting this week! It’s time to try our hand at loops. I think that loopy designs are the most forgiving and the easiest to quilt. Often times with other shapes we have to try really hard to make the shapes uniform in size and proportion in order to make the quilting […]
Read MoreFree Motion Quilting for Beginners – Curvy Designs
Now that you are very comfortable stitching curves, you’re ready to learn some curvy designs. We will put those curves to good use quilting designs you’ll use over and over. Block Designs Let’s start with some simple block designs. Here’s the block we will quilt: Continuous Curve And here’s the design: Notice that it is […]
Read MoreFree Motion Quilting for Beginners – the Secret to Curves
There’s a secret to curves. Well, the secret really applies to all quilting shapes, but it works especially well on curves. Curves make up 97.35% of the best quilting designs. Take a look at any collection of quilts and pay close attention to the quilting. You will see curves on almost every quilt. Curves C-shapes, […]
Read MoreFree Motion Quilting for Beginners – Putting it Together – Straight
So, you’ve been practicing quilting those five basic shapes in all different orientations. Now it’s time to start putting it together into free motion designs, basic ones that are fun to use on quilts. We will start with straight lines. Putting it together – Straight lines Modern quilters love straight line quilting. So do traditional […]
Read MoreFree Motion Quilting for Beginners, Theory
Now that you’re ready, we can delve a bit into the theory. Wait, you’re not ready? Be sure to read Part 1 and prepare to have some fun learning free motion quilting. Theory Theory sounds boring, right? But I’m a big believer that the more you know, the more you can do. And this is […]
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