Where Quilting Shows

Do you want your quilting to show? Well that’s a silly question. Right? We put lots of effort into planning and executing the quilting for our quilts. Of course we want our hard work to show. But, quilting shows more in some places than others.

Where Quilting Shows

I took some photos at the Minnesota Quilt Show recently to show you examples. Special thanks to the talented quilters who entered quilts into the show!

Best

Quilting shows best on white or light-colored solid fabrics. Do you see how the quilting shows on this lovely quilt, even from a distance? It’s the white fabric that shows it off.

Plum Wine Sampler constructed by Lisa Maurer of Avon, MN Quilted by Renee Sauve

And when you get close you can see the beautiful quilting designs in detail.

Detail of Plum Wine Sampler by Lisa Maurer

And another example of gorgeous quilting on solid cream fabric.

Sweet Sixteen – constructed by Darlene Boeckman of Burnsville, MN – Quilted by Kyra Reps

Detail of Sweet Sixteen by Darlene Boeckman

Light-colored solids show quilting pretty well too.

Renaissance – constructed by Pam Clauson of Prior Lake, MN – quilted by Page Johnson

Good

Here’s a gorgeous quilt.

Ron’s Sunshine Constructed by Shari McDonald-Guimont – Quilted by Marlene Hiltner

When you take a close look you can see the quilting very well in the white, yellow, and light-pink sections. Not as much in the blue spikes and dark-pink spikes. Hardly at all in the dark green batik and black fabrics.

Detail of Ron’s Sunshine by Shari McDonnell-Guimont

Here’s an example of some over-the-top quilting.

Feathered Star Constructed by David Ayers Quilted by Lynette at the Quilting Page

The quilting really shines in the yellow background. It shows up nicely in the lighter colors, but it doesn’t show at all in the dark spikes.

detail of Feathered Star by David Ayers

Not So Good

This stunning quilt uses black background fabric to really set off the gorgeous fabrics in the pieced stars.

Starry Starry Night Constructed by Susan Tuma of New Prague, MN – Quilted by Catherine Schneider-Thieschafer

The quilting in the background does not show until you are really close. The quilting on the stars shows on some of the fabrics and not others.

Detail of Starry Starry Night by Susan Kay Tuma

Let’s look at this bright happy quilt.

Color Collision Constructed by Alex Beller, Marilyn Condon, Sandy Cooper, Marge Demeules, Mickey Ellis, Marcey Fahrenholz, Sonja Folven, Liz Hickerson, Norma Marien, Liz McHenry, Barb Miska, Gina Peterson, Dianne Salls, Peggy Tanier Quilted by Beth Holland

Beth Holland, the quilter, utilized straight line quilting, a great choice since this quilt is all about the piecing and the colors. The fabrics are all solids so the quilting shows even on the medium value fabrics. It doesn’t show on the darker ones, but who cares? The fun is in the colors and the improvisational piecing. Here is an example of an all-over edge-to-edge quilting design. The gradation of the fabrics from light to dark really shows how the quilting fades away when the fabrics turn to the dark side.

Under The Sea constructed by Elizabeth Burdick of Sackets Harbor, NY Quilted by Sharon Walty

detail of Under The Sea by Elizabeth Burdick

 Tricks to make quilting show more

This quilt has two strikes against it when it comes to the quilting showing: black fabric and print fabric.  But there was a great space between the blocks to feature a fab quilting design. And a nice wide border too!

Birds Surround Us Constructed by Jane Zillmer of Mercer, WI Quilted by Ann Becker

So this clever quilter used contrasting thread, in this case white, to make the design show up.

Detail of Birds Surround Us by Jane Zillmer

She also utilized strong texture so the quilting would really pop. Look closely at the leaf shapes in the border! This is usually achieved by using two batts or a very high loft batting in the quilt. And then quilting some parts closely and others loosely. The loosely quilted areas pop forward while the close quilting compresses the batting and recedes to the back. Here is another example using contrasting threads and strong texture contrast. The curve of the roses contrasts with the straight line background quilting.

Mid-Century Roses Constructed and quilted by Denise Vokoun of Inver Grove Heights, MN

Detail of Mid-Century Roses by Denise Vokoun

When planning your quilting, make sure you place the special designs where they will show. Use all the tricks to make it happen.

• light solid fabrics
• strong texture contrast
• high loft batting
• contrasting color thread

Quilt Every Day by Mary Beth Krapil