Freemotion-Quilting For Beginners

I have been preparing for another workshop which is scheduled for three days in mid-February. This will be a workshop for beginner freemotion quilters so I had to alter my original workshop outline as it was just too intensive.

 

I have been freemotion-quilting now for a good 13 years and while I do have a general idea on how to start and what to teach I wanted to demystify the journey a bit. Started to do some research on the internet and was very surprised. There are hardly any sites that cater for the beginner...while they all talk about what you need in terms of freemotion-quilting (i.e. set up of machine, gloves, slider, needles etc) I have not found any real assistance in where to start and what to practice, i.e so I can stitch a bit...what now? If I was a beginner I would not know how or what to practice. This was really perplexing and somewhat disappointing. I guess some of the online workshops might address this issue though.

In thinking about this further I really struggled to identify what a beginner needs to learn until I thought further on what particular skill is needed to progress in your freemotion quilting journey. Here is what I did come up, five skills you will need to practice (and ultimately master) if you want to be able to progress and be able to finish those quilts that are waiting in the UFO pile.

1. Ability to stitch a line, either straight or wavy with a somewhat consistent stitch length and the correct tension on the machine, including stopping and starting with minimal wobbles.

Easier said than done. In my workshop we are going to stitch some straightish lines in different directions in a four-patch block, just up and down, then sideways, and for the adventurous also diagonally and discussing how else you could practice that (eg. stitching-in-the-ditch freehand or using the help of a grid). Following on from this we are going to learn how to meander or stipple. Always flagged as a beginner design I don't think that it is actually that easy to do, so we are going to spent a whole session on just that.

The sample above incorporates the next point.

2. Ability to follow a drawn (or stencilled) line. Once freed from the feeder dogs and able to doodle or meander, it's time to get more serious and start trying to stitch out simple motifs. Again, not that easy...you need a good dose of concentration and steady hand movements and speed to follow a line. However if people want to make use of motifs they found on the internet or stencils they bought, an absolute essential skill to have. When doing my research I read somewhere on a blog that stitching out a pre-marked design was not really freemotion quilting...I was a bit stunned at that because I was wondering whether the author thought that I sit in front of my 40in fabric square and just stitch out my wholecloth designs just like that, all freehand out of my head. No marks, no guidelines, no nothing...had to smile at that. I am good but I am not that good! Definitely consider myself a freemotion quilter though.

3. Ability to backtrack. Nobody (maybe myself excluded) likes it, however the ability to go over an already stitched line is something that the beginner quilter will have to learn not only for stitching out non-continuous motifs/designs but also to travel from point A to B over an already stitched line unless they want to tie off every five minutes.

4. Echoing a shape. Echoing about 1/8in from an applique shape or around a motif, but also useful for varying or extending an already known design. In the beginning the beginner quilter is probably only able to stitch out 2-3 designs which is absolutely enough to start off with. In order to make this a bit more interesting, echoing can be used to vary a design or even extend it while practising to become more proficient at the design.

5. Internalising the quilting path. My personal favourite...in order to fill a space, any space, the quilter will need to know and be familiar with the direction of the design, including direction changes. This does not come naturally, it is something that has to be practiced. In order to do this the quilter will need to know beforehand where they are going to go and what they are going to do well before they come to the point of a direction change. Improvisation rarely works out at this early stage as the beginning quilter is still preoccupied with executing the shape they are trying to do plus their hand movement and speed. I think structure is the answer to this, similar to going somewhere in the car. You certainly would not just jump in the car hoping to get to where you need to go somehow...you usually have a very clear idea which roads you are going to take to get to your destination.

So I build the workshop around those five points, keeping the designs to a minimum (just meander, loops and swirls) hoping to enable quilters to go on their actual quilts to practice or get themselves one of those cute panels you can buy and just follow the lines.  I did include some basic grid work on the last day as some people might find that easier than filling an empty space. This should be very interesting to watch...I hope that me building everything around those five points will make sense to people and sink in and provide a rudimentary roadmap for beginners to continue their journey. But most importantly, I hope that it will encourage participants to tackle their quilts.

Karin

Exploring Affinity Designer 2

Today was 41 degrees over here and definitely a day to just stay inside and keep as cool as possible.

I sat down at the computer with the intention to do some work on various things, but then ended up playing with the Affinity Designer 2 program.

As I have got the program on both the Ipad as well as the desktop there was some confusion for me about the duplicate function as it is executed slightly differently on the desktop. Wanted to explore this a bit more and also make use of the power duplicate function (just press some buttons and it spits you out a motif) and the POint Transform tool that you can use to rotate your shapes around.

Basically played for the entire afternoon starting with some simple shapes

The power duplicate function is awesome...I basically just have to tell the program the rotation I want in degrees and how many times I want to go around. My Point is in the middle on this shape.

Next came the feathers

These are not my drawn feathers but a shape you can use in the program. Personally I would angle my feathers more (there probably is a way to do this, except I don't know it yet)...but I just wanted to see how this worked. So again I made the shape rotate around the middle, however then used the shape tool to erase the centre lines so that the middle was clean.

Next I re-visited a motif that I had previously drawn up painstakingly in the program trying to align each heart shape exactly next to each other. I managed but it was not a 100%. I was sure there was a way for the computer to work this out for me in terms of the hearts just touching...and it did!

The point in this example was still in the centre but outside the actual shape. Very neat! I then played around with the swirls which were added to the program a few updates ago

Very cool

Tried myself at e's and l's which was surprisingly challenging to get the shape right. The power duplicate is also used here except that you tell the program how many times you want to repeat the shape in the horizontal.

A bit of ribbon candy

A drawn motif rotating around the centre

I spare you the grids except for this one which I thought was really cool

So glad I did this...such a powerful program. But like with everything you do have to practice and become familiar with all these different functions and keep practising as it is very easy to forget how to use some of this. Like the pen tool...I think I will have to watch a tutorial again to get that straight in my head...find the pen really difficult to use. 

Hopefully the weather over here will cool down a bit as I got some quilting to do!

Karin

Binding Experiments

First of all, let me tell you that I am no longer getting email notifications for comments left. I looked for solutions but found that I am not alone, nevertheless there does not appear to be an answer. For now, I do check my comments and will reply to any queries on the blog itself. 

The last few weeks I have been preparing for an upcoming workshop on FMQ. As I could not visualise the size of the practice sandwiches I ended up stitching some things out myself. Good fun but then I also got into the binding, i.e. how to sew the binding on quickly and easily by machine.

Consulted the net and a binding booklet I had from Bethanne Nemesh.

First one

I used a 2in binding strip and sewed it to the back, then bringing it around to the front and stitching it on with a straight stitch. That looked incredibly easy to do but I struggled with that...in the end I glued my binding in place before stitching so that it would not move all over the place. That worked fine, but the glueing took a while!

Second sample

For this one I stitched my binding onto the front like I usually do. Again could not cope with pins or clips and ended up glueing it to the back. I found this incredibly laborious. This time I had used a 2-1/4in binding as suggested in BethanneNemesh' binding booklet. Initially I was going to stitch-in-the- ditch on the front through to the back but I did not like the lip that was left on the back, so I used a decorative stitch to secure the binding. That worked reasonably well, except for the time it took me to glue everything in place.

Third sample

That one was a bit of a disaster...stitched the binding onto the back, then brought it to the front and secured it with a decorative stitch again. Again used a 2-1/4in binding but did not glue it this time but basted it by hand in place. Also not very fast at all and the finish is somewhat hickledy-pickledy. Definitely not straight.

 

Fun little exercise, not sure I gained that much from it...I could have hand-sewed the binding on these three little pieces in no time at all. I think the method that could possibly work for me would be sample no. 2 where I sewed the binding to the front and then secured it with some sort of stitch. If I was to opt for a in-the-ditch stitch I would definitely make my binding 2in wide so the lip in the back would not be that large or I would opt again for a decorative stitch. Not sure though about the glueing everything into place...that took me a while even on such a small piece.

Karin

The Ugly Duckling Quilt is Finished

Happy New Year to everyone.

Christmas certainly was a busy time but I managed to finish a few things.

First at all, let me show you another bucket hat I made as a Christmas present

I took my time with this hat and hand-basted the seams before I actually took it to the machine. Worked a treat...no puckers, came out fantastic and was well received. Used some of the Bali fabric that I acquired on my trip last year.

I did some more work on my rather intensive background filler project but it was slow going. Partly because I need to preserve my shoulder but also because it just did not want to flow. Made some in-road though with stubborn day-today stitching and am hoping that it will be a bit easier from now on.

To give myself a little break I continued on the Ugly Duckling quilt, so named because I am not really a fan of soft pinks and the layout was just very simple to use up some scraps.

Bit hard to see because of the soft colours, here is another close up shot

I quilted this with a very soft apricot 50/2 Aurifil thread. First did the ruler work in the squares using Bethanne Nemesh Lilac Lines rulers that has an S-curve on the end. Lots of fun. After that I thought the sashing needed a bit more pizzaz so I put a chain of pearls in there. And then I stuffed up the border a bit...haha.  Had done the spine for the feathers before Christmas, ready to go, only to realise after that my spine was about 1/4in off center for the way I was going to quilt the feathers. I had cut my border 4-1/2in. Did not help that I changed my mind how I wanted to quilt the feathers, i.e. having them fill the entire space. Took me a few days to think this through and in the end I just cut off 1/4in off the border to have the feathers exactly in the middle. Anyway, was great to do some feathers again...I tried to do pretty informal feathers which I find incredibly hard to do. These are continuous type feathers which for a truly informal look would need to have a little bit more spacing in between. While that was the idea I only managed that in a couple of spaces. Its funny with the muscle memory...I have done continuous feathers for a long time and am really used to making them look like almost the bump back heirloom style feathers. To change that is obviously very difficult for me. But still looks pretty good...I threw in a few embellishments and did the heart shaped elongated plume in between just enough to make it a bit more interesting. Looks great. On a side note...I managed to hit 5 million stitches on my Q20 over Christmas which is about 1,250000 stitches per year. Not bad.

I chose a stripey binding and followed a little trick on how to match the stripes when joining your binding outlined in Bethanne Nemesh' Bitty Binding booklet. Worked fantastic and all my stripes matched, even when joining the binding in the end.

Really happy with this little quilt. Just had a look over my blog. This is the third quilt I managed to get out of a fat quarter bundle which is called Foxglove Gardens by Leanne Beasley for Ella Blue fabrics and part of a promise to myself for this year to use up my leftover fabrics and scraps. Apart from the backing I had all the materials at hand. Because of the colours I went on a hunt for a nice backing and fell in love with this fabric

The fabric is from the Fiore Collection produced by Maya Ootani for Handworks Fabric (printed in Japan). Not my usual colour but it matched just so perfectly and is really good quality.

So, with this done, I will need to make another list of tasks to work out what comes next. For the remainder of the week I am aiming to 

- continue on my background filler project, i.e. complete at least one more section of the quilt

- baste one of the charity quilts ready for quilting

- watch one of the Lisa Calle's Design Society videos to find out about the challenge for the new year.

- make a list of the order that I want projects to be completed as there is a lot going on in my head at the moment.

Linking up to To Do Tuesday #107 over at Quilt Schmilt

 

Karin

Christmas 2024

It's been almost a month since I put up a blog post. It's been unbelievably busy around here with Christmas activities and a little bit of quilting.

I did continue to stitch sections on my background filler project. Somehow I could not get into it, just did not flow and could not find that zen mode I usually stitch with. This project was in serious trouble! Complicating too was an ongoing eye issue which needed attention, so I had to take it a bit easy on the detailed stitching. I won't show photos of that for a while as I am unsure whether or not this might become a show quilt. So far I am thinking probably not, as some sections are a bit sloppy, but we'll see how it looks when it is finished. Finished the section that I had most trouble with and am hoping that it will be a bit easier from now on. We shall see...

As I struggled with my stitching at times I also did some piecing on the side. Decided to not make a fox quilt but branch out into the Forest Friends quilt from a pattern by Elizabeth Hartman. Decided to make a baby quilt using my favourite fabric from Shannon Brinkley called the Dryad Collection. Made two more blocks

Another fox...and then the rabbit

All was well until I hit the nose area...what a hassle! I reckon I did that section about four times before it was somewhat right. Never mind, from a distance it looks ok. Will need to make another rabbit but might do the hedgehog in between. Decided that I will do one or two blocks per month as they are fiddly and need some patience. Eventually I will get this done.

January is fast approaching and I have got a few other things on the go. As I am participating in Lisa Calle's Design Society there will be some tasks coming my way. We will be making a scrappy Courthouse block quilt, so I will need to continue with those blocks and I also think there is an additional challenge involving an Ohio Star block. Will find out the specifics in January.

Lots to do...charity quilts need to be done and I also need to prepare for another FMQ workshop as well as continuing on my own projects. Still have my little pink baby quilt to finish...maybe I will do that over Christmas. The next few days will be taken up with Christmas preparations (still need to do all the food shopping and probably should do some cleaning 😅)

Hoping you all have a wonderful Christmas and a very Happy New Year. 

Karin

 

 

Karin

Pastel Baby Quilt

I did make good on my intention to use that very old pastel leftover fabric to construct another little baby quilt. This is what I came up with

...affectionately called 'The Ugly Duckling'

Not super fantastic, but that's all that I had. Cut the leftovers of the pastel fabric into 3-1/2in squares, added some whites and then put it into that very simple layout using up all of the dusty pink fabric.

Now to make it spectacular...

Used a ruler from Bethanne Nemesh to put some simple curves into the squares. The ruler is called Lilac Lines and got that S curve on the end. It fits both a 3in square and a 2in square.

Working with it is not difficult however given that you are working on such a smallish defined edge there is some slippage. I counter act that with having the Handiquilter grips on the back but in addition also put that white grippy material under it to make doubly sure that it does not slip.

You could of course do this design freehand but it just comes out so pristine with the ruler

Was reasonably fast as you can do this design continuously.

Looks really nice and even. Have done more work on it in the week, but forgot to take a photo. I filled the narrow sashing with strings of pearls, but then had to wait as I needed to order more thread in the particular colour Aurifil 50/2 (2420-Blush) I was quilting with. 

While the thread has arrived by now, I also have continued on my background filler project which has not been fun as it does not want to flow. Today I spent some more time planning that project out and did a bit more quilting on it, but it is going super slow. Will finish what is on that bobbin and then get back to the pastel quilt to finish off the border. Planning to put a playful feather arrangement into the border, which should be good fun.

Feeling slightly stressed with all the projects I have on the go (and I seem to be adding new ones as we speak). With Christmas approaching the weeks are getting busier and busier...so much to do! I am hoping to knock off the background filler project over the Christmas period as this is the one that is dragging me down and holding me up. Hopefully with all the planning I did around that today, it should get a bit easier!

Karin

To Do Tuesday #99

A few weeks ago I set the following goals:

- continue making those strippy blocks, so that I can get on cutting out the sashing and put all this together

- continue on the background filler project

Well, I did continue on the strippy quilt and managed to finish the quilt top

It turned out very bright and colourful and I was very happy to have persisted with the orange strips. Initially I thought it would not be enough fabric but then managed to think that through and work out exactly how I could make this work. Had about an inch left of the fabric after cutting! Nervewrecking, but paid off!

After that I did a bit of planning as I am somewhat overwhelmed with all the tasks that I am setting for myself. Also could not do any freemotionquilting as I had a stye in my eye, so could not actually focus on anything. 

My planning was fruitful: made a pledge to myself to dig into my scrap stash for 2025 (see post HERE). Over the last two days then I made a start with that very pastel fabric that I had left over from an earlier project. When I say earlier it usually means years ago and this was no exception. 

Cut the leftovers into 3-1/2in squares with my Accuquilt cutter and sewed it all together in a very simple layout.

Not great, but it is used! The colours are really very pastel, somewhere between pink and apricot and today I had to go hunting for some backing ( I had not bought this fabric myself but had won a whole stack of it in a quilt show years ago...definitely not my colours). This 'ugly, little duckling' will look spectacular once I am finished with it. Planning on enhancing this with some detailed freemotionquilting. At the moment I am thinking playful feathers in the border and curves to de-accentuate the squares. We'll see...

This will be the only quilt I am going to be working on before I get back to my background filler project. I have been stuck with that project for a bit, not just because of my eye but also because I did not like what I had originally planned to do. Yesterday then the solution came to me and I will now continue this probably from next week. I may or may not enter that into a show next year which now has a dead line of end of February so I actually need to get cracking on that. Always nerve wrecking as I am unsure whether that will turn out or not. But really, at the end of the day it does not really matter whether I enter or not. Finished will be great so I can continue with the other projects that I have got sitting there.

So, my tasks are a bit boring for next week:

- pin and baste the little pastel quilt and get started on quilting the center

- draw out a plan of attack for the background filler project, e.g. decide what elements go into what section of the quilt; if time allows, start with the next section that now has found its place.

- make some decisions on which quilt can go up for sale on Etsy and add them as a listing.

Apart from this I want to start preparing for Christmas rather than always leaving everything up to the last minute...haha, famous last words!

Linking up to To Do Tuesday #99 over at Quilt Schmilt

Karin