A Matter of Scale–A Sketchbook Assignment

March 12, 2014
Sketchbook, Doodle, Free Motion Quilting

Sketchbook, Doodle, Free Motion QuiltingCHOOSING MOTIFS AND SCALE

One of the challenges (and great joys) of free motion quilting is choosing a motif to match the style of our quilt tops.   (If you need any ideas…I think you can find a few HERE…)  Once you’ve chosen a motif,  the next decision is a matter of scale.  How big will you stitch the patterns?  I tend to quilt very small and fill even very large quilts with lots of quilting, but more open quilting is beautiful, too.    The important thing is to be consistent throughout the quilt.  (NOTE–The amount of quilting does not affect the softness of the quilt.  Softness is a function of batting and washing.)

DOODLE FIRST

All of the tutorials and motif patterns found on Tuesdays here at The Inbox Jaunt are stitched small for purposes of photography.  However, each of the patterns can be stitched in a much larger scale.  First practice the pattern by doodling it in different sizes on paper.  It’s important to get the feeling of the larger sweeps you will make to quilt the motif larger.

If you keep the motifs about the size of your hand or smaller, you should be able to move your quilt to create the pattern.  If the motif is too large, it will become unwieldy to handle the bulk of the quilt in your domestic sewing machine–We’ll leave very large motifs to the long armers!

Sketchbook, Doodle, Free Motion QuiltingHOMEWORK

Your assignment today… (should you choose to accept it)…Find a very large sheet of paper and try drawing any of the patterns in different sizes.   If you don’t have a large notepad, use a sheet of newspaper or a piece of freezer paper-anything will do.

Sketchbook, Doodle, Free Motion QuiltingFirst doodle the motif in a small size, then double it, then triple it.  When it gets larger does it still look as nice or do you need to add a little echo stitching.   Which size seems to fit your quilt top best?   Which size do you think you would be able to accomplish while moving a bulky quilt?  Try several of the tutorials and see which ones look best in larger sizes.

Keep Doodling and Noodling!

Lori

PS…All images, tutorials and information are the property of Lori Kennedy at The Inbox Jaunt and are intended for personal use only.  Feel free to re-blog and Pin and tell all your friends with attribution to The Inbox Jaunt.  For all other uses, please contact me at lckennedy@hotmail.com

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