Today’s Topic: How Should I Quilt This?
Welcome to Week Twenty Four of The Better Machine Quilt-a-long based on my book 25 Days to Better Machine Quilting.
Find all of the previous Lessons HERE.
Sign up for emails of the class HERE.
Join the private Quilting with LKQ Facebook Group HERE
Good Morning, Quilters!
If YOU’ve ever been stymied by the question, How should I quilt my quilt?–you are not alone!
Most of us struggle with this. Deciding which motifs, thread and batting to use to turn our quilt tops into quilted heirlooms is a challenge. In fact, many of us never make a decision, but instead move on to piecing a new quilt…
But fear not…we can do this!
As my mother always said, “When you don’t know where to begin, just begin!” Action is better than just thinking!
Photograph Your Quilt
I recommend you start by hanging your quilt vertically and taking photos of it. Use your phone to take photos of the entire quilt, then take close ups of each type of block and border.
Keep these photos on your phone where you can look at them frequently. This will allow your subconscious to do some of the quilt design for you.
Allover or Custom Quilting
Your first design decision is whether you want allover or custom quilting.
For Allover Quilting-you will choose one motif (maybe two) to quilt over the entire quilt top. The quilting just adds texture to the quilt. This method requires very little design time, however the quilting does not enhance the quilt top itself.
For Custom Quilting-you will choose a variety of motifs to quilt each section of the quilt with an attempt to enhance the quilt top with the quilting layer. Custom quilting adds texture and design to the quilt top. It requires a little more design time and may take slightly longer to quilt the motifs.
When to Choose Allover v. Custom Quilting
Think about who the quilt is for and how it will be used to determine Allover v. Custom Quilting.
For example, if you are making a dog blanket, allover quilting may be appropriate. On the other hand, if you are making an art quilt to hang over your dog’s bed, it might be worth the extra time to design custom quilting.
It all depends on your time and experience.
Whenever time allows, I prefer custom quilting to enhance the quilt top and add texture.
However, if it is not practical, there is nothing wrong with allover quilting.
Allover Quilting Design Tips
We will review custom quilting next week and concentrate on allover and general design tips this week.
THREAD
The most important consideration for allover quilting is thread choice!
Have you ever seen a quilt where the meandering, stippling or other allover pattern was very obvious over a quilt top? The quilter probably used the wrong weight or color thread. When doing allover quilting, the goal is to create an almost invisible texture.
Choose a lightweight thread- (60, 80, 100wt) in a color that matches the quilt fabrics as much as possible. By doing so, the quilted line will blend into the quilt and be less noticeable. All you will notice is texture. (Read more about Thread Weights HERE)
Matching the background fabrics can be a challenge especially in high contrast quilts with a lot of white. Hint—white thread is rarely the answer! Look for a thread that is medium value and create samples! Don’t skip the sample phase of quilt design!
motif
While many quilters default to meandering or stippling–this is not my favorite. Partly because I don’t like the wormlike shape (who likes worms except birds?) and partly because my brain finds it very difficult to motor plan and stitch.
There are many background fill motifs choices that are easier and prettier! More Free Motion Machine Quilting 1-2-3 includes a chapter on Backgrounds and Fills.
One of my favorite allover motif is Flower Power and variations. It’s easier to stitch than stippling and it’s prettier.
Quilt Design First Steps
Hang and photograph the quilt
Choose allover or custom quilting
Create thread samples
Audition motifs and practice doodling
More all week!
Looking forward to a busy quilt design week!
How are your applique quilts coming along?
Do YOU have a busy week ahead?
We’d LOVE to hear!
Happy Stitching!
Lori
PS…All tutorials, images and information are the property of Lori Kennedy Quilts and are intended for personal use only. Feel free to re-blog, pin or share with attribution to LKQ. For all other purposes, please contact me at Lori@LoriKennedyQuilts.com. Thank you!
Visit my Etsy shop: LoriKennedyShop for all of my books! They are ALL bestsellers!
15 comments
Karen
Thank you Lori for the great insight! I love your quilting lessons!
Carol Fisher
I just love your flower power! in fact all your flower designs!
Thanks for all the teaching!
Joanne P. Lattrell
Lori, thank you so much for this series. I came to the party late in September and have been working my way through the book. It’s been an inspiration, I have finished six small wall quilts and have overcome my fear of making a mistake. Lots of doodle practice before I quilt. I look forward to mastering machine quilting and finishing the pile of UFO quilts that need to be quilted
WordPress.com Support
I’m so delighted to hear of you progress! Quilt on!
sunnysewsit
Often, when I am stumped, I do a lot of echo quilting – sometimes in a contrasting color; other times a neutral color. There are so many parts of a block or applique you can echo quilt, and it makes the whole object, be it an applique or block just stand out. I do a lot of wall hangings and art quilts, and I prefer very colorful quilts, so often the echo quilting is with a neutral color. But I love Lori’s ideas for backgrounds and have tried many with success. We are so lucky to have her as a mentor!
Vicki Stygles Donoso
I made a quilt for my great-nephew. His dad works in transportation so I had a simple applique in rows with a car on the top row, a truck in the middle and a train on the bottom. I thought I would do a simple meander to finish it and get it mailed to them . It started off well, and then suddenly a tree appeared, and then another car on the first row and at the end, more trees. A roadway then appeared and some pebbles outlined the road. On the row with the trucks another truck appeared, and alongside the road, a house, some additional trees and a church. More pebbles separated the roadways. In the final part of the quilt containing the train applique, a barn and some sheep appeared as well as a train crossbar and some sunflowers. Then towards the bottom of the quilt was an appliqued dog (in the color of their dog) and a doghouse. I went back after quilting and added the baby’s name and birthdate to the quilted truck, added detail to the sheep and dog. I wasn’t sure afterwards if I liked the quilt, but it was inspired by many of the motifs that have appeared in your emails over the years, but the more I looked at it, the more it told a story. I sent it off and the parents loved it! So thanks for all the fun motifs that you have provided. I am not a great FMQuilter, but many are so easy and can add a lot.
Unfortunately, I did not take a photo of the finished quilt because I was so late in sending the gift off, but inspiration made me keep going and improvising the design once I started…..it was fun so again, many thanks!
Jo Stauffer
So glad you followed your ‘inner designer”! The Quilt sounds like so much fun! i”m sure the parents appreciated the extra time and extra design that their little one can have fun discovering as he grows. Great work!! Jo, Project Linus quilt maker who appreciates those designs that delight children
Marta
That feeling we get while the creativity is going on is what we love !! Great Job I am sure !
annieofbluegables
Oh Lori, you just lighten my days! You make me giggle. Who likes worms? And you are right. I love flower power. The star one does take some thinking. I guess I need more muscle memory.
I do exactly like Kathie Banks does. I have the Notability app and an Apple Pencil, it is great to be able to try out different motifs. And I have your book opened to one of several motifs marked with sticky notes.
My only problem is my quilts are usually so intricate and always on a deadline. This causes me to not be able to enjoy the process as much, because I’m in a hurry to complete it.
Thanks for your happy spirit.
Lori Korch
Hi Lori, I’m behind on doing the weekly lessons. How long will all the lessons be available to use after the 25th week is posted?
Lori Kennedy Quilts
Hi Lori!
I plan to leave the lessons up indefinitely! Work through them at your own pace!
Lori Korch
Thank you Lori!
annieofbluegables
I’m pretty sure she leaves them. Lori is one of those beautiful, generous souls who is sharing her talent because she loves what she does.
Sue
Lori, thanks for that article on threads. I get overwhelmed by so many choices!
Kathie Banks
Hi Lori, If my quilt hasn’t told me how it wants to be quilted by the time I get the top finished, I do photograph the blocks and the whole quilt. Then I open the images in a drawing program and begin to draw my ideas on the block. The beauty of doing this is I get the muscle memory and I can always go back to the original image and start over when I don’t like what I see. I usually have one of your books open to a favorite motif when I’m selecting and quilting. Thanks for your wonderful “everyman” style of quilting.
Comments are closed.