One of my favorite texture motifs is Grid Pop. I use it frequently in my quilts including Mr. Nutcracker and Fall Harvest.
The Grid Pop technique can easily be modified to create texture in different shapes.
If your quilt has a lot of diamonds, you might want to create “Diamond Pop” and if your quilt has a lot of triangles, “Triangle Pop” might suit your quilt better.
STITCH TRIANGLE POP IN A SASHING
Triangle Pop is a great motif to fill a sashing or narrow border! I recently used this in a quilt with a two-inch sashing.
DETERMINE THE PROPORTIONS
The first thing you will need to do is determine the proportions. In the sample below, I started with a two inch strip to replicate sashing.
Draw a centerline between the two drawn lines (or seamlines if this quilting a sashing strip).
(I used a Clover Chalk Triangle-but any marking tool will work!)
In this case the centerline is one inch from each line.
(If your sashing is three inches, the centerline is 1-1/2 inches away from each line.)
Use this measurement to determine the cross lines. (My crosslines were 1 inch apart.)
Mark the diagonal lines by drawing from the edge to the center lines.
STITCH THE TRIANGLES
Stitch the outlines of the triangles.
Complete the row of triangles and then stitch down the right side to finish the outline.
Fill in the small triangles with very close straight line stitching.
The trick is to carefully fill into the corners to create the definition.
CHOOSING THE RIGHT THREAD
When I am adding this motif to a quilt, my primary goal is to create texture so I don’t want to call attention to the stitching. Usually a subtle color contrast works best. I generally choose a color similar to (but not an exact match) to the background fabric. Any weight thread will work.
PLAY WITH PROPORTIONS
Once you see how well this technique looks in quilts, I’m sure YOU will want to try different proportions and shapes!
What about YOU?
Does YOUR quilt need a little “pop” of texture?
Does YOUR quilt have a lot of flying geese?
What other shape would make YOUR quilt “pop”?
We’d LOVE to hear!
Signed,
Lori Redenbacher
PS…If you like these motifs and tips, be sure to check out my book, Free Motion Machine Quilting 1-2-3 or any of my Craftsy Videos!
PPS…All tutorials, images and information are the property of Lori Kennedy at The Inbox Jaunt and are intended for personal use only. Feel free to re-blog, pin or share with attribution to The Inbox Jaunt. For all other purposes, please contact me at lckennedy@hotmail.com. Thanks!