Good Morning, Quilters!
Last week, I outlined Six Ways to Ruin Your Quilt with Quilting. For the next six weeks we will tackle the factors that lead to our overall FEAR of machine quilting. By mid-October, YOU should be a FEARLESS machine quilter–LOL (there’s no such thing as a fearless quilter–we just learn to move beyond.)
HOW TO RUIN YOUR QUILT WITH STIPPLING
Stippling is described as a wormlike design–REALLY?
Unless you are a bird or a fish, I can’t imagine worms are your favorite design?!
IN DEFENSE OF STIPPLING
I know many of you like stippling–a handful of people wrote in defense of stippling. Some like how it looks, others like the soft textured feeling it can give a quilt and a few find it relaxing to stitch.
If this applies to you–STITCH ON!
YOU are turning quilt tops into quilts and I applaud you!
YOU have chosen a motif you like and you are developing your quilt esthetic–and that is my goal as a quilt teacher.
I am not the quilt police or an art critic…My only goal is to help YOU on YOUR way.
“RUINED” QUILTS
To be honest, ruined is a very strong word. The primary function of machine quilting is to combine the three quilt layers into one. By that definition, meandering and stippling are perfectly functional and acceptable.
What I am referring to is a visual preference and is completely subjective!
But as long as we are stitching… why not make our quilts beautiful and add personal touches to them. (My sister loves her quilt with all the personal notes added...
WHEN/WHY I REMAIN OPPOSED TO STIPPLING
Stippling is not easy for everyone.
Many people (like me) find stippling very difficult. Stippling is not necessarily an easy motif to learn. There are no stopping points and no concrete steps to follow. I wrote about it –Why so Many of us Can’t Stipple or Meander HERE. Many beginner quilters have been frustrated by this “Beginner Motif”.
There are many easy motifs.
I am also against stitching allover Stippling or Meandering as a default motif-instead of learning a variety of stitches. There are over 100 Step by Step tutorials provided FREE here. Many of them are quite easy to learn with a little doodling.
Quilting should enhance the piecework or appliqué.
The right motif can enhance the patchwork or appliqué below, and all over stippling rarely does the trick.
TRUNK SHOW
Imagine The Poppy Quilt with stippling or meandering all over it?
The quilting on this is very simple. Any beginner could quilt this. The wavy lines give the poppy dimension and enhance the appliquéd flower. Allover stippling would have ruined this quilt by flattening the entire design.
Next, imagine my Modern Log Cabin quilt with Stippling or Meandering…
What do YOU think?
The quilting on this is as easy (or easier) than meandering–and it enhances the quilt below. Would meandering have been as effective?
What about the Wedding Ring Quilt?
Would meandering have enhanced this quilt?
You know my answer–but what do YOU think?
WHAT ABOUT SOFT TEXTURE?
The quilt motif has nothing to do with the feel of the quilt–let’s save that for Open Line Friday!
INSTEAD OF STIPPLING….
I hope that I have convinced you to move beyond meandering.
Stay tuned tomorrow for easy alternatives
What about YOU? Do YOU love the look of meandering? Do YOU find it relaxing to stipple? Do YOU find it difficult to stitch? Do YOU think it enhances quilts? Have YOU ever “ruined” a quilt?
We’d LOVE to hear!
#MeanderNoMore
Lori
PS…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!
77 comments
Pjam
I think it is beyond rude to suggest that meandering and stippling ruin a quilt. It is ALL a matter of personal taste and to suggest your personal taste is more valid than mine by having a whole tirade against meandering is inexcusable. Just because I detest the look of featherquilting doesn’t give me any license to suggest that it isn’t appropriate to finish a quilt that way.
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Ann Bain
Wow… this comes across as so defensive. It’s lori’s blog, and as such I believe she is entitled to her opinion. That’s it, an opinion. No one held a gun to your head and made you read it, right? I love to quilt, but seriously dial it back a bit. It’s not like anyone said you couldn’t stipple! Stipple, meander, whatever. Quilting is supposed to be a happy place.
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Cyndi Spurlin
I thought for a long time before I finally decided to comment. I had plenty of time to think as I meandered away on my current quilt. 🙂
I decided in January 2015 that I was going o make all 5 of my grandkids a quilt for Christmas. I had not made a quilt in at least 15 years, and I had never machine quilted. I was searching for tutorials on FMQ and stumbled upon your blog. Your beautiful FMQ designs just amazed me! They gave me the courage to attempt something besides straight line quilting. I finished my 5 Queen sized quilts – three of them had no stippling. Then I made a chevron with every other row done in stippling and all the other rows had straight line stitching. The last quilt was a Dr Who quilt. I didn’t want the quilting to stand out. I had spent so much time on the blocks and I wanted them to be the focal point not the quilting. So I stipple quilted the entire quilt. It was perfect for that quilt.
This year I have learned to quilt feathers. I quilted feathers on the blocks made with solid fabric and stippled the printed fabric sections. Thats how I’m quilting my current quilt. The feathered quilting is the focus – the stippling gives the printed fabric some texture without taking focus off the feathers.
I worry every time I quilt that I will ruin my quilt top – but I have never worried about the stippling ruining it. I guess my point is that stippling has its place in my quilting. I love your quilting designs, and if I ever make a quilt out of all solid fabrics you can bet I’ll be doodling away some of your beautiful designs. But I am mostly making queen or king sized quilts and all of them have more printed fabric than solid. For me a mix of custom quilting and stippling is an easy, beautiful way to add texture without taking the focus off the custom quilting.
I’m still a fan – I purchased and loved both of your craftsy classes. Just a little disappointed at the bash on stippling.
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It sounds like you have a plan for how and when you use your stippling-you mix it with other motifs and that sounds lovely! I agree that there is a place for stippling when it is thoughtfully used. Thank you for writing- I am sure your quilts are beautiful and well-loved! I’m not trying to be a bully–just trying to encourage quilters to be thoughtful in their quilt choice.
Ramblings from Randi
I’m in the “stippling/meandering has it’s place and is a good tool in our box camp”. I will continue to happily use it when and where I think it’s appropriate on a quilt. When done properly, it can be the perfect quilting to complement a quilt top. That said, I have see it used when something more custom would have been a much better choice. It’s not right for every quilt. The thing that I am disliking the most, and getting tired of seeing is over quilting something. So many pretty quilts are just quilted to death and I think that “ruins” a quilt just as much as some think stippling does. Just because you can put quilting stitching in every little space of fabric in a quilt doesn’t mean you should. Just my opinion. 🙂 But, if that is what someone else likes, and that is how they want their quilt, then they should do that regardless of how those of us that don’t like that style think. Just because I personally don’t care for over quilting doesn’t make it wrong for everyone. As long as the quilting is nicely done, it all comes down to personal preference and there’s plenty of room in the quilting world for all types and styles of quilting. 🙂
Jean Probasco Garces
I agree with you wholeheartedly! Many of the quilts I see, I also think are overquilted. I agree with Lori that the quilting should complement the design.
Lorraine Doyno Evans
I definately agree with you that non-meandering motifs enhances the quilt. I think many people default to meandering because you don’t have to think about what you are going to do in each square or border and it is relatively quick. I’ve been following you for about 2 yrs now and even with the doodling and tutorials I find it hard on my own what to decide on. If I am duplicating exactly I am fine, but coming up with something myself, I am very indecisive or it just doesn’t come to me. I’ve resorted to pinning everything I like for FMQ in Pininterest!!!
Lori Kennedy
It is hard to make that leap–and I think it only comes by doing many quilts. Everyone is indecisive–until they are forced to be decisive. Sometimes a deadline is helpful. I love Pinterest, too!
Di
I have used stippling and meandering for many years, usually in combination with other motifs. It is, as others have said, a fast all over pattern and great for busy fabrics or where a quilt will be heavily used. It was the first free motion design I learnt and I never has a problem doing it.. After hearing other quilters describing their frustrations learning stippling I thought about why it is easy for me. I realised it is the same design sometimes used in cake decorating, known as cornelli work, which I often used when I decorated cakes a long time ago. The pattern was already in my brain. Shows the importance of doodling and practice.
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Perhaps we should all take up cake decorating!
quilter1522
Hi Lori, I’m a day behind, but I wanted to chime in on this. My first FMQ experience was all meandering and with lots of practice I became in expert in that, then I learned FMQ feathers, then discovered your blog with its rich array of FMQ designs. I still love meandering for overall quilting on busy prints when I need to get something done fast or where all my time and efforts won’t really show. But for solid (or mostly solid) fabrics and negative space, your tutorials have opened a new world of options for my FMQ work and have inspired some really fun quilting for me. What I really love is when you show how you tie designs together to create a piece of FMQ artwork, like your mystery quilt-a-longs, or table-topper/vase quilts, or even the “Meander No More” piece pictured on today’s blog. So, all this to say meandering does have a place in my FMQ skills but continuing to add all sorts of pictorial, linear, and fill designs helps keep me excited about quilting and gives me more options as I improve my skills. Thanks for the daily dose of inspiration!
Diana @ Red Delicious Life
I absolutely agree! While stippling came easy to me, I rarely, if ever, use it. If I do, it’s only in a small area and never over the entire quilt. Up until last month, I’d never used an all-over design on a quilt. From my very first quilt I chose different motifs for different areas of a quilt. Thanks for all of your amazing tutorials!
Melanie McNeil
Meandering works well for some quilts, not for most. Thanks for the post. Now I need to explore your blog more…
Denise
I dislike stippling and avoid it like the plague. Quilt on.
Laura
I only use stippling for the t-shirt quilts that I make professionally. I change the thread color for each shirt and find that stippling is the easiest for me to do and it also doesn’t compete with the shirt motif. I use different stitches for sashing and borders though. For my other quilts I NEVER use stippling! I’d be bored to death.
Judy
I learned FMQ at a quilt shop near me — stippling! I thought it was the be all end all. I’ve grown so much, and learned from your blog. I doodle and practice some of the motifs you designed. I quilted a bed quilt for my granddaughter with your flower motif. My grandson’s was straight lines. I have 3 – no, 4 WIP’s and I can’t wait to get to the decision making and designing the FMQ from your motifs. I practice,practice, practice until I like it, and I always warm up first. You are terrific, Lori, and I will NEVER stipple a quilt again.
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Hooray!! Your testimonial is greatly appreciated!
Andrea_R
I don’t stipple often, but I do still use it. I don’t think it’s the easiest either. I do sometimes use it as a filler, but really mostly on prints where most fancy stitching would be lost. The only other alternatives are pantographs for these quilts (tho I have seen at least one quilt where the all over pantograph – while beautifully done – detracted from the piecing completely.
Recently I did two charity quilts, both disappearing nine patches in loud prints, both bordered in Stonehenge fabric (near solids). On one, I stippled / meandered all over the print. I did not quilt the border. It was poly filling, and the border was 6″.
On the other, I did a loop-de-loop, similar to stippling but you CAN cross your lines. I find that design much easier. Again, I skipped the border and just did the over the prints.
In the end, you couldn’t tell the difference between what was quilted on each quilt unless you flipped it to the back or looked closer. The overall texture was the same.
Mostly, I do custom quilting on pieces where it really needs it. I’m a fast quilter and honestly stippling is not that fast.
helenmarie
If it weren’t for e-2-e meandering I would have a huge backlog of customer quilts. I find it very easy and relaxing… I use a laser light and pantogram. Most of my customers are grandmothers making gift or donation quilts and they just want it simple and cheap. I do have a couple of other easy pantograms that I use for variety. My “business” is my hobby so if I am not enjoying what I’m doing then it isn’t worth the pennies I earn.
When I try free-motion quilting I find I get distracted by the pattern, color or some feature of the quilt and get totally lost.
I have done some custom work outlining an applique feature, cross hatching and/or tiny stippling to accent a quilt’s feature. But I find it very stressful and time consuming and my customers don’t want to pay more than .o1/in … which means I earn almost nothing for an awful lot of work! So mostly, I stick with meandering.
suzanprincess
I think the description that it looks like worms gives an underserved negative connotation to stippling, in itself an unpretty word–to me it’s not worms, it’s French lace! That’s what I mastered in cake decorating, and transferred that to immediate competence in a different medium with stippling or meandering. To me it’s easy and quick, and in some places looks great. But certainly not everywhere! I’ve been enjoying learning new motifs from you, Lori, and look forward to mastering more. But French lace will still have a place in my library of stitching.
shoshana
lori, thank you for all your votes of confidence, especially this one about stippling, no matter how hard i try, it doesn’t come out nice, even or enhancing. i would like to be able to do it, but am quite pleased not to have to do it!!! thanks for all your lessons, they’re WONDERFUL!
shoshana
Dolores Ingraham
I have been a hand quilter all my life but a quilt takes me 6 months to finish so I am looking forward to learning how to machine quilt. I took a class but it was stippling and I couldn’t do it so I gave up. Now I will try again. I have a closet full of quilt tops that I would like to pass on to my grandchildren. Thanks for your hard work.
Barbara Sindlinger
There is a time and place for stippling/meandering but it breaks my heart when I’m at a quilt show and I see this beautifully appliqued or pieced quilt with an all over design on it when some customized quilting would have made it so much better. But like you, it’s not my quilt. I only meander/stipple on charity quilts or small micro meandering on backgrounds around feathers and such. I find it hard.
linda-kaye
Thanks Lori – after reading this I feel so relieved. I’ve been quilting for about 5 years and can’t seem to master stippling! I thought there was something wrong with me lol. I look at my quilt blocks under plexiglass and do a point by point or find a design to fit the block and it’s worked pretty well. For me stippling is frustrating!
onecreativefamily
I have a problem trying to decide what quilting I want to do on each quilt. I am relatively new to blogs and just found this one. It is great. Making me rethink. How do you decide how to quilt your quilts? I know each quilt is different, and sometimes I will have one that “talks to me”. I just know what I want to do with that quilt. You have given me something to think about. Thank you.
Ann Bain
I think “what” to quilt is also difficult, but for me it is part of the process of becoming a better quilter, just like learning how to pick fabrics. I am trying to get past my perfectionism and just do the best I can and know I will learn and grow! I have MANY unfinished quilt tops because I was afraid to “ruin” them. I think many a quilting teacher told me in order to get better you have to be willing to accept you are going to “suck” for a while!! It’s just nice to know there are so many of us with the same problem!! Adult learners hate to “suck” at something!!
Melanie
Thank you for your instructions and encouragement, Lori! I have a stack of quilt tops that languishly await my conquering of FEAR. Oh, that F word stops us short! Thank you for this series. I am a new follower and beginning machine quilter. Meandering sort of reminds me of a mattress pad, but I like tiny stippling in some small backgrounds. I hope, with practice, I can learn even though I can’t draw a decent stickman!
Amy N.
I still think meandering and stippling have there place. I love all your examples in this post of alternate designs. In addition, I noticed that all of the quilts you showed have tone on tone, solids or less busy prints. I agree that these examples all require special motifs and designs to enhance the piecing. The spacing of your design examples would give a soft texture. I also agree that meandering and stippling are not easy for all. In order to do it well, you have to change directions with ease and maintain even spacing while making the curves look randomly placed–not easy without lots of practice. In my opinion, meandering is great for quilts with a blended look comprised of busy prints. With that being said, I don’t use meandering on all of my quilts, and several of them have no meandering. A portion of them have some meandering. I do like to grid quilt too. Some quilters don’t like this style too with the remark that they don’t want the quilt to look like a mattress pad! I think grid quilting looks great on certain types of quilts too as it can keep your attention focused on the piecing rather than the quilting. I use it a lot on quilts with lots of reproduction fabrics. As a variation of grids, straight lines like in your sample above are great too. I use lots of combinations of that style in my quilting too. Overall, I like a huge variety of quilting and typically use more than one style in most of my quilts. I don’t like to exclude or devalue any style as I think they each have a role to play (sometimes you need followers to make the leaders shine–and the leaders can be either fabrics or quilt designs). Meandering is a follower!
Ana Maria Perna
I also find stippling, meandering very difficult: difficult to keep it consistent and in the same size, and of course difficult to find the way out.
I’ve been following you for a while now, and find it much more rewarding and fun to create some stitching that emphasises the piecing and by doing it bit by bit, it is much easier to complete in sections.
I do everything on a small, non electronic home machine, (Elna) and I practise making placemat sets. I also keep a small copy-book to practise doodling and resort to samples already practised for inspiration.
Thank you Lori.
Cheryl
I am not a fan of stippling either. I would rather see a loop-de-loop than a stipple. I think it is the fast way out and done so in a rush to get to that next quilt. It is mostly what I see on quilts on etsy and although some are done rather nicely with nice rounded edges, I look at the quilts and see in my head what the possibilities could have been. I know there is so much more time, thought and effort in quilting separate spaces and designs but the quilts I make I hope are going to be cherished and passed down and I want the quilting to be just as beautiful as the piecing and fabric. I will never be as confident and accomplished as you, but you have opened so many doors and ideas that I never would have thought of. I enjoy trying new things. Thank you Lori for all your help and ideas!!
Janet T
Yes, I have ruined a quilt by stippling!! I am so upset about it, I am ready to rip out the quilting (king size) and redo. I would use different batting also. That didn’t help the situation.
Lori Kennedy
Janet-Chalk it up to experience and move on. If you really love the quilt design, it will probably be faster to piece the entire quilt over again.
Education has a price–sometimes the price is time. You have learned something from this quilt!
ginnymayblog
Stitch-in-the-ditch is the first method of quilting I learned, then stippling. Stitch-in-the-ditch is of course a mainstay, but I feel that stippling has its place too, just like any of the other methods of quilting. I do find it the easiest one, and tend to use it for quilts that will be washed all the time or otherwise “abused.” That being said, I just love all the motifs we’re learning from Lori, and am working hard to learn more!
phyllis
I enjoy stippling and I find it easy to do, relaxing, and (unfortunately) my go-to design to finish my quilts. I have done both a tight and loose meander as well as a combination with success on my domestic and mid-arm machines. Thanks to you-NO MORE! I love, love, love your blog and tutorials! I am so glad I found you and cannot wait to use some of your designs. I agree that stippling, while a great design, has it’s place and is not appropriate for every quilt. On to bigger and better things!
Shar
We all spend a lot of time and money on beautiful fabrics sewn into wonderful quilt tops. When I get to the quilting stage, sometimes I just want to quilt it and move on to the next project. But now after I finish piecing, I spend a couple days doing some thing else in my studio – maybe cleaning up or mending (well, not very often) or some other mundane task and during that time I look at my quilt top. What does it make me feel like? Are there a lot of lines or curves? What might enhance the design? You can buy some clear mylar products that you can use an eraseable marker on. Try some different designs on the mylar and then pin them to your quilt top. There are lots of other methods and Lori has made suggestions in her blog, too. Even looking at other quilts might help you get ideas. Thanks for this discussion, Lori.
Lori
I really like to stipple and meander. I find it wonderfully relaxing and I can do it nicely. The look when the whole quilt is quilted that way, however, is just plain boring. And I do have a quilt from a few years ago with stippling as the only motif – small, close together stippling – the quilt is pretty stiff. My son calls it The Cracker Quilt; he says it’s like sleeping under a soda cracker. I think there are much more beautiful ways to quilt our quilts and I’ve learned quite a few motifs from you, Lori. Thanks so much!
Sharon - IN
Wait. Light bulb moment. Your designs are easier than stippling? Up to this moment of reading this blog post, I have always thought since I’m a poor stippler there would be no way I could do Lori’s designs. Guess I better get out of that mind frame and give your designs a try!
Lori Kennedy
Oh my goodness, YES! As you can read here, many of us find stippling very difficult. Try Flower Power as a good beginner motif.
Sharon - IN
Oh gee, thanks for the recommendation for a place to start!
Mary
How refreshing and liberating! I’m not deficient in machine quilting because I can’t stipple! Yay! I’ve been quilting for about 3 years now and felt like I was missing out because I couldn’t stipple. You explained perfectly why some of us can’t master it. I also can’t do the ‘wonky’ piecing that so many are doing now. I think it’s all related! Thank you Lori for standing up for us non-stipplers! I love your blog and your Craftsy classes!
Ann Bain
I so agree with #meandernomore! I think I am perhaps too much of a linear thinker or something! I am with the person above who says it causes anxiety and this supposed to be a fun past time! IMHO it should not be considered a “beginners” stitch!
Janet Anna
Thanks for your encouragement to enhance our quilting skills and personalize our ‘babies’. I did use stippling for part of my granddaughter’s cradle set and it worked well there. But it was boring boring boring!
Choosing quilting designs is one of the hardest parts of making quilts for me–so I’m hoping to learn some tips from you. I’m almost ready to quilt a hexagon quilt and am in a quandary over it. Will you please include some tips for quilting hexagons?
Thanks!!!
Mary Smary
Stippling was a good thing to learn when I was starting to machine quilt and useful at times, but your title about it ruining quilts is right on. Five or more years ago I went to one of the big quilt shows in my state, put on by seven guilds, and among many lovely and even astounding quilts, I just felt sick to see a beautifully made Baltimore Album “ruined” by huge overall stippling. It had been done by a longarm quilter. If I’d been hired to quilt that the cheapest way – stippling in a huge loose way – I would not have done it, I’d have done custom quilting and charged for stippling – it was way too gorgeous a quilt to just stipple all over the wonderful appliqué and piecing.
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I’ve seen similar quilts and it is disheartening–Quilting can’t be an afterthought to just get the quilt done.
Pat
For everyone who struggles with using the various motifs on “the big quilt” – including myself- I think there are two specific challenges: first, what motifs to use; second, how to manage the logistics. I wonder if we could try making our “quilt sandwich” practice pieces as longer strips – say 15″ x 60″ or longer and subdividing the strips with chalk into practice squares or rectangles no wider than 12″ to allow for the strips to then be sewn together. This could be a very beautiful quilted sampler – and functional. I am thinking this could also demonstrate one way to rethink how to manage quilting the big quilt. Instead of completing the entire quilt top, leave it in strips – the size of the strips is determined by the size each quilter thinks she can comfortably manage on her machine.
I was recently a guest in a home where the bed was made with a solid- colored cream quilt (like our quilted sampler as described above) and a smaller elaborately pieced blue quilt that was folded at the bottom. Beautiful and functional as the smaller piece allows us to change out the quilt according to season or whim without making an entire bed -sized quilt -which in my case is a king.
Brenda Alburl
Stippling stresses me out! I keep thinking about not crossing over the lines and making it “flow” correctly!! I love curlicues and loops much better!
yanicka
Stippling can be nice but in small areas as part of other motifs.
dawk2012
I love to create the beautiful motifs, though they’re still not beautiful like yours. I also agree that meandering is not appropriate for all pieces in order to bring out their best. I did learn to meander as a beginner and have been told that I do it very well. I find that when I am in a hurry to complete a baby quilt or donation project, and the different motifs don’t come to me for how to quilt it, I will often default to meandering. I always do something unique for the borders though. My meandering is not tiny–I don’t like that either–it’s anywhere from 1-2 inches, and I can cover a baby quilt top in less than an hour. It works well for me, and I find it relaxing. Most importantly, while I prefer unique and more creative motifs when possible, getting a project completed is often my goal.
Pat in WNY
I find meandering and stippling very difficult to achieve though I’ve seen some that were nicely done. Only time I’ve ever done an overall meander/stipple was on a vintage triangle top that was poorly machine stitched and I figured that the small meandering would help hold all those seams together. It worked!
Barb Hauck
Great post, Laurie. I like the quilting on your log cabin quilt and would like to try something like that on a LC quilt I want to quilt up this fall. Could you write up how you did yours? Thanks so much–for all you do.
Ness
My head can not stipple… It doesn’t like it and the aimless wandering gives me anxiety bad! Grit teeth, scrunched burning shoulders… Not for me, I need a direction in mind! Lol! A beautiful design and the echo stitches lulls me right into a trance like calm… Happy and content.
Carla Mehner
So glad you wrote this. I’ve always heard that stippling was easy but I found it very difficult. I didn’t even try any other type of quilting because I thought if I can’t do the “easy” quilting, I wouldn’t be able to move up to more difficult quilting. This is so freeing. Thank you. Now I can move on!
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Join the #meandernomore club!
Gretchen W
I agree with you, but it took me way too long to realize there was more out there than stippling. I used it as my only motif for years. Now I’m having more fun and quilting has become my favorite part of making a quilt. I do have a lot of trouble getting started on a new quilt. So many choices.
Dee
I’m a beginning DMQ and I find stippling very hard. Thanks for encouragement and the great lesson above. I think your examples are easier and look much better. Just need to practice,practice,practice!
kris perez
It’s so nice to know that I’m not the only who cannot meander/stipple. I quilt my own quilts and while it may take me longer to do them, the process of working out motifs to use across the top is fun and very satisfying. Looking forward to your next installment.
Mary Fate
I enjoy and love the look of stippling and meandering. However, I do agree with you that it isn’t appropriate for everything. I’m an eager beginner who does try new motifs. I don’t want everything I quilt to look the same. Besides I get bored easily. I follow you for the courage to keep trying new designs.
Mary B
I think stippling has its place, just like everything else. I like it, but on a limited basis. I prefer the look of free motion quilting, but seem to be unable to FMQ anything larger than a table topper or table runner. When I try larger quilts, I run into all kinds of problems…skipped stitches, thread breakage, etc. I’m using the same set up and the same sewing machine, so it must be something I’m doing.
Gregg
I completely agree! As a quilter who is new to quilting my own quilt tops, I have found that meandering is hard. I’ve practiced it on paper and still can’t avoid boxing myself in. So for now, I’ve opted for straight line quilting that emphasizes a motif I like in the quilt pattern while I continue to practice my FMQ. Your blog and your magazine articles are helping me get there.
P.S. Thank you for the link to the discount for your Craftsy class. I signed up!
Barb Ellis
Keep up the good work Lori, like you I do not stipple. I think all over stippling spoils the look of some amazing looking quilts. I started FMQing with you a long time ago and only use stippling in a small area when you just need something that you need in the background. I love all that you have taught me and I don’t think you can ruin a quilt by doing it yourself. Can you imagine what it would cost to have all the mofits and designs in your quilt done for you. My friend is paying $150 for all over stippling on a king size quilt. I have done a Lord Of The Rings quilt and have almost each block quilted differently. I would not of been able to afford to of had it done if I had not done it myself. Be creative because when you stand back your free motion quilting just highlights the beauty of the quilt and does not hide it.
Barb Schellinger
I agree stippling can be boring but at least it is something I know how to do. Besides skill knowledge of motifs, my bigger issue is just deciding what type of quilting motif to use, especially on patterned fabric. For me, deciding on the motif is the most challenging part of a project. Many of your designs look great on non-patterned fabric and knowing which of those motifs would look good on patterned fabrics would be an informative post.
vlquilter
I agree. I’m a new quilter and feel I’ve really accomplished something just getting the quilt top done. I have no idea what type of quilting will enhance the overall look. I’ve sent 2 quilts to a long arm quilter but that can get expensive. I love the designs I see on Lori’s blog, but I still get stumped on where they should go on a bigger quilt.
dawk2012
I absolutely agree. I can easily finish a quilt project and then so often come to an abrupt halt as to how to complete the quilting. I love adding individual motifs, but it isn’t a simple thing to know what will look beautiful in a pieced or multicolor fabric quilt.
June Neigum
I totally agree, I love to piece a quilt and then it lives on my design wall for sometimes a long time until I can figure out how I am going to quilt it. Your design tuts are my go to for inspiration Just not sure which one to pick.
Gertrude
I totally agree. Even knowing how to quilt a modern quilt with solid fabrics is a challenge! And I need to come up with something soon,
Susan
I think that a lot of stippling looks like scribble. I don’t want scribble, mine or anyone else’s, on my pretty top. Not a fan at all.
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