Good Morning, Quilters!
Today’s machine quilting tutorial is for the Welsh Leaf motif! Welsh quilting is one of my favorite styles of quilting and has influenced my machine quilting designs. I am always inspired by the easy-going style of the Welsh quilting tradition. (Follow my Welsh Quilting Pinterest Board HERE)
The History of Welsh Quilting
I really enjoyed this video on the history of Welsh quilting and the women who made them by Jen Jones. (Jen Jones was a collector and dealer of Welsh quilts)
The quilts were made from 1850-1940 by women who, before the war, had few employment options. Ms. Jones prefers the imperfections of Welsh quilts over the machine quilted versions of today. She believes modern quilter emphasize perfection too much! LOLOLOL! No worries here!
You might also like this Welsh Leaf tutorial
The Spiral Welsh Leaf Motif Tutorial
Begin by marking a square, or use the seam lines of a square or rectangular block as a guideline. Mark a diagonal line across the block. For the first several leaves, you may also want to mark the outline of the leaf.
Stitch the curved lines of the leaf.
Stitch into the leaf along the center line. Add a spiral.
Stitch to the outside of the spiral, ending on the center line above the first spiral.
Stitch along the center line and add enough spirals to fill the leaf. Add a spiral along the centerline.
Stitch down along the center line and add a spiral. Stitch on the inside of the spiral to end on the center line.
Complete the spirals and add echo stitching around the leaf.
Take a Tip from Jen Jones
The key to machine quilting is to enjoy the process and don’t fret about perfection!
Don’t worry if your spirals aren’t perfect! It’s the imperfections that add character to the quilt and give it a hand drawn look.
More Welsh Leaf Motifs
Next week: Variations of the Welsh Leaf Motif
What about YOU?
Is YOUR quilting too perfect?
Are YOU from Wales or have any Welsh ancestry?
Have YOU tried Ancestry DNA? (I think I’m going to do it!)
Do YOU prefer personality over perfection?
We’d LOVE to hear!
Happy Stitching,
Lori
PS…All tutorials, images and information are the property of Lori Kennedy Quilts.com and are intended for personal use only. Feel free to re-blog, pin or share with attribution to Lori Kennedy Quilts. For all other purposes, please contact me at lori@lorikennedyquilts.com. Thanks!
24 comments
Marly
I have a book entitled “Making Welsh Quilts” by Mary Jenkins and Clare Claridge, with the sub-title “The textile tradition that inspired the Amish?” Mostly the quilts shown are made of heavily patterned fabric – much paisley – and the quilting hardly shows in the photos. I always focused on the patchwork and had never noticed the quilting until I read your article here. Interestingly some of the quilted leaves are a good 12″ long and filled, not only with spirals, but also cross hatching and echoing.
My father was from Wales and although we spent many summer holidays with his parents I never knew there was a Welsh quilting tradition until I started to quilt myself.
Thank you Lori for drawing my attention to Welsh quilting as opposed to the patchwork style.
Deb
This looks fun to try! Also love to see your designs on Instagram, always makes me smile. I am very new to quilting (less than one year) and just starting to machine quilting. I would love to purchase 1 of your books (to start), but would like your recommendation on which of the 4 you would recommend?
Jeanette
Definitely personality over perfection for me! I love the Welsh leaf motif and used it on the border of the quilt I just finished. It was such a fun and relaxing design and it looks like I actually knew what I was doing! Thank-you so much for all your quilting ideas. I have both your books and I keep coming back to them, doodling and learning new designs. I do things now I would never have tried a couple years ago.
Suzanne
Is my quilting too perfect?????????? HAH! In my dreams! Sometimes my lack of “perfection” bothers me but mostly is doesn’t. It’s been a tough battle but I’m gradually learning to not compare my work to others, to keep on doing my best and remember that practice may not always make perfect, but it does bring improvement.
I don’t think there’s a single Welsh cell in me but many years ago my mother told me we were a hodgepodge of English, Irish, Scottish, German and Scandinavian. Like you, I’ve toyed with the idea of trying Ancestry, maybe I will.
I never thought of it this way before, but as far as I’m concerned, personality is the real achievement. Perfection (if it is indeed possible) is only for competition quilts.
Thanks for the new leaf design Lori, it’s VERY pretty!
Kathie Banks
I am a typical melted American. Welsh is one of many nationalities among my ancestors. Sadly, I never knew of a quilter in the stories told about how my parents’ families got to this country. My Russian grandmother’s father was a tailor. She supported herself by doing alterations in prominent department stores and worked in Hollywood design houses. When she visited us, she would bring lush silks and brocades from the cutting room floors. Sewing is absolutely in my blood. I find that quilting my own quilts is a natural part of the challenge of taking my heritage a step further. I love the casual look of your doodle quilting and since I’m far from artistic with a pencil, your imperfect motifs suit me fine. I’m gonna follow your link and learn more about Welsh quilting. Thanks
Rhonda
I have never heard of Welsh quilting until I read your post. Guess I’ll have to look into it. My quilts have lots of personality. Wink, Wink. My father’s mother was Welsh Irish. I have traced my ancestors on Ancestry and I did the DNA testing. It confirmed a few things I knew, but I also learned some new facts about my DNA ancestry. Searching for ancestors is fun, just beware, not all the information posted on Ancestry is correct. Spelling of names is the biggest problem, especially when searching for Polish ancestors.
Laura Barnes
I’ve been looking for some new ideas to quilt the inside of leaves. This motif is perfect.
Brenda Perry
Thank you for this great motif! I’ve been doodling it and I’m trying to join them in a back-and-forth line as you showed them. When I doodle it, I end up back at the bottom. I think I’ve figured out that in order to join them you would not do the 2nd side of the echo on all the leaves until the end. I would love to see how you do this!
rattie4fun
Yes, we are Welsh (among other things) and took a trip to Wales. OH MY I couldn’t wait to come home and make a quilt inspired by the Cardiff Castle. I still have not done it. I didn’t know there was such a thing as Welsh Quilting. I’m pretty excited to find out about! Now I’m going to check out the video and links.
Ellen
Yay! A new motif! I love it when you do related motifs, like the 2 kinds of Welsh leaf, and all the things you can do with the basic honeycomb. I am free-motion quilting after a 2-year hiatus, and guess what I did for inspiration? Read a couple of years’ worth of your blog, then reread both of your books! I ended up designing my own little motifs!
I had started with stippling because it was the only thing I could figure out how to do, and was bored out of my skull–I hadn’t even heard of the walking foot yet. Finding your blog with its step-by-step photos and clear explanations is what gave me the courage to try new things.
One of the things I love about the books is that they have the same designs from the blog, because it is so easy to practice with the book open flat nearby.
Thank you for convincing so many of us that we really can free motion quilt! If you get bored sometime, I’d love a sweet pea, and maybe a cute little frog…
Marta
Oh my gracious,. first I ever heard of Welsh quilting. …where have I been !! So learn something new today, YES!
As far as I have been able to discover, all ancestors came from England in the very late 1700’s. I just finished a charity lap quilt last night. There were so many mistakes in it, I was wondering whether I should actually send it. I christened it Puckerville. I will look at it again today and see if it can be improved. If not, I am going to join Arvilla’s club. : ) Lori , these leaves look exactly like what I need for son’s quilt. I am cutting out the blocks this week. It is fabric with huge leaves design on it. He picked it out cause he loves leaves.
Zelda Lawrence-Curran
I am a Welsh quilt pattern designer and my designs work within the quilting tradition from the valley my family lived and worked in. It is unique in Wales, as far as I am aware, insofar as we didn’t really focus on the quilting stitches (it’s straight-line, stitch in the ditch sort of stuff) but piecing and colour placement was EVERYTHING. The styles in the valleys on either side of ours were much more in the Welsh mainstream, like Lori’s showing here.
There is a vast choice of things which are still ‘Welsh quilts’ although it’s true that these lovely quilting patterns are what most people think of when ‘Welsh Quilts’ are mentioned (note – ‘s’ not ‘c’ 🙂 ) These days I try to tread the path between the tradition *I* come from and these more intricate quilting patterns and I work with a fabulous longarmer 🙂
Thank you, Lori, for talking about my little country and making more friends for us 🙂
Betty 4 4
Thank you for the information on Welch Quilts. My great grandfather came from Wales. No wonder I love quilting, its in my DNA! LOL
Barbara Bischof
Too perfect!!!!!! I’m going to try THE leaf! I’ve just discovered some Walsh ancestry- would have tried it anyway.
Truth be told your basic grid has saved me many a time! Thank you for all your tutorials and books.
Karrie Pennington
What I truly love about your designs is the freedom to not be perfect. My quilts will never win a prize but they are fun and done with the recipient in mind (ex. Fleur-de-lis for New Orleans family, pots for my potter). I love my books and classes. Thank you
Lori Kennedy Quilts
Exactly!! Personality over perfection – or in my case, art imitating life LOL
Kay
Hi,
Will Welsh designs be included in your new book?
Thanks!!
Karen Boyd
This speaks to my heart. I will be gentler to myself and my quilting.
I use your books a lot and will continue to be your admirer!
Lori Kennedy Quilts
Just remember – whoever uses your final quilts or projects will love them because YOU made them. Not because they’re perfect 😉
Cathy
I prefer personality over perfection…I just discovered welsh quilting a few months ago and absolutely love it!! Thanks for the tutorial. Going to give it a try.
Arvilla
“Is my quilting too perfect?” 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣😂😋🤣😂👀
LAURIE BIUNDO
I agree with all your emoji’s. Besides – done is better than perfect!
Jeanette
What do you mark with so the lines come out?
Lorraine Doyno Evans
Try soap shards. They rub off easily.
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