HollyAnne has set it up like this so that you actually get the hands-on experience with the motifs and particularly of doing so by quilting a large quilt on your machine. To add to the whole experience, you can officially “graduate” from FMQA (but still retain full lifetime access to the course videos) by completing two projects – a free motion quilting sampler cloth, and a mini wholecloth quilt. These motifs start off simple with meanders, and you build up the skills and confidence to end up with motifs like graffiti quilting and a variety of feathers. You can read my full review of Free Motion Quilting Academy for the full deets on this online quilting class, but in summary, you not only learn how to set up your machine and your space (and your tension!) for quilting, but HollyAnne then proceeds to demonstrate 30 different free motion quilting motifs both by doodling on paper, and also on the machine. I was especially eying off graffiti quilting – the epitome of free motion quilting for me!! So when my friend HollyAnne opened up enrolment for Free Motion Quilting Academy last year, and I was in the middle of another strict lockdown and all that jazz, I decided that it was time to learn some new motifs. I was daunted at the process, saw my friend sew some curves, and that was the lightbulb moment of how it was physically possible to make curved edges become a smooth quilt block! This was the case for sewing curves, too. I’m also a visual learner – I much prefer to be shown how to do something so that I can really wrap my head around it happens. I was self-taught with a dash of Craftsy classes (remember those?!) and played quite a bit back then… we’re talking while in Japan, and that’s over 5 years ago now! But since then, I felt like my confidence to do anything more than a loopy meander and some swirls was practically non-existent, and I didn’t know what to do to help me move my skills and confidence along. I have some prior experience with free motion quilting. Not only do I love the colours, but I also loved the experience of making it! I've linked up to Tips and Tutorials Festival.Over the past few months, I’ve made one of my most favourite quilts to date – a free motion quilting sampler quilt. *I quilt with Quilter's Dream 100% cotton batting and love the crinkled look once it's washed. I'm curious, does anyone use a Fabric Glide? If so, how do you like it? My favorite tools for free motion quilting on a domestic sewing machine are Machingers Gloves and a Supreme Slider (also in queen size). That said, once the quilt is washed* those little accidental wiggles will be harder to see. Even if you only make a slight intentional turn in your line it will look better than an accidental wiggle. If you stop in the middle of a straight line it's hard to continue in exactly the same angle you were going. My other advice when you start stitching this one is to try to only stop at a corner. If you're new to free motion quilting, or just trying a new motif, practicing by drawing on paper is a great way to build muscle memory and to practice how best to move across the space. Probably nobody will ever notice, and if they do, that's fine. I absolutely have a couple accidental quadrilaterals quilted into the baby quilt I just finished quilting. And if you accidentally make a quadrilateral instead of a triangle, no big deal! My quadrilateral in the upper left probably stands out to you, but this is black on white (your thread choice probably blends better than this!) and it's a pretty small section we're looking at. If you paint yourself into a corner, this motif is pretty forgiving if you have to cross over a line to get out of a tight space. If you notice that you accidentally make a giant (compared to your others) triangle, just work in some more of the large size triangles around the quilt. Your triangles don't have to all be the same size or shape. The most important part when quilting an all over motif is that you have a similar density of quilting across the entire space. The design is similar to an all over loop motif, but instead of curves this motif uses all straight lines. I chose an all over motif, because it's fast and I love that there aren't many threads to bury when I'm done. The quilt I'm working on this weekend is one that I can't share, but I can show you how I'm quilting it.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |