2016 Finish-A-Long Tutorial :: Organic Straight-Line Quilting

One of my very favorite kinds of quilting is organic straight-line, and it's as low-stress as it gets. Though it's even simpler than doing actual straight lines, I've had enough people ask about it, that I figured it might be helpful to finally share my technique.

First off, a well-basted quilt sandwich is a must. Personally, I spray-baste, and that's an ideal method for this style of quilting. I press the sandwich after basting, and also occasionally during the quilting process, just to keep things as smooth as possible. Registration lines are made with my ruler and hera marker, usually about 3" apart, or whatever works well with the design at hand. Sometimes I'll have a project where the quilt's design has seam-lines that will work as registration lines, and that's better yet!

If your project is small, mark all the registration lines before beginning to quilt. On a larger quilt, you may want to mark several, stitch, then go back to mark more. Whatever size project, after marking, go sew along each of your marked lines. Don't stitch exactly on each. But use each line as a general guide, sewing along with a slight wavy motion, crossing the line randomly as you sew. I use my walking foot with a stitch length of 3.0, and my preference is to begin quilting all rows from the same end of the quilt. Honestly, at this point, I nearly always question my judgement on quilting design, but be patient. It's going to look better and better the denser you go.

Once you have quilted along all the registration lines, go back and quilt roughly down the middle of each channel. (indicated by blue stitching) The wavy lines can echo the previous lines in some spots, and move opposite them in others, varying the widths between lines as you go.

Now that you've quilted down all of the channels in the same relaxed, wavy way, go back and do it again. (indicated by green stitching) Eyeball the center as you go, weaving along. Nothing needs to be exact.

At this point, with your quilting about 3/4" - 1" apart, you can decide whether you want to start overlapping some of the quilting. It's all a matter of preference, but it's an option.

You can do a little or alot. And you can overlap most of your lines, none of them, or a mix. It's all up to you. I keep quilting down the channels until the distance between lines in some places is about 1/4".

Here's my finished piece.

Note that you can also use organic straight-line in a grid, as I did here in Pantone Meets Bias Tape. The amount of 'wiggle' in the quilting lines can be quite varied, though I try to keep the scale relatively consistent within a piece.

Let me know if you have any questions! And enjoy some low-stress quilting by going organic!

Also note that fellow FAL co-host Jennie/Clover & Violet had a similar idea as I when planning for tutorial week. Hop over to her blog on January 5 to view her video on Wavy Line Quilting.

Fabric-Inspired Quilting

Invariable, once I write and publish a post about my latest finish, I remember some little detail I really had wanted to share with you all. And with Yay or Nay, it was where I got the idea for the quilting.

I bet you can guess. Right there in the fabric itself! I loved that uneven grid in the borders as I was sewing with it, so it made perfect sense to mimic it in the quilting.

Now most of the time, I choose a quilting pattern that reflects the design of the quilt in some way, and sometimes I go with an 'overall' geometric design that just feels right, like organic or straight-line quilting or a grid. So it's a treat of sorts when I can pull a design from one of the fabrics.

Here's another example of that, in my mini Still Swooning.

See that black square in the center of the quilt? The quilting design all came from that, and I shared about it in more detail in this post, if you're interested.

So just a reminder that there's more than one element of a quilt that can influence the quilting you choose to do. What do you think influences you the most?

G.O. Quilting

After sharing my G.O. Modern quilt this week, I had several requests for more detail about my quilting of each block. Understand that it was challenging for me on many levels . . . the size of the quilt alone is large for my quilting space . . . the variety of colors in the blocks had me switching out thread colors right and left (3 shades of gray, orange, and white) . . . I'm still a newbie when it comes to free-motion quilting especially, and after struggling with turning and shifting the quilt for my work with the walking foot, I found fmq 'easier' because it called for less turning. But that meant I tried all sorts of patterns I had never attempted before.

But in the interest of full disclosure, process-sharing, and all that good stuff, I'm going to show you - up close and personal. I don't even know the names of everything I tried, but I'll tell you the best I can. So I'll start with the top row, moving left to right in each row. Here goes.

fmq, horizontal loops, brand new but felt great

 fmq, wandering swirls, one of my standards

fmq, oblong pebbles, new to me & harder than 'regular' pebbles, 

but not too bad

walking foot, vertical organic straight-line, one of my standards

walking foot, random lines, easy & quick

walking foot, horizontal organic straight-line

fmq, loops in each triangle, a little hard to fill each space evenly

fmq, vertical organic straight-line with swirls, I love this & it really flows

fmq, circle swirls around edge with "hills" in the center, both new to me and "so-so"

walking foot, echoed straight-line, easy but alot of turning

walking foot, stitch-in-the-ditch, sounds like it should be easy but hard for me to get accurate

fmq, swirly circle in a circle, new to me & pretty successful

 fmq, "flowers" in center then loops in corners, new to me &

 felt out of control

fmq, elongated tubes, not perfect but fun

walking foot, echo-stitched in each quadrant, this is the one that prompted "OH MY GOSH" the most & the last one I did 

with the walking foot

 fmq, pebbles, had done before & I felt pretty comfortable with

 walking foot, kind of in-the-ditch grid, I don't like it

fmq, wandering swirls in each square, this was fun

 walking foot, vertical wavy stitch, quick & easy

fmq, elongated tubes in sections, went well

Whew! There ya go! 

Show and Tell

A short report on my machine quilting class. . . It was really fun, and I learned a lot about needles, stitching designs, tips on marking, using a walking foot, and free-motion quilting. There was also a lot of practice. One of my goals in taking the class was to master stippling. I have in no way mastered it yet. But I’ve come a good way in just a few weeks. Practice really is helping, but I still feel pretty out of control with it, and am not quite ready to use it on a real project. Hopefully soon.

2/5/11

2/19/11

W.i.P. Wednesday

Finished Projects
Sadly, nothing. Close, but not quite.

Ongoing projects
Block-a-palooza quilt along
Finished this week’s first block, so now there are nine!

Socken quilt along
Plan to start quilting this any time. . .

Blue table runner
This runner is almost done! I adapted the Hungarian Blue pattern by Clothworks, making five ‘flower’ blocks and two ‘plain.’ The fabric is beautiful. I straight-line quilted it and the binding is nearly done. It’s turned out to be longer than a typical runner (60”), but I think my cousin will like it.

Central Park
Yay! I have cut into my Central Park Layer Cake, using the Geese in the Park pattern by Freckled Whimsy. Basically it is all large flying geese blocks, so should come together fairly quickly. Loving the fabric colors and patterns as I cut into it!

Had my second machine quilting class on Saturday and thoroughly enjoyed it. Will post more on my progress soon.

Need to do
The last project from the Prairie Women Sewing Circle is still on the list.

Am thinking about what 'stash quilt' I would like to do next . . .

Now head on over to Freshly Pieced to see more great works in progress!

W.i.P. Wednesday

So here’s Wednesday's update on my “Works-in-Progress”.

Just finished
New Wave
A pattern from Oh, Fransson.

Next on the agenda
Blue table runner
I’m thinking of using this pattern: Hungarian Blue by Clothworks.

Ongoing projects
Block-a-palooza quilt along
Finished this week’s first block, so now there are seven!

Socken quilt along
This week we put the top together!

Still practicing for my machine quilting class on Saturday.

Anxious to start

Central Park

Still hope to be starting on this SOON!

Need to do
The last project from the Prairie Women Sewing Circle is still on the list.

Now head on over to Freshly Pieced to see more great works in progress!

W.i.P.

Quilters know all about W.i.P. That would be “Works-In-Progress”. We all have them – probably several (the dictionary indicates this as two or more) or most likely, many (a large number). I’m joining with Lee of freshlypieced for W.i.P. Wednesday. I’ll start today by listing my current W.i.P., then update the list each Wednesday and link up with other bloggers who are doing the same. Should be fun, and hopefully, inspiring!

Just finished

Seneca Falls

Top priority

New Wave
The quilt pattern is from Oh, Fransson, and a template is used to cut out the blocks. I used stash fabrics, which made me happy. I'm machine quilting it now and will pass on to my mom for her friend who is facing surgery. So this one needs to be done soon.

Quilt alongs

Block-a-palooza
I get new block instructions each Monday & Thursday, so am looking forward to a new block tomorrow! I am caught up and have the first six blocks completed. Again, I'm using stash fabrics for this quilt. Old stash fabrics . . .

Socken
I have to wait till Tuesday for the instructions for the next step in this quilt along. I had the background fabric in my stash, but purchased new Kona cottons for this one, my first solid-color quilt. So far, have the strips with color stitched together.

 

Anxious to start

Blue table runner
My cousin really would like me to make her a table runner, so it's "on the list" - her color is blue, so I hope to use both this new FQ pack, plus fabrics from my stash. I still need to decide on a pattern - one requirement - "square" ends vs. pointy. Any ideas? Please leave a comment.

Central Park

What I really, really want to work on, is a new Central Park Layer Cake. I really like Kate Spain's fabric, and this collection is no exception! I'm planning on using Freckled Whimsy's pattern, "Geese in the Park", found on moda bakeshop. Hope to be starting on this SOON!

Need to do

In preparation for my second machine quilting class on February 19, I have a sample quilt block to quilt + practice stippling. I've been practicing, and am coming along, but still have a loooong way to go. Not quite ready to show pictures of my practice pieces - maybe later.

Lastly, I have the last project from the Pioneer Women Sewing Circle to do. Really would like that series DONE.

Machine Quilting

Well, Saturday I went for my first machine quilting class, and it was great fun. We started from square one, a discussion on stitches - how to start and stop, stitch length, needles and thread, and process (there actually IS one). It was especially helpful, in that we were able to determine the current settings for OUR machine. Then we got to work practicing quilting with our walking foot, learning some tips along the way. Even though I have done some machine quilting the last couple of years, it was good to hear the basics.

The last portion of the class was about my nemesis - free-motion quilting. THIS is why I took this class, and what I seriously want to master! Believe me, it wasn't pretty. Darlene insists all it takes is practice, practice, practice, so that's what I'm going to do. There is homework for our next session, part of which is this practice, so we'll see where I am in two week.

An Adventure

Another reason I started my blog now was to document an upcoming adventure. For the first twenty-some years of my quilting, I pieced by machine and quilted by hand. And quilted by hand. And quilted by hand. It was quite lovely, and at the time, I was fine with it. It was what I knew, what I liked, what I wanted to do. But even I would confess that it took a lot of time to hand quilt. I saw others move on to new projects, and I would still be hand quilting away.

There came a time, not so long ago, when I decided I wanted to try machine quilting. Pretty much so I could make more quilts! There were more fabrics and more patterns to try! So last year, I started dabbling with machine quilting. I screwed on my walking foot and gave it a go. Unfortunately, my treasured, 30-year-old sewing machine just wasn’t quite up to it. After a bit, I gave in and bought a new machine, with fancy buttons, a bigger throat, and feed-dogs that dropped. Aha. I could straight-line quilt successfully. My first project was a table runner, and I went on to many table runners and could easily manage up to lap-size quilts. Step 1 accomplished.





It’s time for Step 2. So this Saturday, I am taking a machine quilting class at The Quilting Loft. It is being taught by Darlene Girton, who has quilted several quilts for me. The class description promises I will ‘(learn) the basics of starting and stopping stitch lines, gain confidence in stitch-in-the-ditch quilting with a walking foot, and (get) an introduction to free motion quilting.’ I also hope the class covers stippling techniques too. I’ll let you know how it goes.