Meander quilting with a loop how to#
Meander quilting with a loop series#
Meander quilting with a loop free#

(figure 6)ДЄfter you feel confident in your вЂbasic meanderвЂ™ Susan suggests exploring motifs that fall into the meander category by using shapes outside of puzzle-like knobs. You can work outward radially, in a circular pattern (figure 5) or in swaths. One way to avoid this is to consistently fill in specific areas. By the time you discover you have a big empty space or that youвЂ™ve trapped yourself, it is too late. This may happen if you canвЂ™t see well where you are going, since the presser foot obscures the path ahead. Sometimes, beginners find themselves with big empty spaces or trapped with no way out. The third thing to work on is thinking ahead and planning an escape route. After two in this direction, force yourself to change direction again. If this is a problem for you, count to two when you finish the second knob, force yourself to change direction and make the next knob at a different angle than the others. They are focusing so hard on getting the knobs smooth and the same size that they simply forget to change direction. (figure 3)Д«eginners often get started and donвЂ™t want to stop, so all their knobs line up in a long string. If you donвЂ™t, all your knobs line up, creating a secondary pattern. The second challenge is learning to change direction frequently. DonвЂ™t do this you need all the oxygen your brain you can get!) Visualize the curves on a puzzle piece and project that image onto your quilt top as you work.

(Some beginner free-motion quilters actually hold their breath. This will help you get in the zone and establish a nice rhythm, which leads to smoothness and consistent stitch length. Try to find the sweet spot-the balance between how fast the needle is going and how fast your hands are going. I usually suggest that students slow down, and concentrate on moving their hands in a deliberate way and at a constant speed. The first is making sure your quilting is smooth (no sharp points or changes in direction) and that all the knobs are the same size. There are three important things to work on if you want to create a nice basic meander pattern. (figure 1) Most beginners start out with a meander that looks like figure 2-uneven knob sizes, unequal space between knobs, strange shapes, sharp points, and crooked changes of direction. The most basic meander resembles curves on puzzle pieces. MeandersД®xcerpted from the article by Susan Brubaker Knapp Susan shares her expertise with these technique tipsВ that are sure to help you machine quilt meanders like a pro. Even though this is a motif we often learn as beginners, it can actually be quite difficult to master.

Meander quilting with a loop how to#

The section where she teaches how to machine quilt вЂbasic meanders,вЂ™ was by far the most helpful for me.

Meander quilting with a loop series#

Susan Brubaker Knapp wrote a series of articles, which has been collected into a convenient eBook, to help artists like us develop our skills and to encourage us to explore diverse quilting motifs. You can also travel a bit between paisleys.Free-motion quilting is a technique that takes a lot of practice. Just like with any edge to edge design, you want variety and lots of movement. And donвЂ™t forget to vary the direction of your paisleys. You could make your paisleys bigger or smaller depending on your quilt and preference.

Meander quilting with a loop free#

A Flirty and Fun Edge to Edge Design!ДoesnвЂ™t that look like a fun free motion edge to edge design? My paisleys were probably about 5вЂі long and would fill a space nicely.

Travel through the spine of the paisley to travel to your next paisley.

To quilt the daisy weвЂ™ll add a loop in the paisleyвЂ™s tummy and add petals around the loop. In the negative space within our paisley, now weвЂ™ll add a little daisy. To quilt the daisy paisley, weвЂ™re going to quilt that typical paisley shape by quilting the head, then the tummy, and backtracking along the spine.