Hi, I'm Lindy.
I'm new to this message board. I have a question regarding designs for machine quilting. I have made 1 quilt so far and used the basic stitch in the ditch method. I now am starting a second quilt and realized that I don't know how to do anything else! How do I put a design on the fabric to quilt it, where can I find these designs, and how does it work? I know, lots of questions but if you could help me at all I would greatly appreciate it.

have you come across Leah Day's work? This may be helpful...

http://freemotionquilting.blogspot.c...nd-design.html

Yes, she's wonderful. Here's my problem. I don't trust myself enough to freehand the design onto the quilt. I was looking for ways to possibly put the design onto the fabric so that I could quilt it that way. I did see all of Leah's books and DVD's along with her webiste. I will look at all those. thanks.

I have a friend who prints out simple designs on a thin paper (she uses thin newsprint drawing paper for children), pins it in place and then sews right over the paper.

Welcome from Louisiana:) Stencils are a good way also.
http://www.quiltingstencils.com

These are so pretty!! thanks for the great idea.

what a great idea!!

Great blog, thanks for sharing!

welcome from minnesota. hope you get this dilemma resolved. :)

The stencil company moved to a location that is about 10 minutes from where I work. If you live in the area and call ahead, they will let you bring your quilt to the shop and help you pick out stencils! They are so nice and helpful!!

Hello and welcome from Missouri!

Welcome from Kansas

Hello Lindy!
Welcome from Minnesota!

Hi Lindy, welcome from northern California!

Hello, and welcome from Nevada.

Before you start with stencils and other forms of quilting, why don't you just get some practice in on your machine? Try this. Make a "practice sandwich". Take two pieces of fabric, preferably something you don't mind throwing away (and if you don't have any, check out places like Good Will, Salvation Army, etc.). Cut the pieces into about 12" square blocks so you have something to work with. Larger is fine too. It doesn't have to be precise. Pick anything for the batting. Flannel, or even just a third fabric will work. The trick here is to pick a print for the top. Start with, for example a larger print of flowers. Then spray baste the layers together. Now FMQ (free motion quilt) around each flower. The idea isn't to get it perfect, which you won't on the first try. The idea is to get used to FMQ. Get the feel of your machine. See how slow or how fast you can go without puckering, or making bird's nests of the bobbin thread. Check the tension. How are you doing? Is it working? By the time you've worked your way down to the small floral prints, and can do those perfectly, with no problems in the thread or tension, and you're really happy with the stitches, you're ready to start on a real quilt. You may pick it up quickly, or like me, it may take a while. In fact, I'm still working on it, but getting better and better all the time. It does take practice. I still can't quite follow the stencils, but I've improved so much from where I started, that I know I eventually will do it. And it was so much more fun than the boring exercises I found in a book!

Happy quilting to you, however you finally choose to learn it.

Hi and welcome to the board from Iowa.

Welcome to the board from Southern California!

This works for longarm quilting as well, I use waxed paper and pin the paper to the quilt.
You can also use stencils with pounce powder. I use a foam paint brush instead of the pouncing pad though. You can buy the powder separate from the pouncing pad.
Stencils can also be used with chalk pencils, marking pens for fabric that can be removed later with water, or that will evaporate with air exposure. There are also Pilot Frixon pens that will disappear completely with washing or will disappear with the application of heat from an iron, however the ink will reappear if the markings get really cold again. Frixon pens are my favorite choice because I always wash my quilts when I finish them anyway so the ink washes right out. They make a finer line than most of the fabric marking pens. Make sure the fabric pens you choose have removable ink because there are some that have permanent ink and you don't want that. Good Luck!

welcome from Pa.

Hello and welcome from the Arkansas Ozarks.
Happy quilting.

Welcome to the QB. Glad you found us. There's so much to learn and see her and friends to make. Enjoy.Looks like a lot of good advice here already for you. Hope you start soon.

welcome aboard./

Hello, and welcome from Michigan!

Hello and welcome to QB, from western Nevada!

Welcome from Adrian, MI

Welcome from SW Ohio!

Hello form Porter Ok . Glad you joined us pull up a chair & visit.

Good morning and welcome from Arizona.

Hello from Ontario, Canada. There is nothing wrong with stitch in the ditch (STD) quilting. For free motion quilting (FMQ) you will need a darning or FMQ foot for your machine. I like to lower my feed dogs, some people cover theirs and others FMQ with them up.
There are numerous ways for putting on patterns to quilt with: Pounce and chalk, Golden Threads paper, tear away pattern papers, wash away pens (always try on scraps first) Glad Press & Seal (you use a sharpie to mark the plastic, place it on the quilt and quilt through the plastic and then tear it off) or plain tissue paper etc. Everyone has a favourite method, you'll need to experiment. Good luck!

Hi Lindy, welcome from NE Ohio.

Thanks!! This is the most wonderful fmq site I've ever seen!!! Love it.

Hi and welcome from Arizona.

Fantastic and I'm off to the LQS as I type... yep, one foot out the door!

Another way, unless it has been said, did not read all the posts, is to use Solvy products. On Superior Threads Website they have a package that comes 47" wide and 5 yards long. I traced my design onto the solvy, pinned it to my quilt and then quilted it. You MUST use a Sharpie pen or a colorwash marker otherwise - I learned the hard way - you leave marks on your quilt. Using the solvy allows me to choose my design and a bit of comfort quilting it on the quilt. Goldenthreads has a nice onion paper that you can use to trace your designs or templates onto the paper and pin to your quilt to get an accurate quilt pattern down. There is also using fabric marking pens with your stencils that are nice or pencils. I prefer the Fons and Porter mechanical pencil. You can purchase different color leads to help see the lines with the fabric colors changing.

welcome from se TX

YouTube, most quilting sites have free patterns. You can find tons of ideas by Googling, too! Have fun while you learn and don't be hard on yourself!

Welcome from northeast Nebraska. I, too, want to learn FMQ, but even tho I'm now retired, I just haven't found the free time.!!

Hello and welcome to this fabulous board, you'll love it here.
Little Sue

Welcome to the board; it's a great place to be :)