Free motion styles
 

Hi. I'm planning to begin free motion quilting. I'm very intimidated by the idea. Partly because I really really want to learn this skill!
I was wondering if you all could give me some tips, and what fm designs you like, and what is good to start with. I love the look of peebles. If you could post some up-close pictures that would be great!
Thanks

Here are a few that I like. They're good for practicing control. I also practiced writing my name. It was a pattern already ingrained in my mind so I could concentrate on coordination of speed and hand motion.

Here's another

I just finished a 3-day workshop with Ricky Tims, and something he said really struck a chord with me. He said we are not born knowing how to quilt, the same as we are not born knowing how to write. Someone had to put a pencil in our hands and teach us how to write the letter A. Then we had to practice writing the letter A over and over. Then we were taught to write the letter B, and practice it over and over, and so on.

Keep this in mind when you start quilting. I think too many of us start quilting and expect it to look good right off the bat. Circles can be rather difficult, it takes practice to get them round and even - if you WANT round and even. Sometimes you discover you prefer wonky and oval! But just get started quilting and practicing. If you don't like them, keep at it, you'll get better. Don't give up, don't get discouraged, laugh, have fun, drink a glass of wine and relax as you quilt.

lots of good sources on the internet--besides Lori Kennedy, check out Leah Day, Angela Walters and Amanda Murphy, to start with. Youtube has some great videos to show how to do these. Make up lots of practice sandwiches and start. It takes a while to get the hang of it--and even after you feel comfortable with quilting projects, most of us find that before we start something very involved, we still pull out that practice sandwich and practice first.

Here are a couple of things I have learned. Straight lines are HARD. The longer they are the harder they are. Stick with curves to begin with.

This is counter-intuitive, but try not to go too slow. When you slow down too much, every hesitation shows up in your stitches. Try to go at a medium, consistent speed.

Other than that, just practice, and enjoy they process of learning.

Fillers: http://leahday.com/pages/quilting-design-gallery
Motifs/Borders: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnAriXmGjPA

If you do pebbles, just make sure they are at least 1" in diameter (preferably bigger) or the thread build up will cause the quilt to become stiff & heavy (ask me how I know).

On my first quilt (44x56" crib) I did a basic curvy 1.25" meander in the center with a leafy vine in the border and a triple leaf in each corner. I picked a white Aurifil 50wt/2ply thread so it would blend in with the background. In the border, I used a variegated blue Aurifil 50wt/2ply thread. I had become pretty decent at FMQ by the time I reached the borders & wish I'd picked a thread that could have shown off my skills. I now use Aurifil 40wt for most quilting & occasionally even add in a 28wt thread if I really want to show off. :)

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My biggest piece of advice is to keep it simple! There are plenty of us that could post lovely pictures of fancy feathered wreathes & scrolling vines & whatnot, but I suggest you work up to doing those things. I remember an online video I watched that said if you can quilt the lowercase letters c, s, "cursive e", o, v & upper/lowercase l, you can pretty much FMQ any design because most designs are just a combination of those. For example, feathers are a combination of a c & a v. Swirls are a large c that comes to an inner point (v) and then returns back as a smaller c. Unless you're planning on making competition quilts, FMQ really isn't that difficult. About 8 hours of practice & you should be able to stitch out a number of different beginner designs. The more you practice, the easier it gets. Also, I always mark my designs on quilt tops before I layer my sandwich. It gives me a rough idea of where I want my stitches to land so I can focus entirely on stitch formation rather than dividing my attention.

i really enjoy free motion quilting.
if you practice on fat quarter sandwiches you will have enough room to move around but no bulk to deal with
it is much easier to stitch things that you are really comfortable doodling, maybe little heart shapes or maybe written e's
pebbles can be a bit tricky because you need to stitch back over part of your line at some point but circles on a string might be an easier way to start (like on quiltsRfuns cute orange bag)
unlike bree123 i find marking makes it very difficult for me to get nice stitches but then i could never colour in the lines either
play music you like and relax

One of my favorite and easiest things to think of is, puzzle pieces. You know the locking pieces, just glide from curve into curve. Another hint that a friend told me that makes it so much easier is to quilt to the side or backwards whenever possible. When we sew, the sewn piece goes to the back of the machine. When you free motion, if you place the quilted part to the side with the unquilted part to the machine, you can see where to go next. But my favorite is when you have the quilted part toward you so you can see how far to swoop.

I think it is easier to draw a design from a template, that way you have a path to follow and one less thing to worry about (where do I go next?). It is like driving a car. You know the difference in your car when you drive 20 compared to 70 mph. Find a speed that you can reach again and watch how the machine moves the fabric. That is the speed you want to find again and then move the fabric at the same rate. Don't feel you need to go fast until you have a bit more confidence. I do my FMQ at what I would call slightly under medium speed. Slow and steady is best trying to get consistent length in your stitches. Try to relax and have fun. You didn't learn to drive on the first day. You kept practicing whenever your parents would let you.

When you stop/pause ALWAYS have the needle down and never take your hands off the fabric until the needle is down.

Lots of good advice here! What was/is key for me is to look where you want to go, do not watch the needle! Your hands will follow where you are looking, just as you look down the road when you drive and not at the hood of the car. Practicing your design ahead of time with pencil and paper works for some of us and so practice looking ahead when you do that too. I found my drawing has improved as well by doing this, which comes in handy if you are drawing motifs on your quilt before quilting. With every motif or design you learn, the next one will become easier I've found. But there is really no substitute for time on your machine. Enjoy the process and don't give up, because it is sooooo much fun!!!

Machine quilting is not that important to be intimidated by. It's fun. It doesn't have to be perfect and probably never will be for me. I'm okay with that. I show it off to anyone and never point out my mistakes. I'm sure they can be seen without my help. I'm happy doing it and that's all the matters to me.

I love FMQ! I have been studying the designs of any quilts I find on Facebook or elsewhere and I subscribed to Leah Day's newsletter. She also had a page called Leah Day Designs and she had over 365 designs on there, maybe more! I have started with stencils or just copy a design I like on copy paper & pin it to my quilt, then stitch over it as if I were PPing. I was taught to fake it 'til you make it & now I'm getting more confident so I can try new things. I get bored with the stippling and meandering, so am always looking for something with a little more wow factor! :-) The whole idea of practice is to get your muscle memory working. You'll do fine!

Thank you. I've thought about drawing the design on my quilt top but with dark and light fabrics how does a light or a dark pencil show up on both fabric shades?

Or "quilt by check"! Lol!

Great advice!
sandy

It takes time for the brain/hand coordination to be learned. It really isn't easy for me, but I keep trying. I bought some large check size gingham fabric to make a quilt sandwich to practice on. I practic straight lines. I try doing circles in the squares to practice making the circles the same size. I use the straight lines to practice returning to the same point like in flourishes. I can't say that I'm learning very fast, and it's taking me a long time to learn this skill.

I have won several viewer's choice awards with wonky quilting but my stitches are balanced and no pokies front or back. Having balanced stitches is more important then having straight lines.

try using one of the blue line ones that disappear with a spray of water(although I recommend you dunk the whole quilt once completely finished and block--no need to use detergent though). The air disappearing purple pen works about the same way but disappears with air--which may not be helpful if too much time between marking and quilting. I also like the F & P ceramic chalk pen, and will use loose chalk made for marking with a stencil and a foam paint brush (poncing gets it all over and I sneeze--which isn't good when you are quilting!)--but it will brush off easily so you can mark the whole thing beforehand.

I haven't used them but bought some Ultra Washable Crayola markers as others have said they are great.

I just switch colors. The markers do get a bit dry over time, so I switched a lot. I also originally thought I'd do an angular stippled on the triangle parts, but decided to change to a cross hatch so I just grabbed a different color & remarked the design.

When the fabric is very dark, I use a white Crayola Ultra Clean crayon or a white water soluble pencil. I would not recommend the colored pencils or colored chalks. A lot of people (including me) aren't always able to completely remove them. Not a problem if you stitch exactly on the line, but not so much fun if you don't. I had white Ultra Clean crayon on the boots for my applique & it's already come out. Be sure to keep a pencil/crayon sharpener near you when you're marking so you can keep a nice tip.

I give my quilt top a nice pressing before I start & then make sure it has time to cool completely before I begin marking. Then I gently tape it to the floor (or a large table) and get to work.

Note: the water spots are from when I showed my very nervous 4yo niece how the marker comes out with plain water (I dripped! oops!)

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Doodling on a sketch book is helpful then practice, practice, practice... if there is a lapse of time when you don't have a quilt to work on, make up a few potholders to FMQ... keep your brain active. You'll discover your own groove but more importantly, enjoy the ride.

You said it right Peckish. I love FMQ but it didn't come right away, it's taken practice and every project improves. I also realize each of us has different things we are better at and if FMQ just doesn' "click" don't beat yourself up - you probably have something else that you excel in.

I'm with you about learning FMQ. I have been dabbling for quite awhile and find it challenging yet fun. One thing that made me feel good is to realize with a little practice, I can actually see improvement in my attempts. Definitely not there yet, but keep plugging along.

I have loved the Craftsy FMQ classes. They do make it look easy but they also have good tips. My favorites are Leah Day, Angela Walters, Christina Carmeli, Lori Kennedy. I also liked Cindy Needham's class. Each of the classes have FMQ designs that I print off, insert into a plastic paper protector and use a dry erase marker to go over the lines. It helps with the doodling. I also have the notebook to doodle on my own. Just some of the ways I'm trying to learn FMC. Of course, the best way is just to do it :-)

Good luck with your learning curve. Keep at it.

One thing I learned is if you are use to making circles clockwise, then try going in the other direction, counter-clockwise. My circles come out looking more like circles doing this whereas, in a clockwise direction they are more oval shaped.

I been learning to fmq recently. Here are a few beginner tips I learned. I went to the dollar tree store. (everything $1) I bought some garden gloves that were cotton with a rubberizing on the fingers and palms. These really help hold the fabric and make it move when you want to. Also I bought some titanium top stitch needles size 80/12. I was using sandwhiches I made about 14"x 14" these were to small just as I was going good it was used up. So I would make them a lot bigger to practice on. Also I used colored thread on solid fabric so I could see my quilting and check my stitching. Be sure to bring the bobbin thread up to start with. Always stop with the needle down. These are a few things I have learned so far. Good luck and have lots of fun. I think I am ready to fmq a couple fat quarters together and make a tote.

Ron Arpel (?sp) of ManSewing has some great tutorials that have helped me. He just did this one on circles and pebbles.
https://www.missouriquiltco.com/land...campaign=tms62

It's important to use the same quality fabric and batting when you are practicing that is used in your quilts. Every national machine quilting teacher I have taken classes from all said to use the best quality for practice.

9[QUOTE=Peckish;7512830]I just finished a 3-day workshop with Ricky Tims, and something he said really struck a chord with me. He said we are not born knowing how to quilt, the same as we are not born knowing how to write. Someone had to put a pencil in our hands and teach us how to write the letter A. Then we had to practice writing the letter A over and over. Then we were taught to write the letter B, and practice it over and over, and so on
Keep this in mind when you start quilting. I think too many of us start quilting and expect it to look good right off the bat. P can be rather difficult, it takes practice to get them round and even - if you WANT round and even. Sometimes you discover you prefer wonky and oval! But just get started quilting and practicing. If you don't like them, keep at it, you'll get better. Don't give up, don't get discouraged, laugh, have fun, drink a glass of wine and relax as you quilt.[/QUOT


Thank you Peckish, this is such a good piece of advice.

I started out with an old needle, no thread, and construction paper. I did that over and over till I got fairly consistant, then I used fabric rectangles about the size of placemats, and a high contrast thread....this way I didn't have to worry about getting the bulk of a quilt to behave while I was learning. I used solid fabric so that I could really see what I was doing. After that I did a few baby quilt panels, then a quilt. Be patient with yourself....enjoy it. It's one of those things that takes a long time to learn, but when it clicks, it's worth it!

There are so many great tips here! I just wanted to say there are some really good books out there to read on the subject that covers everything from needles, thread, designs and even types of quilting for different types of quilts. One that comes to mind is "Quilting Solutions". That is the book that my friend had in her quilting class. I bought one from amazon and read it cover to cover and learned on my own. But, all that being said, they do have classes at the quilt shops or even sewing/ quilt expos for a short beginers class. I am the type of person who likes reading and doing. So I went that way.

I really enjoy quilting freehand. It is so liberating. I sometimes have four or five different ways of quilting in the same quilt. You will see what I mean as you get into it. Some curvy, some straight lines. Some echo quilting, some marked and planed out. You see what I mean? Each quilt is different and as your skills develop so will your own personal style.

Get yourself a drawing tablet and start doodling. I have multiple tablets going with different patterns. I do them in DIFFERENT scales (small - medium - large). My first attempt focused on loops and loops with alternates (hearts, leafs, double-loops, etc). The more you draw these patterns and repeat them, the more you are creating muscle memory. When you start quilting the same pattern, your body will remember how to do it because you practiced on paper. Then keep trying different patterns. It really works!

I practiced a lot of different ideas on this sampler quilt. Tip: working in defined spaces is very helpful, such as a lollipop in each square or the ribbons / leaves in small sashing spaces.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QGLAlGR4uM...Sampler%2B.jpg