JT

Stippling/meandering is not easy. I found I have better luck, just learning, to do more like water puddles/waves and just go back and forth abouot 1/4 to 1/2 inch apart in a smaller area. I recently did a scrap baby blanket and in each block tried something different. Try loop to loop, that's easier than stipple for me. Keep trying...it just takes practice...practice...and more practice. I'm not ther yet.

judylg

Awe...do not be so hard on yourself. It takes time, I do not know of one person who started stippling right from the start, it takes time, patience and practice. Unfortunately, for me, I practiced on all my quilts, some are better than others, but that is how I learned. My best advice is not to quit, keep trying it.

lynnie k

do you wear the quilting gloves? They help alot your hands don't slide over the fabric. and try sing to yourself find a nice song to find the rythum. believe me this will help alot. It helps with the speed in which you are moving the quilt. PM me if you like maybe I can give you more pointers. :lol:

SaraSewing

Great ideas! Go I'll just keep practicing. Thanx for your note Lynnie. When it's not so late I'll re-read all your replies and it will be encouraging.

Farm Quilter

Stippling is really a hard thing to learn on a DSM. I certainly can't do it! But I've heard that using the quilting gloves gives you a better grip with your hands flat on the quilt and using a slider under the quilt also helps. I love reading and watching the videos that Leah Day does on her blog http://freemotionquilting.blogspot.com/

Be patient with yourself! No one is perfect when they start learning something new! We all have to practice. Heck, I'm still learning how to sew a 1/4" seam :roll:

sewwhat85

practice makes it better

CarrieAnne

I havent tried it yet, so you are ahead of me. I bet with practice, you will be AWESOME at it!

katier825

I found stippling to be very hard to learn. I think loops and swirls are much easier to start with. Keep practicing. If you find that you are better with one design over another, perfect that one and keep practicing others. You'll get there. I did finally manage to do decent stippling, but I get bored with it very quickly! Loops, swirls, stars, etc. are my favorites.

patricej

while we're learning new skills, there is no such thing as failure.

it's just a combination of "not there yet" and "what can i learn from this episode"?

if you decide you just "flat" don't enjoy working a technique, then it's perfectly fine to scratch it off your list of things to do.

it only counts as a failure if you give up too soon. even then ... so what? who cares? life's too short to worry about it. ;-)

ckcowl

since it takes, practice, practice, practice.... we all have those practice pieces.... we put ours together into small quilts and donate them to either the humane society, animal shelters, the fire department or women's resource center...if they are (kid-quality) and i have a couple practice pieces that my granddaughter's just loved so we had to put them together for picnic/tea party quilts :thumbup: i have one ugly one that i grab and try new stitches on and keep practicing on...it just gets more and more...i would never waste my time taking out stitches on a practice piece...what it is - is what it is.