Am I the Only Quilter Who Thinks Stippling is Hard?
10-14-2010, 06:58 PM
#101
Super Member
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Western Arizona
Posts: 1,930
Originally Posted by kwhite
I sometimes find i am over thinking it. When i have a glass of wine first my stippleing is much better.
My FMQ started out very well but the more I do, the worse I get. Jerky, points from changing directions, long stretches of stitching. Very frustrating. I watch Leah Day & she does it so easily but she's very inspirational.
10-14-2010, 09:26 PM
#103
Super Member
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Camarillo, CA
Posts: 4,600
Originally Posted by littlehud
I love meandering but stippling is hard to me. What helped me most was to get a stencil and mark it on my quilt and follow that pattern. I felt more at ease with it after that. I love quilting gloves too. It helps me move my fabric.
10-14-2010, 09:29 PM
#104
Junior Member
Join Date: Aug 2010
Posts: 266
For me the trick was to get my brain to relax...when I imagined the surface to be a jigsaw puzzle and I was SID around each piece, it all seemed to jell. Try to relax & believe it or not, the faster you go the more even your stitches will be. You just have a find a speed that works for you.
10-14-2010, 09:56 PM
#105
Super Member
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Australia
Posts: 4,116
Just imagine that you are drawing small circles in either direction and veer off just before you close the circle. Perhaps there is another type of stitch that you do find easier, that can be your signature stitch. Many of the good quilters do not worry about being too uniform, or it takes away from the design and doesn't look attractive. You could try doodling to fill in the space, and I am sure you will be pleasantly surprised. I know a lady who does very long, sausage like stipples and it looks fine because she is consistent.
10-15-2010, 03:48 AM
#106
Super Member
Join Date: Aug 2010
Posts: 2,196
I took a class in FMQ and the instructor said that stippling is about the hardest thing to do well. She suggested doing other things free motion first, like making leaves or "c" or "e" swirls. I found feathers to be really hard free motion, too. She did say that practice helps and that some people are just better are some motions than others.
10-15-2010, 01:43 PM
#108
Super Member
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Chili, New York (Rochester)
Posts: 1,147
This is great information about the start/stop button. I didn't even know I had one, LOL. Just looked it up, tried it and it works great.
I am new at quilting and have been practicing FMQ (stipple) and I use the slider it works soooo great.The fabric just glides!I also use quilting gloves.
Also I was having trouble getting my foot pedal and hands in unison.So I took my foot pedal off and am just useing my start and stop button.I stipple until I get to the other side, stop, turn the fabric and go back across until I have finished.I have found it works 99% better.
I'm so glad I thought of the start button as I want to make my sistern law a memory throw for Christmas and jsut can't afford to have it sent out to be quilted.
Originally Posted by Berta48
Originally Posted by MomtoBostonTerriers
I am a new quilter and am trying to teach myself to stipple. I have a Bernina BSR, so that should make the task easy. I find it very hard to make the stitches uniform in length, but even harder is how to "create" the stipple pattern. I've read tons of books that contain lots of good advice. I just finished practicing on 14 quilt sandwiches (about 22 x 22 inches each) that will eventually become Christmas stockings, and my stippling has improved about 1 percent.
I am such a linear thinker with not a creative bone in my body and I'm wondering if I will ever catch on to this seemingly simple aspect of quilting.
Any advice? Is there such a thing as a personal stippling coach?
I am such a linear thinker with not a creative bone in my body and I'm wondering if I will ever catch on to this seemingly simple aspect of quilting.
Any advice? Is there such a thing as a personal stippling coach?
Also I was having trouble getting my foot pedal and hands in unison.So I took my foot pedal off and am just useing my start and stop button.I stipple until I get to the other side, stop, turn the fabric and go back across until I have finished.I have found it works 99% better.
I'm so glad I thought of the start button as I want to make my sistern law a memory throw for Christmas and jsut can't afford to have it sent out to be quilted.
10-15-2010, 04:06 PM
#110
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Manitoba
Posts: 383
Have you read Free-Motion Quilting Made Easy by Eva A. Larkin? I, too, am an absolute greenhorn when it comes to free motion quilting. I am learning with the book open at my side! It has lots of very good ideas in it. So far (experience level of about two hours) what she says in the book is really helping me. Someone else on this board suggested bringing what you are quilting forward from behind the needle as opposed to sewing away from yourself. It seems to be working pretty well for me. I've only done about a ten by six inch piece though so you really can't say I'm an expert!
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