|
Paths to Better Stippling/Meandering
1 Attachment(s)
I figured out a technique for stippling/meandering that is working better for me, and I thought others who are struggling with this may be interested.
I've been FMQing for awhile now and feel pretty good at feathers and other designs, but stippling has baffled me from the start! Apparently I am so "Left-Brained" that I just couldn't meander... I would start out OK and then be "stuck" in no time, then I'd panic a bit, and it was over! So... I decided I was going to learn stippling no matter how much practice it took. For the past few weeks I've been following Leah Day's Wednesday quilting blog posts where she breaks down stippling into smaller components to get started. The second week a light bulb came on for me! Leah recommends stippling in "rows", but I thought that looked a little too row-like for my taste. So I was sitting with my doodle pad and an idea came to me. "What if I draw a Very large, Very simple stipple line first (like in Leah Day's very first stippling lesson), then follow that to stitch my stippling along instead of stitching in a row!" Step 1. First I mark a very large snake-like, u-shaped line on the surface of the quilt with a water soluble marker. (Refer to the blue line in the following drawing.) Step 2. Then I stitch my meandering back and forth across that line to fill the spaces as evenly as I can while doing an irregular meander. (The red line in the drawing.) This way I can ensure that I will be able to work my way around the whole quilt top without getting stuck in a dead end anywhere and I have a path to follow that doesn't look like I just followed a straight line. I got this idea from Leah Day when she was showing how she does stippling following rows across her quilt. That looked a little too "row-like" to me, so I decided to try following a snake-like line instead and I'm much happier with the results! This was the first quilt I did stippling on and I'm thinking that after I've had some more practice, I may not have to actually draw the first line to follow if I learn to visualize it better. For now, following a curvy line takes away the stress of having to figure out which way to go next. I'm pretty happy with how the stippling turned out on this one and will be continuing to work on it until it gets easier. http://www.quiltingboard.com/picture...r-t176738.html Hope you find this info helpful. |
Originally Posted by azwendyg
(Post 4913739)
I figured out a technique for stippling/meandering that is working better for me, and I thought others who are struggling with this may be interested.
I've been FMQing for awhile now and feel pretty good at feathers and other designs, but stippling has baffled me from the start! Apparently I am so "Left-Brained" that I just couldn't meander... I would start out OK and then be "stuck" in no time, then I'd panic a bit, and it was over! So... I decided I was going to learn stippling no matter how much practice it took. For the past few weeks I've been following Leah Day's Wednesday quilting blog posts where she breaks down stippling into smaller components to get started. The second week a light bulb came on for me! Leah recommends stippling in "rows", but I thought that looked a little too row-like for my taste. So I was sitting with my doodle pad and an idea came to me. "What if I draw a Very large, Very simple stipple line first (like in Leah Day's very first stippling lesson), then follow that to stitch my stippling along instead of stitching in a row!"Step 1. First I mark a very large snake-like, u-shaped line on the surface of the quilt with a water soluble marker. (Refer to the blue line in the following drawing.) Step 2. Then I stitch my meandering back and forth across that line to fill the spaces as evenly as I can while doing an irregular meander. (The red line in the drawing.) This way I can ensure that I will be able to work my way around the whole quilt top without getting stuck in a dead end anywhere and I have a path to follow that doesn't look like I just followed a straight line. I got this idea from Leah Day when she was showing how she does stippling following rows across her quilt. That looked a little too "row-like" to me, so I decided to try following a snake-like line instead and I'm much happier with the results! This was the first quilt I did stippling on and I'm thinking that after I've had some more practice, I may not have to actually draw the first line to follow if I learn to visualize it better. For now, following a curvy line takes away the stress of having to figure out which way to go next. I'm pretty happy with how the stippling turned out on this one and will be continuing to work on it until it gets easier. http://www.quiltingboard.com/picture...r-t176738.html Hope you find this info helpful. |
I like the way you do it! Leah's videos are fabulous, but, this makes it seem more doable in my mind.
Thanks for your insight. |
Brilliant! This will make fmq easier for a lot of us to get straight in our minds. I also would find myself "stuck" in an area and wouldn't allow myself to cross over an already stitched line--the quilt police might notice!
Thanks for sharing your insight with us. |
Awesome! Meandering and Me just never worked out correctly but I think this will help a great deal!
|
I like your method. I also like to use stippling and had to come up with a simple idea/method to make mine. I think of loopy 3 arm cactus (Saguero). Just piece them together like a jigsaw puzzle - it works.
|
Thanks for posting this. I too can't get the knack of stippling but will definetly try this. I looks like it will be a lot easier to cross the marked lines this way. I can't wait to try it.
sassy granny |
what a wonderful tip and tut. i'll have to give it a try.
|
Thanks for sharing your insight. Makes total sense of it all for me.
|
Thank you sooo much. This should make things easier!
|
Stippling and meandering is no problem for me, I just sit down and away we go! However, the feather thing scares me to pieces, I really got to start working that.
|
This is great Thanks for sharing I will try this for sure :-) YEAH! It looks so much easier that way.
|
Thank-you! Thank-you! Thank-you
|
Thanks for sharing your insight. Makes total sense of it all for me.
|
Wow weeeeeeeeeeee this is Fantastic. It is going to save me printing onto the dissolvable paper and then joining them to make the width of my placemats and then stitching over those marks and then washing off the paper which is very "goooie" in the end..... LOL Cannot wait to try this technique. Thanks for having this wonderful added on idea and sharing
|
ya know, meandering is all i want to do on quilts,,i love the looks of it and just can't get it...but i'm sure i can do it with your method...i have company comin today but tomorrow,i',m up early and tryin this out----i'm sure i can do it and do it right, now...thank you , thank you, thank you,..your friend forever, molly
|
Wendy, you are my quilting Idol!! Thank you for your generosity in sharing this technique. I would bow down and kiss your feet if I wasn't on the other side of the world. I bet you will get lots of members thanking you.
|
I am so impressed with your can- do attitude and your determination to learn. Last night, I made a quilt sandwich out of two cheapie FQ's and decided that I need to practice Free motion quilting in general. So thank you.
|
great tute, thank you
|
I missed that post by Leah! Thanks for your tutorial, clear and easy to understand.
|
Thanks Wendy! Way to go....
|
thanks for sharing your vision. This looks like something I can do.
|
Thanks bunches, this really helps to make this an easier task. I've been dying to FMQ but the thought of trying not to get stuck in the first corner I came to had me scared.
|
Thank you So much, I think I can do this...I've always had the same problem and it always makes me nervous to freehand it. Give me any pattern and no problem, go figure.
|
Genius! Love this method and will try it!
|
thank you i will try this
|
Thank you so much! FMQing has always evaded me, but this definitely looks do-able.
Janet |
I have not free motioned yet, because I am too affraid of messing up, and having to pull out my dreaded (but, thank God I have it) seam ripper. I think I will try this. I have never been affraid of training wheels! LOL
|
Missouri Star Quilt Company also had a video tutorial this morning on beginning stippling. Will try to go back and get the link.
|
Here's the link to Missouri Star video tutorial: http:www.youtube.com/watched?v=yGNOS5JQHYQ.
|
I like this method can't wait to try on my quilt that I am about to quilt
thanks a lot . Noella |
Ditto...I so agree with others about making this now doable to us left brained people. Thank you for sharing your brain child with us!
|
Bing, bing the lightbulb went off. Will have to try this. Thanks for your help.
|
What a great idea - thanks for your insight. Can't wait to try it.
|
Thanks for sharing! I have bought the papers, but haven't liked them. I'll definitely givethis a try!
|
That helps! I get stuck too. Thanks.
|
I just think that is a really cool idea. I'm going to try it!
|
My problem has always been keeping my stippling "even" -- not bunched up tight in one spot and loose in another. I think this will really help with that, too. Thanks!
|
This is a good idea. I to love Leah Day's tutorial's and find them helpful. What I try is to tweak them to my style but use her's and everyone's else's as a jump start and then let my idea's flow. That to me seems like what you are doing. Keep letting your creative juices flow. Grace
|
Practice feathers
A few weeks ago, I made up my mind I would learn feathers. First, I practiced with paper and pencil. Then, I tried it. Unfortunately, my machine was working faulty, but got that fixed. Watch some tutorial's and go for it. Like anything else practice and then it comes. I'm ok with feathers now
|
| All times are GMT -8. The time now is 07:53 AM. |