Thread Talk from My Sewing Machine #3

Quilters have expressed to me they just don’t know “what” to quilt on their quilt tops when they try to free-motion quilt. I always tell them to start looking at their fabrics!

Some fabrics have “built-in” quilting motifs in the print designs if looked at closely. These fabrics are simply womderful for quilters to practice following the line and more importantly, moving the quilt sandwich with confidence while quilting with the feed dog down. Look on the fabrics for:

1. A repeated pattern that would make a nice overall texture:

2. Floral Designs that are suitable for outline quilting:

[These fabrics are current as of this posting – “Summer Solstice” by RJR Fabrics]

3. Just some cool designs:

4. Focal points that can be used to start a motif – here I used the circles as centers of flowers:

[Fabrics are current as of this posting – “Tweet Tweet” by Moda]

Here are some current fabrics that you might be interested to use in your quilts if you want to spend some one-to-one quality time with free-motion quilting. No marking or designing required.

1. Moda’s Fandango – just follow the general scallop outline, and you will have a wonderful texture!  Go ahead and quit along the outline for the wedges too, if you feel like being adventurous!

2. Moda’s Wee Woodland – a rough outline quilting would be cute around these daisies!

3. RJR’s Garden Club – quilting on the jagged outline would give a unique look:

4. Benartex’s Garden Song: Quilting on those circles will make your quilt pop, I think!

5. Henry Glass’ Noah’s Journey – this print would be great to practice on some McTavishing:

I hope this gives you an idea what fabrics would make for great free-motion quilting projects. Get some of these cool fabrics and some YLI Silk 100 threads, jump into your quilting suit, and start quilting – NOW! :)

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