Today’s post is part of a series called How to Quilt it. All posts come with coordinating block patterns that you can find here.
All tutorials in this series are for domestic machines and meant to show you the ends and outs of different designs when free motion quilting. This series assumes you are already know how to free motion quilt, but are just interested in learning about different designs. If you are brand new to FMQ and need to learn the basics, consider tackling this quilting technique first.
To view all previous posts in this series, click here.
I’ve got a new block and quilting tutorial for you today. The Willow block. The block is a fun one. It involves one partial seam, but it has a video tutorial included, so if you’ve never done a partial seam you’ll get it done just fine.
The tutorial today is another one based on “what” you are quilting. Since there is all strips, I’ve chosen designs that works great for strips and that are pretty common among many who free motion quilt. There’s also a center orange blossom bloom in the very center.
Let’s go!
Pattern Feature
- Skill Level: Beginner friendly
- Available in PDF
- Video tutorials included
What we are quilting
So definitely not random today. It’s all been preplanned and quilting designs were chosen based on the look of the block. Now that I’ve finished it, I’d probably have chosen a replacement for the loopy line. I’m not too crazy about it. I wanted a “lighter” design so that the Lazy Ss could shine a bit more.
Today, I’m going to show you how to quilt:
- Lazy S – This is the design that you see in all the foreground strips. Super simple to do, but a bit of an effort to get them to all look the same. You can tell that even though I didn’t get them all the same, the overall look still looks pretty nice.
- Loopy Lines – This is the design you see in the background strips. It’s a wavy lines that loop in both directions.
- Orange Peel Bloom – The little bloom you see in the very center is the orange peel blossom.
Product Spotlight
Diagonal Seam Tape is a perfect solution for sewing straight diagonal seams without having to mark any lines! The special washi tape is strong, thin, and removes cleanly after sewing projects. Simply place the tape in front of the feed dogs with the red line in front of the needle as the stitch line. The black lines on either side of the center line represent a perfect 1/4″ seam allowance and are a great resource to use when making half square triangles, or learning to keep a perfect 1/4″. Each roll is 10 yards.
Melanie’s Tip: I wrote a blog post with video tutorial about this product here.
A Few Thoughts
- The gloves I’m using are Machingers.
- I’m using Microquilter in lace white for my top and bobbin thread.
- You don’t need a fancy machine to free motion quilt, you just need one that has a feed dog that lowers (check your manual).
- I am quilting on a Bernina 550QE domestic machine.
- I’ve spray basted my block if you are wondering why there are not any pins. Here’s the spray I use.
- This is easier than it looks!
Things to think about
- In the video you see me work through this design without cutting my thread, but you may want to pick up and move and work it in your own flow.
- I like to move starting in the right top corner, moving towards the bottom corner, then pivot and move across the bottom, pivot again and move from bottom left corner to top left corner, then move from top left to top right.
- Your quilting may look a bit different even if you are using the same designs. That’s what you you want, for it to look like YOU.
- If you don’t care for the design I’m using on my block and want to try something different, DO IT. Let the video just serve you as inspiration and go do your own thing.
- This is meant to be play time. Let it be!
If you are wanting to turn this block into a pillow, you can see a tutorial for doing that right here. If you want to wait another week, I’m going to show you a new way to do so, but this time with binding.
The Little Miss Sawtooth Star Quilt Pattern
