Lulu Louise Quilty Class: Chapter 5 – Free Motion Quilting

We’ve made it to the free motion quilting! 💕

Our Lulu Louise quilt top is finished, and now we’re ready to start adding all that beautiful texture.

Chapter 5 of the Lulu Louise Quilty Class is all about free motion quilting. We’re going to plan our quilting design, practice our feathers, and then take everything we’ve learned over to the actual quilt.

For this first quilting design, I’ve chosen feathers for the foreground and S-curves for the background. I love the way these two designs work together, especially with the movement already happening in Lulu Louise’s piecing.

By the end of this chapter, we’ll have a completely quilted Lulu Louise!

Join the Lulu Louise Quilty Class here!

Already a Quilty Club member or enrolled in the class? Head to your dashboard here.

Lessons 15 + 16 – Planning and Practicing Our Free Motion Quilting

Before we start quilting on Lulu Louise, we’re going to spend a little time planning and practicing.

In Lesson 15, we’ll draw out our quilting plan and look at how the design of the quilt can help guide our stitching. I’ve chosen feathers for the foreground, following the V-shaped movement of the piecing, and S-curves for the background.

Then, in Lesson 16, we’ll practice those feathers!

I always think it’s helpful to spend a little time getting comfortable with a design before putting the actual quilt under the needle. Feathers have a beautiful flowing movement, and practicing helps us get familiar with the shapes and direction changes.

I’ve also made these two lessons available for free on YouTube! If you’d like a little peek inside the class, you can watch the planning and practicing process below.

Lessons 17 + 18 – Quilting Feathers in the Foreground

Now it’s time to take those feathers to Lulu Louise!

I’ve divided the foreground quilting into two lessons so we can work through the process without trying to squeeze everything into one long video.

We’ll use the piecing as our guide and quilt feathers through the foreground, following the movement of the quilt’s design.

I love how feathers add such a soft, flowing texture to all those straight lines and geometric shapes in Lulu Louise.

And remember, the feathers don’t have to be identical. We’re looking for beautiful movement and texture, not perfection.

Lesson 19 – Quilting the Background

With our foreground feathers finished, we’ll move into the background.

For this area, I’ve chosen S-curves.

They’re a lovely contrast to the feathers and add plenty of texture without taking attention away from the foreground.

We’ll work through the background together, using the piecing to help guide the quilting and fill those spaces.

This is one of my favorite parts of free motion quilting: watching the different textures come together and seeing how much the quilting changes the look of the quilt.

Lesson 20 – Finishing Our First Quilting Design

And just like that, we’ve quilted Lulu Louise!

In our final lesson of Chapter 5, we’ll take a closer look at the finished quilting and see how the feathers and S-curves work together across the quilt.

It’s always such a satisfying moment when a quilt that started as a stack of pretty fabrics becomes something completely different through the quilting.

But We’re Not Finished With Free Motion Quilting!

One of the things I’m most excited about with Lulu Louise is that we’re actually going to explore two completely different free motion quilting designs in this class.

Chapter 5 gives us our first design, with flowing feathers in the foreground and S-curves in the background.

In Chapter 6 – Bonus Free Motion Quilting, I’ll be quilting another Lulu Louise, but this time we’re changing things up!

We’ll use structured geometric quilting through the foreground, then fill the background with loose doodle quilting featuring flowers, leaves, and other organic shapes.

I love the idea of taking the same quilt pattern and showing just how different it can look depending on the quilting choices.

And that means even more free motion quilting practice and inspiration!

Come Quilt Lulu Louise With Me!

If you’ve been wanting to get more comfortable with free motion quilting, I’d love for you to join me.

The Lulu Louise Quilty Class includes the quilt pattern, all of our piecing lessons, and two different approaches to free motion quilting.

You can work through everything at your own pace, revisit lessons whenever you need them, and practice right alongside me.

Join the Lulu Louise Quilty Class here.

Already enrolled or part of Quilty Club? Head to your dashboard and jump into Chapter 5!

Here’s to making beautiful things, enjoying the process, and finding a little joy in every stitch. 💕