May 04, 2011

Free Motion Quilting Tips: Faux Meandering

I wanted to mention some designs that can be used instead of meandering, but with a similar effect. Sometimes meandering feels overwhelming for new quilters, and a simpler pattern is needed while learning to coordinate the hands and the stitching speed.

These patterns require fewer decisions to make as you quilt, so if you want a simple non-meandering pattern for your next quilt, check them out. Worked in a low contrast thread they give off the same initial impression as meandering on the finished quilt, but can be worked straight across the quilt in rows. You can use strips of masking tape laid across the quilt to help keep your rows an even height as you work across.

Loops


Lazy Eights


Wiggles

16 comments:

Mercy said...

Genial...mil gracias esto creo que me costara menos trabajo...un beso Mercy

Stray Stitches (Linda G) said...

Great idea! Now if I could just take the time to learn fmq :)

Elsa said...

your lazy eights are wonderful, I still have practicing to do ~

Quiet Quilter said...

Thanks for keeping up the fmq ideas..

Karen said...

Thank you for posting these! I SO want to free motion quilt but I hate to RIP! So, I've been straight line quilting and feel quite comfortable with it. Will see if I'm up to the next step.

Thanks again!

billyetoussaint said...

thank you the "wiggles" may just lead to finally getting one of my many pieced tops quilted.

Mila@Rimbun said...

Thanks for the idea, love the wiggles..

Mama Pea said...

I like Lazy 8s. I practice those while I'm in boring meetings. I have trouble keeping them uniform, so I enjoy practicing them on lined paper. :-)

Ginger said...

Thank you so much for the FMQ ideas. I'm soooo scared of it. You make it sound like I should try.

ButtonMad said...

loving the lazy 8's ;-)

Suzanne said...

Perfectly. Timed. I am about to finish piecing a quilt top with loops and didn't think of using the tape. But of course that makes perfect sense. I promise to share a picture of it with you.

GerryART said...

Thank you so saying we can.
Hugs,
Gerry

Jan said...

I am new to FMQ but will give these ideas a crack.

✾Jamie Lee Cooley✾ said...

I wish I had seen this when I first started free motion quilting. It took a few quilts under my belt before I was able to do meandering without getting myself "stuck" somewhere with no exit out! I am definitely going to use the lazy eights on a baby quilt I am working on for my daughter I just had. Thanks!

Jan said...

Thanks for this tip! I'm scared to do any FMQ on any "real" project since I'm so new to it and don't want to mess up.

Sand and Sunshine said...

Look at you still running with this!!! That's what I get for slacking off.

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