Free Motion Quilt Along: Loops

Hello free motion quilters, I hope you are feeling loopy! This week we will be stitching in the last of the narrow strips, as well as a portion of one of the wide strips. As in past weeks, doodle some designs and then pick two or three for the narrow strip, and at least a few for the wide strip.

I started with a double loop.

Then I did a couple loopy flowers

And I finished off the row with a pebble line.

In the middle wide strip I marked off an 11 inch area on the edge. I was most excited to try the interlocking rings. I like the effect but they are a little slow. Then I went on to the lazy eight, and my mind was clearly wandering - my stops and starts were very crooked! Oh well. If your stops/starts look like this, the only advice I have is 1) practice 2) try having your needle down in the quilt when you restart your stitching (not a given if you tend to just move your hands one at a time to reposition) 3) test placing your stop/start at different points in the design to see which part of the design is easiest to match up when you restart your stitching 4) just let it go. Reassure yourself that no one will notice it, especially not after it's washed. I certainly don't normally quilt with this much contrast between my thread and my quilt!

I pulled it together for the last few designs.  I think I liked the alternating big and small loops the best.

Next week we'll focus on pebbles! Happy quilting. Of course we would all love to fawn over your pictures in the Flickr pool.

Free Motion Quilting Designs: Loops

Loops are a wonderful design for beginners. They are so whimsical and fun that wobbles and irregularities just fit right in. You could quilt an entire quilt with loops!

Loops are charming as part of a wiggly line. Ooh, and double loops? Yes.

Some loop variants. I liked the effect of five loops grouped together for an easy flower motif. That one design down in the middle I was trying to make pointy. Hmmm.

Riding home on the bus one day I saw some circular barbed wire. I thought it would be a fun quilting design to try. You would stitch around the circle twice and then stop (at the dots) to start a new circle.

Loops make great meandering, which is yet to come, as well as pebbles which we will cover next - trust me, there are a lot of pebble variations, pebbling deserves its own week.

If you are feeling goofy for pebbles, here is a nice pebble line to start with. You stitch a circle, then follow it back around to the bottom, where you begin another circle immediately below it.

I found some examples of how great simple loops can be on quilts! Now, how about sketching some of these loop designs, and designing some of your own?

1. Loopy-doo, 2. more loops, 3. 28.365, 4. Little red under a Christmas Tree, 5. Pretty square quilt detail, 6. free motion quilting

See more Free Motion Quilting designs and tips on the Free Motion Quilting page.