By Diane Harris, HQ Stitch Brand Ambassador
The biggest challenge I face as a maker is knowing how to quilt the tops I finish. I can piece and applique ’til the cows come home and am never short of ideas.
But put a newly finished quilt top in front me when it’s time to secure those three layers together?
I am toast.
I think it’s a matter of learning how to imagine the quilting designs, really. I’m a creative person and ideas flow easily for me in other areas. But it’s because I have learned to let that happen, so I just need to learn it in regard to the quilting.
This pink, green and yellow sampler is one I recently made from orphan blocks. I put it into Photoshop and tried some ideas. It’s not easy to draw with a mouse–I’m probably about as skilled at that as I am at machine quilting.
It’s not pretty but I’m hoping it will start the flow of ideas.
Anything is better than just staring blankly at the quilt top.
You can do a similar exercise by taking a photo of your quilt and printing it on paper, the bigger the better. Then use pen, pencil or marker to sketch quilting ideas. Your print doesn’t even need to be in color, and you’ll want to make several.
You can isolate a portion of your quilt and print that out, too. This gives you more space to try out detailed ideas for the quilting.
I think the movement of your hand across the quilt’s landscape loosens up your mind. It also familiarizes you with the shapes that need to be filled with quilting. And don’t forget the negative space, which is just a fancy way of talking about the background. Something needs to go in those areas as well.
I’m not convinced that my sketched ideas are keepers, so the next step will be to get out my books on machine quilting. There may be ideas to inspire me there.
This is a journey I am determined to take in 2020, and I’ll be happy to take you along with me as I learn. Wouldn’t it be great if I had an abundance of ideas for quilting, so many that I couldn’t decide which one would be best? That’s the goal. Stay tuned!
I love that quilt top Diane! Here’s an idea for you: I like to use Quilter’s Preview Paper to audition my quilting designs. It’s a clear film that you can draw on with dry (or wet) erase marker or Sharpie. It has black edges so you don’t accidentally draw off the paper and onto your quilt.That would not be good! It is easy to see through and you can really get creative since it’s easy to wipe away what you don’t like and give it another go. No seam ripper required!
I use aps called Draw Editor or Let’s Draw to audition quilting designs. With either of those aps, you can take a photo of your block or your quilt, and draw possible quilting designs on them right on your phone screen. You can then save them or delete, as you wish. It is easier and faster for me that working in photoshop. You might want to try them:)