A really beautiful quilt comes together through the selection of design, pattern, color and quilting. How we finish our quilts can make or break all of the decisions we’ve made up to that point.
The way we quilt our tops can have a great effect on their visual impact; if the quilting is too simple then the quilt can be boring, if the quilting is too complex then it can overwhelm the piecing and fabric selection.
In this class, art quilter, Heather Thomas will teach you how to use machine quilting to bring out the best in your quilt tops. She will help you understand the physics of quilting and how the density of stitching physically affects the quilt.
Using more than a dozen quilts and tops she will help you understand what the quilting she used is doing to the quilt visually and structurally. She will then use simple sheets of Mylar and dry erase markers to show you her process of designing the quilting for her tops.
This class is for anyone who is struggling with the complex decisions of “How should I Quilt this Quilt?!”
In addition you will have access to a downloadable and printable PDF that includes a number of quilting designs / templates.
Free-Motion Designs for All-Over Patterns Book ($12 Value)
Endless inspiration from your favorite quilters!
Want inspiration for your free-motion quilting? Now you have the perfect tool! This spiral-bound book is full of designs—JUST designs—and will lay flat on your work surface or your quilt to keep your hands on the quilt and that needle moving! The second in a new series, this visual guide is filled with over 75 continuous-line designs from your favorite designers to get you stitching. Perfect for domestic and longarm machines.
Free-Motion Block Designs Book ($12 Value)
Endless inspiration from your favorite quilters!
Want inspiration for your free-motion quilting? Now you have the perfect tool! This spiral-bound book is full of designs—JUST designs—and will lay flat on your work surface to keep your hands on the quilt and that needle moving! The first in a new series, this visual guide is filled with over 75 diverse block designs from your favorite designers to get you stitching.
NOTE: You’ll receive this Class video instruction in two forms: As on-demand streaming video (in your NQC Account); and as a physical DVD, mailed to you.
Heather is a mixed media fiber artist with a passion for color and a dedication to teaching. After a decade of making original yet traditional work, she began venturing out toward art quilting, embellishments, and mixed media work. With more than 12 years of studying and teaching color and design under her belt, she wrote her second book, A Fiber Artists’ Guide to Color & Design, which came on the heels of her very popular first book, Fabric Embellishing: The Basics & Beyond.
In 2011 Heather was a guest writer for Quilting Arts magazine with a multi-part feature on Free Style Machine Quilting. She also participates in group and individual instructional DVDs produced by the Creative Crafts Group. You can visit Heather’s blog at heatherthomasblog.blogspot.com.
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In the session I will show one quilt and discuss how the quilting is affecting it. I will introduce the idea of curvy versus straight motifs and stitch density as well as the physics of quilting. I will talk about how the selection of motif can augment or overwhelm the other aspects present in the quilt top and how to avoid the pitfalls of over or under quilting.
Session 2: How Stitch Density Affects Depth
11:48
In this session I will show several quilts and discuss how the density of the quilting in various areas of the quilt are affecting how the quilt is seen visually. How that density affects depth and how the quilting could have been done differently to be more pleasing or less pleasing to the eye.
Session 3: Motifs and When to Use Them
12:08
In this session I will show the difference between a motif and a fill and show several quilts that utilize motifs and talk about when to use them and when to steer clear of them.
Session 4: Fill: When Where Why
12:41
This session is all about the important aspect of background fill. I will show lots of different fill styles and talk about using the juxtaposition of straight next to curvy. I will go over the importance of stitch size/density and show several quilts and talk about what is good and not so good about the decisions I made in the background quilting.
Session 5: Designing the Quilting
44:15
In this session I will use a large sheet of Mylar and dry erase markers and two different quilt tops to show a quick and easy way to preview how different quilting selections might affect the surface of a quilt top. I will talk about the criteria I use to decide how to quilt each of the two tops and talk about the thread colors/weights I will use and the order in which I will quilt each quilt.
Session 6: Thread Selection: Color & Weight
6:31
In this session I will show several quilts as I talk about the importance of the color, value and weight of the threads we choose to use when quilting.
Class Q&A Resource
Access to the Q&A Resource for this
Class is available with purchase.
