#CIRCLE MEANDER QUILTING PATTERN HOW TO#
#CIRCLE MEANDER QUILTING PATTERN PRO#
#CIRCLE MEANDER QUILTING PATTERN SERIES#

The second challenge is learning to change direction frequently. Don’t do this you need all the oxygen your brain you can get!) Visualize the curves on a puzzle piece and project that image onto your quilt top as you work. (Some beginner free-motion quilters actually hold their breath. This will help you get in the zone and establish a nice rhythm, which leads to smoothness and consistent stitch length. Try to find the sweet spot-the balance between how fast the needle is going and how fast your hands are going. I usually suggest that students slow down, and concentrate on moving their hands in a deliberate way and at a constant speed. The first is making sure your quilting is smooth (no sharp points or changes in direction) and that all the knobs are the same size. There are three important things to work on if you want to create a nice basic meander pattern. (figure 1) Most beginners start out with a meander that looks like figure 2-uneven knob sizes, unequal space between knobs, strange shapes, sharp points, and crooked changes of direction. The most basic meander resembles curves on puzzle pieces. MeandersĮxcerpted from the article by Susan Brubaker Knapp Susan shares her expertise with these technique tips that are sure to help you machine quilt meanders like a pro. Even though this is a motif we often learn as beginners, it can actually be quite difficult to master.

#CIRCLE MEANDER QUILTING PATTERN HOW TO#

The section where she teaches how to machine quilt ‘basic meanders,’ was by far the most helpful for me.

#CIRCLE MEANDER QUILTING PATTERN SERIES#

Susan Brubaker Knapp wrote a series of articles, which has been collected into a convenient eBook, to help artists like us develop our skills and to encourage us to explore diverse quilting motifs. So think about going for contrast between your motif and your flowing lolly-gag connecting design.Free-motion quilting is a technique that takes a lot of practice.

The flowers get lost in the meander because the shape of the flowers (curves) and the shape of the stipple (curves) are just too similar. I love the leaves, but I would reject the stipple meander. You should be pretty comfortable with stitching Leaves! What could possibly go better with flowers, right?Īdvanced Pro-Tip: Take a look at these three Anything E2E designs. Kick it up a notch using a design that you’ve had lots of practice with recently. My good friend Mary Fisher from Oklahoma likes to say, “lolly-gag over to the next flower.” By that she means travel to the next motif with a design you are very comfortable with. To make this an E2E we need some connecting lines. Stitch a big round loop for the center circle.Ĭomplete the flower with three molars under the center. I keep thinking about this image as I quilt. Note: the pencil line is how I imagine the flower will look when completed. Stitch pathĮnter on the left and stitch 2 molars at the top of the flower. If you do, please share with all of us in the comments. This is not the only way to do it! You might come up with an even better way. Remember the 5 basic shapes? Each petal is a molar shape (you know, like the tooth, molar) like this:īecause we are creating an E2E pattern we have to decide how to enter and how to exit the motif (flower). Decide the stitch pathįirst analyze the motif and suss out the shapes you will need to quilt. So we’ve got a motif that will be easy to stitch. And EVERY flower in nature is perfect and beautiful.

Not enough petals? Too many petals? Center not really round? It’s all good! No two flowers in nature are the same. Organic shapes, like flowers and leaves are super easy to stitch because they are very forgiving. By now you’ve heard it many times if you have been following along with this series.

I really like the orange flower with the blue center. Maybe your fabric has a flower that you love and that might make a really cool quilting design. One fun way to decide on a motif is to look at your fabric. Just choose a motif that compliments your quilt and connect repeats of that motif with continuous flowing stitching. It’s edge-to-edge, so it is fast and easy to stitch. This technique allows you to customize a design that is unique to each quilt.

#CIRCLE MEANDER QUILTING PATTERN PRO#

As promised, I have some Pro Tips for you, so that you can get the most out of Anything E2E quilting.

Circle meander quilting pattern