How Should I Quilt This Quilt?

Class Preview

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.

Session 1: Introduction

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Meet Your Instructor

Learn more about your instructor, Heather Thomas.