Exploring Natural Machine-Quilting Motifs

Class Preview

Adorn your quilts with a gorgeous garden of motifs! Turn simple shapes into elegant ferns, berries and bouquets that will make every quilt top blossom.

Introduction

Meet free-motion quilter Linda Bratten and get a sneak peek at the unique nature-inspired motifs you’ll learn in class. Whether you’re finishing up a quilt or embellishing home decor, Linda’s designs will add visual interest and texture to any of your projects!

Basic Building Blocks

Simple shapes are the building blocks of complex quilting motifs, and Linda shows you how to master them. Practice drawing a variety of basic shapes, patterns and letters on paper before taking them to your sewing machine. Then, learn to add rich texture to your designs with echoing.

Leaves

Get started quilting a variety of versatile — and beginner-friendly — leaf motifs, perfect for borders and edge-to-edge designs. As Linda demonstrates her techniques, you’ll learn how to use basic loops, curls and ribbons to fluidly travel between motifs. Plus, see how to transform less-than-perfect leaves into picture-perfect designs!

Vines & Branches

Dress up your borders and quilt tops with lovely vine and branch patterns. Using a basic teardrop shape, Linda shows how to stitch an intricate network of vines before filling in negative spaces with delicate curls. In addition, practice quilting a variety of pine branches and pine cones for a wintery twist.

Ferns & Palms

Discover the secret to quilting elegant fern and palm motifs. Linda demystifies the process by breaking down each design into the basic shapes and letters you learned in Lesson 2. As a bonus, you’ll see how to stitch a versatile fern motif that will add texture and depth to your backgrounds.

Fruits & Vegetables

Embellish your tea towels, table runners and quilts with whimsical cherries, strawberries, citrus wedges and more! Along the way, you’ll discover techniques for stitching clusters of berries, while minimizing thread buildup. Plus, Linda shares her process of creating adorable pea pods — perfect for baby quilts.

Flowers

Add a touch of spring to your quilts with attractive flower motifs. Get step-by-step instruction on stitching rounded, pointed and heart-shaped petals, and find out a simple trick for getting evenly spaced petals every time. Want to add an assortment of flowers? Linda shows you how to quilt beautiful lilies, tulips, poppies and Queen Anne’s lace.

The Animal Kingdom

Take your feather motifs to the next level as you learn how to quilt fringed bird feathers and elaborate peacock feathers. In addition, get detailed instruction on creating bees, butterflies, dragonflies and a variety of sea-inspired motifs that will enhance your next project!