There are two main approaches to machine quilting design: allover versus custom fit. Allover quilting designs, as the name implies, are uniformly placed over the entire quilt surface. This approach seems to be favored by long arm quilters and their customers, possibly because it is easy, quick, and therefore less expensive. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that allover quilting is the best choice for the quilt.

Allover quilting designs work well when a quilt top is heavily pieced. The quilting lines play a supporting role so they don’t compete with the complexity of the patchwork. For the quilt Miles to Go Before I Sleep, I designed an allover straight line grid pattern that supported the patchwork but didn’t interfere with it.

Patchwork

Quilting Lines

Patchwork with Quilting Lines

Allover quilting designs can also be a good choice for utility or baby quilts where the quilting serves a purely functional role. I used an allover clamshell design on my niece’s baby quilt which also helped to soften the straight lines of the patchwork.

Patchwork Baby Quilt

Quilting Lines

Patchwork with Quilting Lines

Scrappy quilts or quilts with busy prints are also good candidates for allover quilting where fancy or custom quilting lines would be difficult to see. This color wash section of an Irish Chain quilt was simply quilted allover with a diagonal grid.

Patchwork

Quilting Lines

Patchwork with Quilting Lines

Theoretically, intricate patchwork could be quilted allover in-the-ditch (that is, in the seam lines), but don’t discount other creative options. Quilting overlapping circles in the quilt Lake Ontario Fan echoed the patchwork circles in the quilt top.

Patchwork

Quilting Lines

Patchwork with Quilting Lines

The quilt Trinity is constructed with hexagon-shaped patches in the full color spectrum. In order for the quilting to support but also enhance the patchwork, I quilted a series of concentric hexagons all over this quilt.

Quilting Lines

In my opinion – and I freely admit my bias here – allover quilting designs are not appropriate for appliqué!

Longarm quilters often use pantographs for quilting allover designs. These are specially designed images that the quilter follows as the machine is moved from one end of the quilt to the other (also called “edge-to-edge”). While this method doesn’t apply to machine quilting on a domestic sewing machine, there are still plenty of options available for us to create that allover quilted look.

We are beginning a blog series about machine quilting and last week I told you about some of the machine quilting books in my library. I explained how they each represented various aspects of this vast subject and offered insight into machine quilting technique, and then I promised to reveal my favorite book of them all.

Quilting Makes the Quilt by Lee Cleland
This book is a marvel and, understandably, a best-seller. Imagine: Lee Cleland chose twelve traditional quilt patterns and made each one five times using the same fabric and batting. Then, she quilted the quilts in a variety of designs so that we could see in an instant what a difference the quilting makes.

I never tire of looking through this book. It is simply amazing to see the transformations of the quilts based on the way they are quilted. Just by turning the page, you can see the impact of straight-lines versus curved; matching thread versus contrasting; all-over versus custom fit. It is inspirational and educational.

While the quilts certainly steal the show, the book also includes an excellent chapter called “Making Designs Fit”. There are patterns for all twelve quilts and a pull-out section contains many of the quilting designs used on the quilts.

“Something special, even magical, happens when you begin to quilt. Smooth fabrics take on intriguing texture, motifs stand out in crisp relief, and graceful patterns swirl across blocks with no regard for piecing boundaries. Quilting is a process, a stitch-by-stitch transformation of fabric and batting into something difficult to describe and pleasing to behold.”  ~ Lee Cleland

Before Quilting

After Quilting

 Quilting makes the quilt!

Easy Machine Quilting  Jane Townswick (editor)
This book is a compilation of twelve lessons from well-known and talented machine quilters such as Caryl Bryer Fallert, Sue Nickels, Debra Wagner and Hari Walner. It also includes twelve projects designed to feature the techniques from each lesson: not only can we read about it, we can practice it.

Lesson 1 is called “Getting Ready” and presents the basics of understanding your sewing machine, setting up a space for machine quilting and choosing needles, threads, and batting. Other lessons include starting and stopping, machine guided and free-motion quilting techniques, quilting in-the-ditch, cross-hatching, echo quilting, stippling and meander quilting, machine trapunto, and more.

Every machine quilter should have a solid reference book on the subject in their library and this book served that purpose for me. Even though it was published in 1996, the concepts and practices still hold true today. But a lot has happened in the quilting industry over the past 16 years so this was not my last machine quilting book!

Guide to Machine Quilting by Diane Gaudynski
The machine quilting of Diane Gaudynski rocked my world and has been a huge influence on my work. Diane’s quilts have such beautiful texture, they appear to be embossed. I longed to be able to create that same effect and jumped at the chance to learn from this master as soon as her book was published in 2002.

Guide to Machine Quilting covers many of the same topics as Easy Machine Quilting, although it is always interesting to discover the tools and products favored by our heroes. It is the chapter on “Free-Motion Quilting” that I have pored over the longest. Her description of stippling is excellent and her strategy of working away from yourself (as opposed to toward yourself) has helped me enormously.

Diane machine quilts just like everyone else quilts on a home sewing machine, but how does she get those results? I have concluded the answer lies in the density of the background quilting and have worked to achieve the same effect. The photographs in this book are sure to inspire you – and if you’re a cat-lover, bring a few smiles to your face as well.

Mastering the Art of McTavishing by Karen McTavish
Karen McTavish is an award-winning longarm machine quilter whose signature style of background quilting has become known as “McTavishing”. In my quest to produce that embossed look in my quilts, I was curious to investigate this unique look and to develop some other options besides stippling.

The book includes a 90-minute DVD which parallels and demonstrates the chapters in the book. Karen discusses how to create “McTavishing” using a domestic sewing machine, so we don’t have to have a longarm to produce this look! But we do have to practice (are you sensing a theme here?) and so after a few trial runs, I attempted to use “McTavishing” in the background of my Butterfly Mosaic.

Machine Quilting by Sue Nickels
Machine Quilting: A Primer of Techniques is a relatively recent addition to my library, even though it was published in 2003. I had the privilege to serve as the classroom volunteer during Sue’s classes at Quilt Canada 2010 and the book was her gift to me. Sue does beautiful machine quilting and I was eager to see what tips I could learn from her approach.

There are two aspects of this book that I particularly like. The sections called “Trace and Practice” provide an opportunity to try out many of the machine quilting techniques. As Sue says: “It is helpful to do the practice samples as you would if you were taking a class”. This book is like taking Sue’s class.

Another great aspect of this book is the chapter on “The Actual Quilt”. Here, Sue talks about choosing quilting designs, marking them, selecting backing fabric and basting. She also clearly explains how to “package” the quilt so it will fit within the boundaries of a home machine and includes a number of very helpful diagrams. We can exercise all we like on practice sandwiches but eventually we have to move on to a real quilt!

These are not all of the machine quilting books in my library but they each represent various aspects of this vast subject and offer insight into machine quilting technique. Next week, I’ll share my favorite of them all and tell you why.

I have decided to tackle the subject over the coming weeks in a new blog series on machine quilting. During this series we will consider:

Tools
~ for marking (and not marking)
~ needles
~ thread
~ batting

Resources
~ how-to books
~ quilting designs

Techniques
~ basting
~ starting and ending stitches
~ quilting straight lines
~ quilting free-motion
~ adjusting thread tension

We’ll talk about design and how to choose the right lines and shapes to bring your quilt to life. We’ll consider what features to look for in a sewing machine, if you’re in the market. We’ll look at quilts and other art forms for inspiration and motivation. And hopefully, by the time we’re done, you will know exactly how to quilt on a home sewing machine!

Look at the birds of the air;
they do not sow
or reap
or store away in barns,
and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them.

Are you not much more valuable then they?
~ Matthew 6:26

]]> http://www.kathykwylie.com/blog/2011/12/merry-christmas-2011/feed/ 0 http://www.kathykwylie.com/blog/2011/12/stamp-carving-for-quilters/ http://www.kathykwylie.com/blog/2011/12/stamp-carving-for-quilters/#comments Tue, 13 Dec 2011 02:55:27 +0000 kkwylie http://www.kathykwylie.com/blog/?p=3295 Stamp Carving for Quilters workshop with Maggie Weiss.]]> The second workshop that I attended during International Quilt Festival in Houston this fall was Stamp Carving for Quilters with Maggie Weiss.  (The first was Embellishing Quilts with Hot Fix Crystals.)  The class description suggested that stamp carving could be used as inspiration for blocks, quilting or border patterns and invited us to explore spatial relationships and secondary imagery with varied media.  Since I have limited experience with surface design techniques, I decided to give stamp carving a try.  Besides, my very good friend Janet Hill is a card-maker extraordinaire as well as a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator – perhaps this might be a way to bridge our two art forms!

We began the class by working with 1″ x 1″ x 1″ white soap erasers and an X-Acto knife.  We made our first cut 1/4″ into the top of the eraser and the second cut on a 45-degree angle to the first, creating a channel.  We continued in this way to create our design.  Then, using an ink pad, we stamped our design onto white paper in a variety of arrangements.  We tried different combinations of stamping four times using rotational symmetry and compared the results of spacing the stamps side-by-side versus leaving white space (or sashing) between them.

This is one of the stamps that I carved in class.  (It still has some ink and paint left in the crevices!)

Here are the combinations I tried using rotational symmetry with this stamp.  Each version places a different element in the center for different results.

Leaving space between the stamps made a surprisingly big change to the designs.

Another stamp that I carved was more geometric, with mostly straight lines.

Here is how this stamp looked in rotated combinations of four – such interesting results!

Again, leaving space between the stamps created additional elements of interest.

After auditioning our stamp designs with ink and paper, we used different types of paint to stamp on fabric.  Our final exercise involved recreating our stamp design as a quilt block.  Now I was back in my comfort zone!  Using the bottom left ink-stamped arrangement (without any space between the stamps), I created a white-on-black and black-on-white version of my stamp design.

A couple days after this class, I watched a demo given by Daphne Greig on stamp making.  It was fun to see some other ways that stamps can be created.  Daphne showed how adhesive-backed pipe insulation could be cut into shapes and mounted onto a wood, acrylic or foam core base.  She even made stamps from fun foam shapes!  I enjoyed the creative process of stamp carving and I can certainly see how these designs can serve as inspiration for many aspects of quilt making.

Split Complement: Blue, Yellow-Orange, and Red-Orange

The split complementary color scheme is versatile, pleasant, and easy to achieve.  It offers the same advantages of a complementary color scheme in terms of contrast and balance between warm and cool color temperatures.  Yet some consider it easier to work with since the hues are more nuanced and create less tension.

The split complement for orange would include blue-green and blue-violet.

Split Complement: Orange, Blue-Green, and Blue-Violet

The direct complement of yellow is violet, therefore its split complements are red-violet and blue-violet.

Split Complement: Yellow, Red-Violet, Blue-Violet

The split complement for violet would include yellow-green and yellow-orange.

Split Complement: Violet, Yellow-Green, Yellow-Orange

The direct complement of red is green, therefore its split complements are yellow-green and blue-green.

Split Complement: Red, Yellow-Green, and Blue-Green

The split complement for green would include red-orange and red-violet.

Split Complement: Green, Red-Orange, and Red-Violet

We have been practicing these various color relationships by making a block in each color scheme.  Using green as my base hue, my block includes the split complements of red-orange and red-violet.  While the arrangement seems to work, greater contrast in color value could have made the composition more successful.

Crystals come in different sizes which are measured in ss (stone size or sieve size), mm (millimeters), or pp (pearl plate).  Size 10ss crystals would measure between 2.7-2.8 mm; size 16ss measure 3.8-4.0 mm; and so on.  Size conversion charts are available on websites such as Bead FX and Kandi Corp.

Hot fix crystals have an adhesive on the back that melts when heated.  Crystals can be applied to any fabric that can take the heat by using a specially designed heat tool or an iron.  One common tool is called the Bejeweler, which comes with different tips for each size of crystal.  The tip of this hot-fix tool fits over the crystal to heat the glue and affix the crystal to the fabric.

Cheri Meineke-Johnson has a different tool called Cheri’s Cool Tool.  The tip of this hot-fix tool is flat and sits on top of the crystal.  The benefit of the flat tip is that the crystals can’t get stuck inside the hot tip.

Cheri also showed us how an iron can be used to heat-fix the crystals in place.  While it is possible to lay out the crystals in the desired pattern right on the fabric, she demonstrated how Mylar sheets can be used to create custom transfers.  This seemed like an excellent way to design intricate patterns with crystals.

Swarovski crystals are rather difficult to photograph, but here is a shot of the project we worked on in class.  We worked on a small Hmong reverse-appliquéd panel and added crystals to the exposed channels.  What a great way to practice working with the hot-fix tool, tweezers and crystals.

When used to embellish quilts, crystals are added as the last step after the quilt has been completed.  They can follow a line of quilting or be used as an occasional accent.  Of course, the basic elements of design such as line, color and balance come into play.  Crystals should enhance the quilt without being visually distracting.  I’m not sure if you will ever see me bedazzling my quilts with such glitter and sparkle, but it was fun trying it out and learning a new technique!

#10 Art Concepts for Quilting: Balance Part 1
2011/03/02

What is visual balance and how can it be attained? This article looked at two types of visual balance: symmetrical balance and radial balance.

#9 – Preparing Patches for Needle-turn Appliqué
2010/01/20 – ↓ from #5 last year!

Needle-turn appliqué is my favorite method of hand appliqué. I find it to be very accurate as well as flexible. But a big reason is the ease with which the patches are prepared beforehand. This article describes how I prepare the patches for needle-turn appliqué.

#8 – Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks Blog Tour
2009/11/04 – ↓ from #1 last year!

This special issue from Quiltmaker Magazine featured 100 blocks from today’s top designers. I was so excited that one of my block designs had been chosen for the magazine. My block was called Spring Snowflake.

#7 – More Squares and Rectangles in Quilts
2010/06/23 – ↓ from #6 last year!

I realized that my study of squares and rectangles in quilts was incomplete because the original article focused solely on traditional patchwork quilt block designs. This post presented some additional examples of quilts, this time in a more contemporary or art quilt style.

#6 – Embellishing Quilts #1: Decorative Stitching
2010/08/04 – ↓ from #3 last year!

Reviewing The Quilter’s Directory of Embellishments (Sally Holman, C&T Publishing 2006) inspired me to write a series of articles on ways that I have embellished some of my quilts. This post featured decorative stitching.

#5 – More Triangles in Quilts
2010/07/21 – ↑ from #8 last year!

The half-square triangle, or right angle triangle, may be the workhorse in traditional patchwork design but we shouldn’t overlook other types of triangles.  This article features equilateral, scalene, acute and obtuse triangles.  I suspect some of these types of triangles are used less frequently because they are not as easy to rotary cut and piece.  But with specialty rulers, templates or paper foundation piecing, they can be sewn just as easily and successfully as half-square triangles.

#4 – Geometric Shapes in Quilts: Hexagons
2010/10/20

The series on Art Concepts for Quilting, especially on the subject of shape, was very popular with five articles in the top ten.  This article focused on the hexagon.

#3 – Geometric Shapes in Quilts: Triangles
2010/07/14 – ↓ from #2 last year!

After squares, triangles are easily the most used geometric shapes in patchwork quilts.  More specifically, it is the right angle triangle – the half-square triangle – that quilters treasure.  This type of triangle was the subject of the third most-viewed blog post.

#2 – Geometric Shapes in Quilts: Squares and Rectangles
2010/06/16 – ↑ from #4 last year!

While considering how the element of shape is used in quilt design, we began with two similar geometric shapes: the square and the rectangle.

And the #1 Most-Viewed Blog Article from the past two years is…

Basting a Large Quilt in Sections
2011/02/16

Basting a large quilt can be a challenge, but I have found that working at it in sections makes the job very manageable. Obviously, many people wanted to know how!

Thank you for following my blog.  It’s been a fun couple of years and I look forward to many more!

]]> http://www.kathykwylie.com/blog/2011/11/two-years-of-blogging/feed/ 0 http://www.kathykwylie.com/blog/2011/11/complementary-color-scheme/ http://www.kathykwylie.com/blog/2011/11/complementary-color-scheme/#comments Mon, 14 Nov 2011 21:48:24 +0000 kkwylie http://www.kathykwylie.com/blog/?p=3217 A complementary color scheme is formed by choosing two hues directly across from one another on the color wheel.  The direct complement of a primary color will always be a secondary color:  blue and orange; red and green; yellow and violet.  Direct complements balance each other in visual temperature, with a warm color such as orange offset by the cooler hue of blue.  If you stare at a single color (say, blue) for 30 – 60 seconds, then look at a white surface, an after-image of the complementary color will appear (in this case, orange).

Orange and Blue

The orange hue of the lion cub in this quilt is a direct complement to the blue background.

Red and Green

Green hexagons surround their direct complement in this Grandmother’s Flower Garden quilt.

Yellow and Violet

The predominance of violet is set off against its direct complement of yellow in the quilt Bridal Tea.

The direct complement of a tertiary color is another tertiary color.  In her book The Quilter’s Color Club (C&T Publishing, 2011), Christine Barnes explains that direct complements consisting of tertiary colors are easier to work with because each of the colors contain two primaries in unequal amounts.  For example, yellow-green consists of three-quarters yellow and one-quarter blue (because green is made from blue and yellow).  Its direct complement of red-violet also contains one-quarter blue plus three-quarters red.

Red-Violet and Yellow-Green

The quilt Lake Ontario Fan is an example of this color scheme.

The remaining two complementary color schemes using tertiary colors are blue-violet with yellow-orange and blue-green with red-orange.

Yellow-Orange and Blue-Violet

Red-Orange and Blue-Green

If you have been following along with Color Games, you will have chosen a focus fabric in a primary or secondary color.  This week, construct a block using fabrics in your focus color and its direct complement.  My color is green so my block is made from red and green fabrics.