How to Stitch Granddaddy Longlegs Spider Quilting Design

Let’s stitch a creepy crawlie quilting design today – a Granddaddy Longlegs Spider! We have several spider web quilting designs on the Free Motion Quilting Project: Spider Web, Cobwebs in the Corners, and Web Fill (find links below to each of these tutorials). But where is the spider to spin these webs? Let’s fix this by stitching this Granddaddy Longlegs spider design into the project:

Granddaddy Long Legs Spider Quilting Design

To be honest, the reason creepy crawlie spiders haven’t been the inspiration for a quilting design is because I really dislike them! So much so that when I wrote Mally the Maker, a quilt fantasy novel, the evil queen is described as a spider with dozens of scissor legs.

Bugs freak me out. Thankfully when stitched in thread, these Granddaddy Longlegs are a lot less creepy!

Granddaddy Longlegs Spider Quilting Design Details

Difficulty LevelIntermediate. This design is a bit trickier than the other flower designs we’ve learned lately because of the large amounts of travel stitching. Just take it slow and make sure you can really see what you’re doing as you stitch right along your previous line of stitching.

Design Family – Center Fill. This works from the center of your quilting space and you could start your spider with anything in the middle. A cluster of pebbles or a small spiral works great! 

Directional Texture – Center Focused. Granddaddy Longlegs looks like a large, creepy spider so of course your eyes are going to be drawn into the center. Play with making the center bigger for a different, more flower-like effect.

Suggestions for Use – How about a Halloween quilt with funky fabrics, Granddaddy Longlegs used in the blocks, Cobwebs in the Corners used in the sashing, and Web Fill in the borders? That would make for one creepy, fun quilt!

Let’s go quilt,

LeahDay

Leah Day has been teaching online since 2009. She's the creator of the Free Motion Quilting Project, a blog filled with thousands of quilting tutorial videos. Leah has written several books including 365 Free Motion Quilting Designs, Explore Walking Foot Quilting with Leah Day, and Mally the Maker and the Queen in the Quilt.

3 Responses

  1. Ruth says:

    Thanks for posting yet another idea for quilting one or two of my sampler blocks!

  2. Teresa says:

    I really like your designs where there is thread buildup. You are my quilting guru ! You've given me the confidence to stretch the "rules" and go with my own artistic heart. Thank you from the bottom of my "real" heart.

  3. Megan O says:

    eep! i think i have bad luck, i have horrid arachnophobia and as soon as i opened this a daddy long legs crawled over my foot! either way though, love the recent flower designs! using 3 in my most recent quilt πŸ™‚ thanks!

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