18. Learn How to Quilt Wiggle Wiggle Spiral – #383

I’m sure by now you’re all wondering just when I’m going to get my act back together again and start posting videos! So rather than show you the giant mess I’m cleaning up today (what I’m really doing this Wednesday), let’s instead catch up on a new design combining simple shapes and spirals to create Wiggle Wiggle Spiral!

free motion quilting | Leah Day

Now this design is a straight up variation of Zigzag Spiral and will pretty much read the same. This means if you put both these designs in the background of your quilt, and stand back 10 feet, you probably won’t be able to tell the difference.

So what’s the point of learning a variation? This one might work better for you! It’s all down to how your brain works and sometimes wiggles feel more natural than zigzags. It’s worth giving both designs a try to see what happens!

Difficulty Level – Beginner.

Design Family – Independent

So that’s it for today! I’m headed back into the sewing room to hang up more fabric and clean up more tools. Ugh! Creativity sure is messy!

Let’s go quilt,

Leah Day

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.

7 Responses

  1. ellene says:

    Hi Leah! Thanks so much for sharing your quilting designs! I have a question (hope this makes sense)… sometimes whenever I stop to reposition my hands or to take out pins and I go to start quilting again my stitches don't go where I'm trying to stitch. I try to make sure that I'm not pulling or pushing on my quilt as I start again. I noticed in your videos whenever you start up quilting after repositioning your hands or taking out some pins that your stitches look perfect and go exactly where you want them to. Any suggestions? Thanks!

  2. Rockester says:

    Thank you for this one! I like it a LOT and hope to use it on my next quilt which is a disappearing four patch for my daughter. Thanks for all your videos. I enjoy free motioning and am getting braver and braver with my designs.

  3. Leah Day says:

    Hi Ellene – This is a very common issue that I also struggled with for years. #1 – always make sure your needle is in the down position when you stop and understand that restarting from a dead stop has a high learning curve. Pick a design that forces you to practice it over and over like Echo Shell or Paisley where you have to echo and hit exact lines and you can stop with each echo. It's also a control thing, so if you aren't wearing gloves now, you might want to try them!

    Just stick with it and stay patient. It will get better after 1000 stops and starts or so!

    Leah

  4. Anonymous says:

    I definitely echo Leah's response, Ellene. Needle down is key but if I allow my focus to wander I still have 1 stitch out of line. It's getting a lot better, though;-b

  5. Malini says:

    Your thread color is awesome and love combining these designs.

  6. Anonymous says:

    Enjoyed this post….perhaps a smaller design combined with another would be a good way to begin. Since there are two designs it might not be as obvious when one or the other is not "perfect". Let's go quilt.

  7. ellene says:

    Thanks for all the suggestions… I do always stop with needle down and I love quilting with my machinger gloves… I will just have to keep practicing with your designs! Thanks Leah!

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