Design #451 – Twisted Tendril

I’ve been machine quilting pumpkins this week and stumbled across this cool pumpkin vine quilting design. I wanted a free form loopy line that would appear almost like a twisted ribbon. With a bit of experimenting I’ve created Twisted Tendril!

free motion quilting design | twisted tendril

 This funky design is super easy to quilt and it’s a great skill builder for both echoing and travel stitching. The best thing about it? It’s supposed to be slightly messy so even if your stitching isn’t perfect, it’s still going to look great!

 This quilting design is a bit odd in that it doesn’t really work like a normal filler design. I tried filling up a block with it, branching out different Twisted Tendrils from one another and it just ended up looking kinda weird…

free motion quilting design | twisted tendril

I think this could work as a fill, but it would need to be two colors and stitched like a Foundational Design. First form the main twisted tendril, then change thread colors and fill the background with echoes.

So in creating this design, we’ve also created a new subcategory of quilting designs called Accents. This is a suitable name because Twisted Tendril really acted as an accent or embellishment, but you wouldn’t want to fill the whole background with it. It would lose it’s magical, whimsical quality if it was densely stitched all over the place.

 free motion quilting design | twisted tendril

I had so much fun quilting this design and the cute pumpkins as well! Be on the lookout for a video next Monday on how I quilted the pumpkin above.

365 Free Motion Quilting Designs book

If you’re on the hunt for more quilting inspiration to keep you busy all year, definitely check out my book 365 Free Motion Quilting Designs. This book features the first 365 designs from this project, stitched out in beautiful photos that are so detailed, you can see every stitch!

Don’t forget to share this design on Facebook and pin it on Pinterest to share it with your friends!

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.

11 Responses

  1. Thank you Leah. This is really a cool design. I really can't wait to try it.

  2. Kristen King says:

    I just ordered your book and can't wait for it to arrive!! Love these twisted tendrils, I can't wait to try them!!! Thank you also for the fantastic video.

  3. Leah Day says:

    Thank you so much for your support Kristen! I really appreciate it and I hope you love the book!

  4. lovenny says:

    Hola es divino lo que haces he aprendido mucho con tus vídeos pero tengo una dificultad yes que no se como poner la tensión del hilo para acolchar,me gustaría si te es posible hicieras un vídeo explicándolo ya que tengo tu misma maquina de coser.un beso enorme
    gracias
    Lovenny

  5. Laura Chaney says:

    Definitely looking forward to seeing more of these "accent" quilting ideas!

  6. Rebecca says:

    So glad I watched the video and learned! It's such a free-wheeling looking design, I probably wouldn't have thought ahead as you demonstrated. Good lesson!

  7. Excellent and beautiful.
    Yasmin

  8. Sarah Barton says:

    Leah,
    You are a wonderful teacher and inspiration. Do you use stitch regulation on your machine? Your stitches are so even. I do not have a stitch regulator. Thank you!

  9. Leah Day says:

    Hi Sarah,

    Nope, I don't use a stitch regulator. I've found when playing with regulators that they are just not as smart as us, and eventually you will grow out of the speed range that they allow. This means that while it may temporarily make your stitches look better, eventually that regulator will make your stitches look worse and you'll have to learn how to quilt without it anyway.

    So I hope that helps! You don't need to buy anything – just go quilt!

  10. Marian says:

    hola la pagina no anda, o les mande unmail para contraseña y ustedes no contestan quisiera saberncomo hago para ver los motivos para quiltiar.-

  11. Leah Day says:

    Nuestro sitio está abajo en este momento y estará de regreso hasta el 1 de octubre . Lo siento por las molestias !

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