How to Free Motion Quilt Whiplash, Quilting Design #494
Hello my quilting friends! I have a funky new free motion quilting design for you today that’s very similar to Permed Fern. I’ve named this one Whiplash, and it’s going to quilt up a little faster and easier and look terrific wherever you put it in your quilt:
Quick links to tools and supplies used in this quilting tutorial:
Eversewn Sparrow 20 Sewing Machine – I’m really enjoying this little machine! It really has a wonderful stitch quality and the most basic features I need in a machine. I do miss having a knee lifter and a little bird told me there’s a new Eversewn machine coming out with this feature… it might be enough for me to switch!
Low Shank Darning Foot – In order to free motion quilt, you need a foot that’s designed to hover over your quilt. Make sure to watch the tutorial here to learn how to break your foot so it works better for machine quilting.
Isacord Polyester Thread – This is my favorite thread for machine quilting. Yep, it’s embroidery thread. Yep, it’s polyester! It’s also super strong, very thin, and virtually lint free. As far as I’m concerned, that’s win, win, win!
Let’s learn a bit more about this whiplash quilting design:
Design Family – Stem Centered. Whiplash is quilted by stitching a single spiral line, then travel stitching all the way back to your starting point. Then you add the dynamic texture of the design by quilting back along the stem and branching out with the gentle arch shaped leaves.
Notice that I quilted the whiplash shapes in rows working across the square then down and back across in the opposite direction. This is the best way to quilt your quilt so the spaces are evenly filled and consistent. It also helps you not stitch yourself into a corner!
Difficulty Level – Intermediate. There is a lot of travel stitching in this design. Travel stitching is the technique for stitching a line then stitching back on top of it again to reach another part of the design or add extra emphasis to that line. Travel stitching is tricky and it takes practice and patience to build this skill.
The good news is Whiplash will be the perfect design to practice your travel stitching.
Suggestions for Use – I think Whiplash will look great in the border or stashing of a quilt. You can swirl the stem into any area and quilt the shapes into narrow spaces easily.
Just make sure you’re able to commit to the time Whiplash will take to quilt into your quilts. All that travel stitching will take a lot of extra time and effort to quilt, especially over large areas. If you’re needing a speedy finish, pick a design like Stippling that has no travel stitching at all.
Where do you plan to quilt Whiplash? Do you have any questions about this design? Please share in the comments below.
Let’s go quilt,
Leah Day
