Day 284 – Double Stippling

After a long weekend off, most of it spent relaxing on the couch with James or relaxing outside with a book, I’m feeling much, much better! While setting limits on reasonable work hours is going to be hard at first, I can already feel that this is what is absolutely necessary for me to work for myself without burning out.

So let’s get back to the normal schedule of the project with a really neat design today. This is what happens when you stitch Stippling, then stitch it again on top of itself to double it:

Looking at the photo again, this looks sort of like a bowl of spaghetti! I love this wiggly, wobbly texture and it’s actually extremely easy to stitch. The first set of Stippling acts as a foundation upon which the second set of stippling is stitched over. It’s kind of hard to describe so watch this video to see what I mean:

Difficulty Level – Beginner. As I said before, this design is quite easy. Concentrate mainly on creating an even foundation of large scale Stippling over the surface of your quilt. Once you set the foundation, it’s like a baseline for everything that comes next!

Design Family – Foundational. Foundational designs really are fun! The basic idea is you can start with a shape (in this case stippling) and then either echo quilt it, or use that line of quilting as a base for more quilting to branch off of.

Because you first need to wiggle in with your foundation, these designs will work best in the open, more uncomplicated areas of your quilt tops like around simple applique shapes, in the borders, sashing, or open blocks.

Directional Texture – No Direction. Stippling is a very flat, directionless design. This makes it perfect to go in all those areas of your quilt you want very flat. Double Stippling is basically the same design doubled on top of itself, so it’s going to work the same way.

Suggestions for Use – I still think this looks like a bowl of spaghetti! Try quilting this over a fun food applique quilt for a simple, quick way to finish a neat quilt.

Let’s go quilt,

Leah Day