Double the Free Motion Fun with Double Matrix
We’re doubling up one of my favorite free motion quilting designs called Matrix to create Double Matrix! This quilting design creates an intense double wiggly grid that is going to look amazing on your quilts:
With over 250 free motion quilting designs, I often flip through my design books, searching for inspiration in past designs. Sometimes a question will pop into my mind like, what if I stitched a design within a design? Can I double up on designs?
I’ve learned to follow this inspiration wherever it leads. Sometimes I make a mess and throw that quilt square away. Other times, I stumble on a gem I might never have quilted if not for the Free Motion Quilting Project and the lofty goal of 365 designs.
The key is following inspiration and listing to those, “what if…” ideas to learn something new. Now let’s quilt Double Matrix and see this whole double-design idea works:
Learn More About Quilting Double Matrix
Difficulty Level – Intermediate. Concentrate first on covering your quilting space with Matrix. You’ll want to leave at least 1/2″ between the lines of quilting (4-5 inches for a bed quilt) in the first grid so you can wiggle in to double the design. Then after the space is covered, travel stitch into every other square to fill it with more Matrix on a smaller scale.
Design Family – Edge to Edge. You’re working from one edge of your quilting space to another with this design, so it’s going to work best in areas you can either stitch all over, ignoring the piecing lines, or in narrow areas like sashing or borders. This is not a design I’d recommend to stitch behind applique or a really complicated pieced block.
Directional Texture – 2 Directions. This has a pretty clear horizontal or vertical texture, but when stitched densely it’s going to flatten out the area you place it in. It would be interesting to see if you stitched one set of grids on the diagonal. I wonder what that would do for the texture?!
Suggestions for Use – I’m intrigued to see what this design would look like behind one of my goddesses, or in the land part of a landscape quilt. The flat, grid-like texture will be really interesting to play with in unusual places!
