Day 151 – Hair Filler

I mentioned this design several times while working on the quilt My Cup Runneth Over. This was the final design that resulted from playing with several different variations:

I’ve finally decided to take another look at My Cup Runneth Over. I think I’m going to end up quilting the top completely, then painting the surface to achieve the look I want.

More than anything else, I realized that my biggest mistake in this quilt was not the fused water area, but the background.

A combination of a bad choice of background fabric and a bad choice of filler design combined to make this area very bland.

I also think that if I get to the hair section of this quilt, I may actually start to like it! I did lines of trapunto throughout the hair to give the effect of puffy locks and plan to stitch Hair Filler in between the lines.

With my new resolution to slow down and enjoy the process of quilting, I have a feeling I’ll appreciate working on this quilt more now than I did before.

So before I run off to start quilting, let’s learn how to stitch Hair Filler together:

Difficulty Level – Intermediate. This isn’t a difficult design, but it does require a lot of traveling and thread buildup.

One of the great things about this design is it’s meant to go in tiny, complicated areas, so even if it’s a challenge, there won’t be that much of it on your quilt to worry about! 

Design Family – Foundational. I realized that I’d stumbled across a new design type with Spiral of Spirals and didn’t realize it until today.

Designs like these are stitched by first creating a foundation, in this case the channels for your hair filler to go into.

Second the filler itself is stitched according to the size and shape of the foundation. It’s a really interesting design type because there’s a limitless number of foundations you could use: spirals, squares, circles, you name it, it will work!

Directional Texture – 2 Directions. This particular design is worked from one edge of your quilting space to another so it’s going to have a pretty clear horizontal or vertical texture.

Suggestions for Use – Anybody else stitching hair? No?

Maybe stitch a channel of this design in your sashing or as a mini border around an applique design. The dense stitching will recede and work as a nice border wherever you put it!

Feel free to use this free motion filler designs in your quilts,