Alternate Quilting Designs for a Fresh Look: Finishing Touches

It never fails to amaze me how the same pattern can yield such different results depending on the quilter. That’s one of the reasons I enjoy color options. Many times, I’ve done a double-take — wait, that’s the same quilt? And that’s why we’ve decided to share some of our favorite alternate quilting designs with you that you’re sure to love!

Let’s Start with McCall’s

Pam Boswell’s Filigree in McCall’s Quilting July/August 2019 issue is one of those. Her bee-inspired fabrics give the quilt a distinct palette. Changing it to a patriotic palette causes different elements to pop.

In other issues, we’ve explored alternate quilting treatments as well. Pam’s Filigree is one of those. Pam chose straight-line quilting, which adds an energetic quality to the design, perfect for those busy bees in the print.

We wondered how Pam’s pattern would look with a wreath design, and chose Versatile Ivy to test it. The circular pattern softens the geometry of the patchwork, and would frame the center blocks nicely. The ivy leaves play perfectly with the bee fabric, giving it a garden twist.

Now, On to Quiltmaker

Our “Finishing Touches” pattern from Quiltmaker July/August 2019 is Nancy Mahoney’s Park Avenue. The bright, zesty batiks could really work with just about any quilting motif. Nancy’s quilter Terri Taylor chose a swirling all-over design, and it complements the patchwork well.

For our alternate quilting, we went with another leaf-y design, Garden Vine. The diagonal vines created a path in the patchwork from block to block, which we liked.

Last But Not Least, Love of Quilting

In the July/August 2019 issue of Love of Quilting, we took a look at Parade of Roses. The quilting on Lori Marvel’s quilt is spectacular and complements the blocks and prints well.

In the quilt blocks, the straight lines converge to create a checkerboard cross-hatch in the corners, which is absolutely charming.

The quilting in the border uses straight lines to full effect; by stopping short at the rose motif, the quilting design creates a relief, causing those roses to pop.

We liked how the fabric’s rose motif played with the geometric designs, so we selected Gibraltar Quilting motif. We were pleased by the resulting trellis effect, and really enjoyed how the LeMoyne star shape in the quilting interacted with the pinwheels in the patchwork.

What Are Your Favorite Finishes?

Want to download free PDFs of our finishing touches quilting design? Click here! What do you think of these fun finishes? Do you think you’ll try any of them? Or perhaps you already have? We want to see your creations — share with us on Instagram, Facebook, or the comments below. We can’t wait to hear from you!

Happy quilting!
Vanessa Lyman