Ultimate Start-Up Guide to Free Motion Quilting
Is free-motion quilting something you said you’d do “someday”? Or maybe you’ve given it a try and are looking for more guidance? No matter what brought you here today, you’ll find loads of information and support to improve your skills. With this guide we’ll help you develop your free-motion technique, give you tricks for success, and solutions to stay on track if you meet a roadblock. Key lessons include:
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Recommended Tools
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Setting Up Your Workspace and Sewing Machine
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Getting Started and Exploring Basic Quilting Designs
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Top 3 Essential Fillers Video
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9 Free Motion Designs
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Final Free Motion Tips
We invite you to overcome any free motion fears and join us in learning how to free-motion quilt. We’d like to thank our amazing sponsor, Gammill, for their support in helping us launch this free motion content resource for you. Gammill educator Jodi Robinson is your host in our free video found in Lesson 4 (she’s using the Gammill Vision 2.0 longarm). Check it out and discover another way Gammill is helping you quilt confidently.
As with other areas of quilting, there are a few critical steps you’ll take before the quilting begins that will save you time later. They include having the right tools close at hand, knowing your machine, and setting up your workspace.
Lesson #1: Recommended Tools
First, we’ll discuss the specific tools for free-motion quilting that you’ll need close by. We’ll recommend some of our favorites, but as you explore, you’ll find the ones that work best for you.
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Machine Quilting Gloves – These have a rubberized grip which helps you hold onto fabric to move it around, reducing arm fatigue. There are many styles of gloves, so head over to the quilt shop and try on a few to see which you like best. This is an optional tool but highly recommended.
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Quilting Slider Mat or Silicone Spray – Both products are designed to reduce friction and create a smooth surface to help your quilt move easily. Slider mats (also called glider mats) are a reusable sheet with a precut opening for feed dogs that is placed on your machine bed. Silicone spray is another option that many quilters love because you can spray your machine bed and surrounding hard surfaces (such as a table) for a slick finish. Try both and see what works for you!
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Needles – When you pick up supplies, grab size 80/12 topstitch needles. These are longer, thinner, stronger needles to help you get through your layers of fabric and batting. Many quilters use these for all parts of quilting, but are ideal for free-motion.
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Thread – To make your stitches pop select a heavier 40 weight thread for your top, and a lighter 50 or 60 weight thread for your bobbin. Going lighter in the bobbin balances out the machine and will reduce the number of times you have to refill the bobbin thread.
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Marking Pens – Fabric marking pens let you draw guidelines and designs on your quilt and help build confidence as you start out. Disappearing ink or water-soluble pens work well for most quilters (try a few and see what you like). Just remember not to iron over these marks as it makes them more difficult to remove.
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Free Motion Foot – Locate your free motion quilting foot and learn how to install it. If your machine came with multiple options, we suggest the open-toe foot (shown below on the left). It offers excellent visibility while you are quilting and is good for all types of quilts (even those with uneven thicknesses).
These tools will make learning dramatically easier, and are small but worthwhile investments for any free-motion quilter.
Lesson #2: Setting Up Your Workspace and Sewing Machine
Find a spot where you have the best light to set up. Eye strain can strain your whole body so make sure your workspace and quilt are well lit. If you need more light, put the light behind you and direct it over your shoulder and on your needle. Also, find space where there is an extended surface around your machine for the quilt to sit (such as a kitchen table).
Before we get to the good stuff, make sure you know how to use your machine inside and out. It sounds obvious, but if you are a bit rusty on the basics, grab the machine’s manual and spend a few hours becoming an expert on threading, winding bobbins, installing needles, and using the main features. It’s a good reminder that the more you know about your machine and tools, the more you’ll be able to diagnose when something isn’t right and fix it quickly and move on.
To prepare your machine for free-motion quilting:
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Install a fresh needle, free motion quilting foot, and, if you have it, a single hole throat plate (optional).
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Change your machine settings to free-motion sewing mode and lower the feed dogs. If your machine doesn’t have this option, tape an index card over the feed dogs to keep them from slowing the movement of fabric.
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Make sure your bobbin is full of thread and installed, and then use the slider mat or silicone spray on the machine bed to make your surface smooth and friction free.
Are You Quilting on a Longarm?
So far the steps for setting up your machine and preparing the quilt top for free-motion quilting have focused on using a home sewing machine. But what about using a longarm? What are the differences?
Tools: Needles, thread, and marking pens should still be on your list, but you won’t need to worry about the other tools for grip or reducing friction.
Basting: When using a longarm you might not need to baste your quilt. If the longarm is on a frame, you can skip this step, but check your instruction manual.
Feed Dogs: Longarm machines come ready for free-motion quilting and do not have feed dogs. No need to lower them! You are in control of the stitching at all times.
Start Stitching: Free-motion quilting on a home sewing machine or a stationary longarm machine requires moving the quilt under the needle. However, longarm quilting with a machine on a frame allows you to move the machine and the quilt remains stationary.
If you can use a longarm or test one out, it’s a wonderful option and fun to explore!
Lesson #3: Getting Started and Exploring Basic Quilting Designs
Free motion quilting is about fluid movement and muscle memory, so we’ll start by practicing designs on paper, and then move to the machine. In this lesson you will learn how to use a design to fill up a space, find the best hand speed, and learn two basic motifs.
Getting Started with Loops
We’ll begin with meandering loops, one of the best beginner-friendly free motion designs. They are easy, forgiving, and can be used to fill up any space from a border to a full quilt. To make it even easier, think of these not as connected loops but as connected cursive letters. The loops of a cursive e or L (lowercase or uppercase) come naturally, and we have the movement of them already in our memory.
As with all free motion designs we are going to practice first. So, grab your pen and paper and start at the bottom of the page, drawing cursive loops until you fill up your page while trying not to lift your pen. Practice filling as many pages as you like.
Keep these tips in mind as you practice loops:
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Don’t go for perfection, variety usually looks better and trying to be exact can lead to frustrations while learning.
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Test out the spacing and the size of your loops to find what you like.
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Avoid making rows. Fill in part of a space and then move to a different section.
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When filling up a large space don’t make too many of the same loops in a row, after one or two loops one direction, switch and loop the opposite way.
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Remember that batting allows quite a bit of spacing between stitches.
With loops and any future design, remember to practice drawing on paper first before you take the design to your machine, which we’re going to do now. You can also watch this in action in the video found in lesson 4. First, make a practice test block quilt sandwich, approximately 14″ square using fabric, batting, and backing similar to your quilt. Next, get yourself set up on your machine. If you have speed control, set to a medium speed, and put on your machine quilting gloves.
If you are feeling nervous, grab your marking pen and draw a meandering guideline to start out but try to just do a few loops and then let yourself try quilting freely. Start at the bottom of the block and fill up the block with meandering loops. Move around to avoid making rows, stopping to reposition your hands as needed. If you have reached this point and filled up your test block, you are officially free-motion quilting!
Lines and Speed Tests
Now that you’ve tried loops, in our second basics exercise we are going to practice lines to help you establish the speed of your hands and stitch consistency. For this lesson, go straight to your machine and grab a fresh test block. Starting a few inches from the edge of the block, free-motion stitch a straight line at medium speed while moving your hands at a comfortable pace. After you finish this first line we are going to do three more lines to test hand speeds. First go faster with your hands, then much slower, and then back to a normal comfortable speed.
Now bring your block from the machine and examine your stitches with each of the speeds. Notice when your hands go too fast, you get big stitches that might catch, too slow and you get tiny stitches. You are looking for right in the middle. Also check that your bobbin thread is even on the bottom and adjust your tension if needed. Now that you have two starter motifs and have practiced your hand speed, you are ready to explore more essential motifs and plan the free motion design for your first quilt!
Lesson #4: Essential Free Motion Quilting Designs
The freedom, the grace, the creativity that free-motion quilting allows is unparalleled. It stands alone, or can be paired with walking-foot quilting or ruler-work quilting. It can serve as a filler, or be the main attraction. Free motion designs can fill in a single patch or shape, or cross the seam to unify two areas. Mastering a design or two, and then adding to your skill set over time, is one of the best choices you can make when you start finishing your own quilts.
In the video above, Jodi Robinson talks you through the top 3 essential fillers as she stitches! Jodi is working on a Gammill Vision 2.0 longarm, but all of these designs can be adapted to your domestic, sit-down sewing machine.
Here are the top 9 essential free motion quilting designs:
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Loops: The most basic design, loops also often feel the most natural. Whether you’re working on a stand-up longarm or a sit-down domestic sewing machine, the movement mimics cursive L’s (upper and lowercase). The flowing lines are forgiving, the circles or loops can vary in size and still look pleasing to the eye. The design can be worked small to fill small spaces, or be enlarged to fill larger spaces.
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Pebbles, Bubbles, & Pearls: Pebbles—also called bubbles, or pearls, or sometimes just circles—are a natural extension of loops. You’re making the same shape, just closer together. Because they are so close, your eye will quickly discern irregularities, so don’t try to make your circles all evenly sized. Organic variation is the best bet! With pebbles, you’ll end up sewing over an area multiple times, and will get a build-up of thread. And the denser you quilt, the stiffer the quilt will be and the more you will see the thread. Practice this essential filler, and know where and why you might want to use this design to good effect.
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Meander and Stipple: This go-to free motion quilting design is the ideal filler. A meander never crosses over itself, but squiggles in and around, more or less evenly spaced. You’ll find over time that you’ll develop a signature “meander” shape. A stipple is identical to a meander, just tighter, and better suited to smaller spaces.
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Teardrops: Our example here features doubled or even tripled teardrops, which some quilters consider simpler, because it fills space while creating a path back. You can also see that we didn’t always meet right back at the starting point, that some of the teardrops are “open.” And that’s perfectly fine! This is an adaptable, elegant shape. As with all free motion shapes, varying the size of your teardrops will build in some forgiveness, because your eye is less likely to discern irregularities. It also gives it a much more personal touch.
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Feathers: The classic, elegant look of feathers suits many traditional quilts—and sometimes not so traditional ones, too! They can curve around the quilt in a freeform way, or be shaped into wreaths or vines. Feathering requires a certain level of free-motioning comfort and confidence, and is generally considered intermediate or even advanced. (We recommend mastering teardrops first because the motion will feel somewhat similar.) Feathers can stem from a stitched spine, or not, depending on your comfort level or desired look. You can start small and increase in size, or be more random. Study what other quilters do, and experiment to develop your style.
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Swirls: Swirls are another natural next step after teardrops. They don’t cross over themselves, and generally have even spacing between stitching, so can take a little practice. It’s worth it! Swirls have a playfulness to them which can bring a lot of joy and fun to a quilt. And, like a lot of these free motion fillers, can be adapted to fill bigger spaces, or scaled down to smaller spots.
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Geometric: Probably one of the more challenging free motion designs, straight-line, geometric quilting is worth trying out. Sometimes you can’t switch to a walking foot, or grab a ruler, so being able to free hand a design that “reads” straight is a useful skill. Irregularities with 45-degree angles and parallel lines will be immediately apparent to the eye. The structured shapes, though, convey a very distinct look-and-feel!
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Vining Leaves: An extension of loops, creating vines that sprout leaves instead of loops is a fun, and useful, variation. The leaf shape comes naturally to some, requires a little practice for others. It can be adapted to have a vein or not, to have a sharp or rounded tip, can be large or small, and always creates a fresh, natural look that works wonderfully with many designs.
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Vining Flowers: Step it up yet another notch with vining flowers! The loop, here, is adapted into a flower! While more challenging, flowers can be made more forgiving with a few tricks. First, when making to circle center, don’t go slow. Overthinking a circle is often how you end up with an ellipse! Second, make sure the petals aren’t identical, but have an organic range of similar sizes. Last, throw in a few simple leaves to give yourself a break from the demanding motion of the flowers, and—bonus—it looks great as part of the design.
Whether you work on a longarm or a domestic sewing machine, one of the best things you can do is master a few free motion fillers. Start a “sampler” like we did to practice the motion of the designs. Some will feel natural, others will require some practice. Pick which ones you want to develop and focus on those. As you get to know the movement, the machine, and even batting and thread options, you’ll find yourself coming back to that sampler and picking new free motion designs to try
Lesson #5: Final Free Motion Tips
As you start your first quilt, keep these proven tips in mind to help you be successful:
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Be well rested before you work on your first quilt (10pm is probably not the best time to start your first free motion project).
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Use marking pens to draw guidelines to help you overcome any lingering nerves.
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Any time you try a new motif, practice it on a piece of paper first. If you want to practice on a bigger surface area tape a few pieces of paper together or grab a newspaper section (crayons work great on newspaper) and practice your spacing and motifs.
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Use fabric and batting that is similar to your quilt for your practice pieces.
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Spray baste your quilt sandwich (vs. pinning) and add just a few spaced out pins if it’s lap size or bigger to make it extra secure.
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Go slower on curves to keep stitches even.
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Take a deep breath and drop your shoulders before you start quilting.
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Relax and remember how much fun sewing is supposed to be!
Happy quilting!
Thanks to our amazing sponsor Gammill and for bringing their Gammill Vision 2.0 longarm!
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I sent in for Liz Porters Patchwork quilt pattern on June 17 and when I got it I thought the picture was on point but the pattern doesn’t show on point. I