How to Choose Your Quilting Design

I was recently blessed with the opportunity to create a pattern for Southern Charm Quilts’ resource library. It’s called Pinwheel Poppers. I designed it to be a fun, quick, and easy make. You can get the pattern HERE. You can also read Melanie’s post about the pattern, see some pictures of my finished quilt, and watch her video about the quilt HERE.

Melanie and I talked about the density of my quilting on my Pinwheel Poppers quilt. I didn’t quilt that one as densely, and it made for a soft, fluffy quilt. This isn’t really something I thought about while I was quilting it, but it did get me thinking about all the options there are when it comes to quilting your quilts. For this post we’ll talk about walking foot quilting vs free motion quilting, an all over design vs multiple quilting designs, and denisity.

This post will be very heavy on pictures – lots of closeups so you can see the quilting. In most of the pictures, I have my hand in the shot so you can see the scale and have an idea of the quilitng density. I’ll also scatter a bunch of different design options throughout the post. Most of these quilts have been used in previous blog posts or instagram posts. So, I’ll link to those too if you want to check those out.

A few other things to consider first

First, you have to consider your skill level. Not everyone can free motion quilt yet or even wants to free motion quilt. If you never free motion quilt anything and always use your walking foot, you’ll still have beautiful quilts. So, your quilt, your rules, and make it the way you like it. The only thing I will say about learning to free motion quilt vs not learning to free motion quilt… don’t let the fear of messing up stop you from trying. If you want to learn, stop worrying about messing up. Accept that you are going to mess up, or at least I certainly did. Keep messing up until you don’t mess up as much, and then keep messing up some more. It’s called practice, and it is the only real “secret” to learning free motion quilting.

Another thing to think about is the batting you’re going to use. You have to be sure you have enough quilting. If you don’t have enough quilting, your batting might break apart and wad up in the washing machine over time. The specs for your batting should tell you how far apart you can go with your quilting. I’ve seen recommendations anywhere from 4″ apart up to 10″ apart. I tend to use either Warm and Natural or Warm and White. They both have 10″ apart listed, but I never actually quilt that far apart unless I’m tracing jersey numbers on T-Shirt quilts.

Walking foot quilting vs Free Motion Quilting

I don’t really do straight line quilting much anymore unless a customer specifically requests it. I think straight line quilting looks great, but it’s rigid and just takes me forever to do. So, I tend to use organic wavy lines as pictured above when I use walking foot quilting. They don’t have to be as perfect as straight lines, and because of this you can get them done faster. I made this quilt during my quilt along for Sound Waves Baby Quilt. I wanted to go over an easy and beginner friendly quilting design.
– Quilt Along Blog Post with tutorial for Organic Wavy Lines
– My Demo on Instagram

The one pictured above got sold and shipped off. So, I couldn’t get my hand in the picture to show you the scale, but the squares in that one finished at 2.75″. I made this one during my Checker Cakes Quilt Along, also to show a beginner friendly way to quilt. This one was a variation of ditch quilting or stitch in the ditch. I used my walking foot and a decorative stitch. This is a lot more forgiving than stitch in the ditch with straight lines because that serpentine stitch isn’t actually in the seam line. So, if you get a little off from time to time, it’s not noticeable.
– My blog post on ditch quilting with a decorative stitch
– My Demo on Instagram
– Get the FREE Checker Cakes Pattern

The quilt above is a good example of me messing up at free motion quilting. I was newer to free motion quilting at the time when I made that one. I had been doing stipples and loops for a while, so I was somewhat used to the motion and rhythm of free motion quilting. I’d also been quilting some swirls with decent success, but I’d never quilted paisleys. To be honest, paisleys scared me. I finally worked up the nerve to try them on that quilt, and I failed pretty spectacularly as far as paisleys go. For some reason, my hands wanted to meander and echo instead of making tightly packed paisleys like I planned. You can’t see it in that picture, but there are some places that sort of look like paisleys and some places where my hands had other ideas and did what you see in the picture.

Even with the free motion quilting fail, that quilt is my son’s favorite quilt. It gets more love than all the other quilts in my house. So, my free motion fail didn’t hurt anything. I actually like that design I accidentally made and have used it in a few other quilts.
– You can see the little snugglebug using this quilt in this post, my very first blog post and definitely a fluff piece.

All over Quilting Design vs Multiple Quilting Designs

The quilt above is the scrappy version of my Sarah Elizabeth Quilt pattern. I loved how that backing and binding combo looked together. So, I couldn’t resist using it in this post. The quilting in that one was a variation on Double C’s. I don’t usually echo the C’s as much as I used to anymore; so they don’t look as much like C’s. But, it’s still the same basic motion. The nice thing about using an all over quilting desing is that it’s easy to go on autopilot. I find the repitition super relaxing.
– My blog post on this one

The picture above shows the back of one of my t-shirt quilts. I really enjoy varying the quilting from block to block and tracing some of the graphics. I also think it looks really cool to randomly vary the quilting throughout the quilt, but I tend to stay within the blocks with the variations because it just makes more sense to my brain that way. In the picture below, you can see that I used the quilting to somewhat mirror the quilt design by having differnt quilting on the butterfly and filler loops in the negative space.

That butterfly quilt is the Mariposa Quilt pattern by Southern Charm Quilts. It was also the first time I ever made time to participate in a quilt along, between my custom orders and the full time job I had at the time.
– My blog post on this one

The quilt pictured above is another example of using multiple quilting designs. I did Double C’s in the main part of the quilt, U’s in the small border, loops in the big border, and swirls in the corner squares. It’s also a good example of a tip I have for learning to love your own work. Take a picture of your quilt outside on a bright sunny day. It’s hard not to love a nice crinkley quilt out in the sun, mistakes and all!

Density

As far as how dense you need to quilt, it really is a personal preference. As long as you have “enough” quilting, go with what you like here. Your quilt, your rules. Enough quilting depends on your batting as mentioned earlier in the post. For this section, I’ll go over the pros and cons of less dense vs more dense and then show you some pictures.

Less Dense Quilting

Less quilting makes for a more flowy and drapey quilt. It will feel softer and more comfy to snuggle under. It’ll look puffier/more lofty because your stitches aren’t packing it down.

It’s also a good choice for people who are newer quilters and haven’t got their basting routine completely figured out yet. What do I mean by this? Well, if you are quilting along and see a little fullness where it looks like you might get some accidental tucks and folds from not being the best baster, this can help. I know because I was a beginner at one point too, and I was not always the best baster. If you see that you might get an accidental tuck or fold, it is a lot easier to fudge your quilting if you don’t quilt as densely. You can move the fullness out of the way and not quilt over that part. This will cause some weirdness, but some of that will be hidden by the crinkles after you wash and dry your quilt. If you don’t prewash your fabrics, you’ll find that the crinkles can help hide all kinds of mistakes.

As far as fudging your quilting, the less dense quilting can also be a great choice for finishing old quilt tops. While it’s true that old quilt tops can benefit from dense quilting to keep the seams secure, they don’t always lay very flat. A quilt that won’t lay flat can cause a lot of frustration when you quilt it because it’s so hard to avoid puckers, folds, and tucks. Picking a quilting density that allows you to fudge the quilting a little can help. I did this with this quilt top. It was an old top my grandmother or great grandmother pieced – my mom and my uncle don’t agree on who made this one.

Denser quilting makes a quilt that isn’t as soft and snuggly, but it still definitely has it’s advantages. First, it looks great with all the quiltey goodness. If/when you make a mistake with your quilting, it won’t be as noticeable amongst super dense quilting. There’s a pretty good chance you will be the only one who notices a lot of your mistakes. It’s also going to be a more durable quilt. The quilting isn’t just pretty, it’s also functional. It has to hold all three layers of your quilt together. More quilting equals more stitches, and more stitches equals less strain on each individual stitch while they are holding that quilt together. You can also always opt for somewhere in the middle. Again, your quilt, your rules!

Ok, now its time for some more pictures!

The quilt pictured below is the Pinwheel Poppers quilt that I made from the pattern I created for Southern Charm Quilts’ resource library. I quilted it in stipples. I’d say this quilting falls more on the less dense side of the spectrum.

The next quilt is a diagonal disappearing nine patch quilt that I’ve used to show multiple things on this blog. I did much smaller stipples for this one. It’s the same quilting design but has a completely different look because I made them so much smaller in that one. I’d say this one probably falls closer to the dense quilting side of the spectrum.
– My post on how I made this easy quilt top
– My post on a no fuss backing
– My post on Franken-batting

The next one is the fat quarter version of my FREE Partial Dreams pattern. It can be made using a Jelly Roll or 16 Fat Quarters for the foreground plus yardage for the background. I quilted this one in loops. I couldn’t resist the shiney purple thread for that one. This one falls on the less dense side of the quilting spectrum.
– Watch me quilting it

This is one I made with some lovely benartex fabric. It’s the same quilt from the feature picture at the top of this post. I made it using some lovely fabrics from Benartex Basics. The prints are from the “Marbleized” collection. I’ve been posting a lot of teaser shots for this one on instagram lately, but I can’t show much of the front yet. You can see that these loops are smaller and less spaced out than the ones above. I’d say the quilting on this one falls in the middle of the spectrum for quilting density.

The next one is another Checker Cakes Quilt, my first Checker Cakes. I originally designed that pattern to use up a bunch of layer cakes squares I had left over from multiple custom orders, but I added more fabric options when I did the quilt along for this one. I decided to quilt this one in swirls hoping all the curves would contrast nicely with all the little squares. This one is probably on the denser side of the spectrum.

The last quilt picture for today is a closeup of my Shattered Stars design. This one was featured in Simply Moderne 35, the winter edition! By the time I made this one, I’d gotten a little better at quitling paisleys. So, if a quilting desing doesn’t work out for you the first time, don’t let that stop you. If it’s something you want to learn, keep trying! You can do this! This one’s quilted pretty densely.
– Get your copy of Simply Moderne 35 to get this pattern and several others.

That’s all I’ve got for today

As always, thank you for taking the time to read my blog!

I hope you enjoyed it.

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Happy quilting!