Stipple quilting with Jan T
After you have done all the blocks, assembled them into a quilt topthe next stage in making a quilt is the quilting.
Free machine quilting is very sculptural, and makes a quilt truly beautiful.
Here's what you do:
Relax and then start...
What on earth does stipple mean?
Let's ask the Thesaurus:
stipple: bespeckle, besprinkle, dapple, dot, fleck, freckle, mottle, pepper, speck, sprinkle
In fact, most of the referances for stipple either refer to blood spots, or spotty effects on skin (making a stippled effect), or they talk about the paint effect technique of using a flat topped brush to dab (stipple) paint on a wall or surface for a textured (stippled) look.
Spatter your quilt?
Are you mad?
Why would you want to spatter your beautiful quilt?Well I wouldn't spatter it with paint, but I might want to 'spatter' it with heavy stitchery to create beautiful texture on the surface of my quilt.
Stipple quilting is a term that has been coined to describe a particular form of quilting.
Texturising the background areas with stitching is called 'stippling".
Background infill stitching causes the background of a quilt to be flattened, making the design part raised.
The picture is the back of a quilt which I heavily machine quilted for a friend, Lorna. Notice the parts with no quilting? They are the embroidered areas on the front. I needed them to be raised, and so I didn't quilt them.
Stippling is NOT meander stitch
too difficult
Actually, that's a traditional stitch called meander stitch. Similar in design to cornelli work used to embellish collars and epaulettes in the 1920s.
The stich is supposed to be curved and to not cross. No angles.
Meander stitch is too hard for a beginner.
Here's an easier one to try
garnet or granite stitch
No frustration and many variations are possible.
Stippling on a quilt is any background infill stitchery that flattens the background area to emphasise the main design.
The steps to stipple quilt your quilt
- Prepare to machine quilt
- Baste the layers together
- Ditch stitch to stabilise the layers
- Start to stipple!
Start by following these links
Instructions and tips for the preparation
and the quilt ready
and to get you ready
How to do the stitching
the mechanics
- two pieces of A4 paper
- a pencil or pen
Step 1
Take the pen or pencil in the fist of your working hand, and hold it on one sheet of the paper, at right angles to the paper, in the top right hand corner.
Step 2
Draw the 'squiggles' of garnet stitch over the entire sheet of paper, WITHOUT lifting the pen or pencil off the paper. It is important to be flowing, not in lines, and remember, you can cross the previous lines.
This is so you can get the pattern into your mind so it's instinctive when you are working on a quilt.
Step 3
On the other sheet of paper, repeat Step 1.
Step 4
This time move the paper while keeping the pencil or pen still. Hard isn't it?
This is completely the opposite of how you have drawn with a pen or pencil since you first learned!
Why did I ask you to do that?
The machine is the pencil,
and the quilt is the paper.
Now you know why it's hard to do at first.
Here's some variations
on garnet stitch
A few ideas for stippling your next quilt
Practice makes perfect
well, nearly.
If at first...
you know the rest.
Ricky Doodles
a fun stippling pattern
You follow the diagram below, and I urge you to practise on paper first.
Doodling with the machine
go on, try it!
After watching Ricky Timms' DVD Grande Finale, I have been doodling away and it's really easy.
Doodling
a close up
Ricky Timms can show you how
Ricky Tims Presents Grand Finale: Fine Machine Quilting and Finishing Techniques
Amazon Price: $21.77 (as of 06/04/2012)
I have watched and watched and learned so much.
Love this guy's approach, his sense of humour, but mostly...
his skill.
Detail of the front of Lorna's quilt
stippled feathers
The feathered heart quilting was inspired by the embroidered heart designs that Lorna had worked on her quilt top. If you look at the quilt picture at the top of the page, there are heart designs in the four corners of the centre.
I quilted this quilt in between watching Ricky show me how.
Machine quilting books and software
on Amazon
Do you?
About Jan T
quilt: maker, teacher, author
Have you any questions about stipple quilting?
Ask away...
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Ruthi
Jun 3, 2012 @ 9:56 pm | delete
- The stipple stitching really does highlight the quilting itself. Your quilt is beautiful! I have never attempted quilting. I am more of an afghan person; crochet or knit.
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JanTUB
Jun 4, 2012 @ 5:04 pm | delete
- I used to do both, but quilting is my life nowadays.
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marsha32 Jun 3, 2012 @ 9:11 pm | delete
- I am highlighting this in my blog today....then I'm coming back to re-read the instructions. I so want to learn how to quilt with my machine.
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JanTUB
Jun 4, 2012 @ 5:04 pm | delete
- Keep practicing, and you'll soon get the hang of it. Thanks for the link.
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agoofyidea
Mar 7, 2012 @ 10:37 am | delete
- I love the look of stippling, but I am not good at machine quilting so I hand quilt so I don't mess up.
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This So Crafty page written by
JanTUB
I have been quilting for more than a quarter of a century. (Sounds much longer than 25 years.) That's me in my studio in 2006.
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The best gloves
Machingers Gloves-Small/Medium
Amazon Price: $5.40 (as of 06/04/2012)
There are the glovesI use for every machine quilting job. I cannot quilt without my machingers!
