Free motion quilting for beginners

I have always quilted my projects using my Bernina machine. At first I relied solely on the walking foot. In time I got more confident and used the stitch regulator. Nowadays, I use the darning foot most of the time. Although practice has made free motion quilting easier for me (not many feathers yet!), I still buy books or take classes on free motion quilting whenever possible.

If you want to start quilting your own projects but are afraid to give it a try, I just got this book for review which might just help you get motivated: Free-Motion Quilting for Beginners by Molly Hanson.

Here are some things I really liked about this book:

Photos by Brent Kane for Martingale.

– The introductory sections cover all the basics which usually intimidate beginners: tools you will need, how to prepare your project for quilting, how to set up your machine (she addresses thread tension, yeah!).
– I like her idea and examples of sketching free motion designs – I had
no idea it was a good way to improve free motion quilting.
– Molly proved I am not totally crazy: it is OK to practice on actual projects (which I have always done with few exceptions, such as when I am testing wild ideas as in here).
– The photographs are very clear, important because we can see that not every stitch needs to be perfect in order for us to end up with beautiful free motion work.
– The [great] projects are perfect for the techniques she is demonstrating – their manageable size will increase confidence as we try each free motion design.

I totally feel like quilting now! I might use some of her designs when quilting my king-size flannel quilt. Anyone interested in preparing ‘that’ sandwich for me? 🙂

Have fun today…