Quilting Spirals

The Brown/Moon blocks are being quilted in spirals. The centers of the first two were a little bit wobbly and I wondered what I could do to improve. Then I remembered that Donna Olson, who says she has trouble free hand quilting, showed us at the UT retreat how she draws designs on “Press n’ Seal, a GLAD product, presses it onto the quilt top, sews over the design, and peels the “paper” away. Decided to try it.

First draw the center of a spiral on a piece of paper. Doesn’t have to be much.

 

2. Raid the kitchen for the box of Press’n Seal

 

3. After you’ve traced the spiral onto the Press’n Seal, place it onto the quilt top

 

4. Needle and foot down at exact point of spiral center. Set stitch length to 1.5 (I am sewing on a Pfaff) It’s easier to make this tight turn with very short stitches.. Move the needle to the far right if you are sewing around the spiral clock-wise and making the lines 1/2 inch apart. With the needle on the far right I can use the edge of the foot as a 1/2″ guide.

 

5. As the circumference begins to enlarge, gradually increase your stitch length to what you plan to use. I gradually increase the length to three (3).

Once I stitch just the part that is drawn, I stop and tear off the Press’n Seal and continue the spiral using the edge of the foot as a guide.

Quilting a spiral free hand is a tutorial on The Quilting Edge. Marianne has a lot of tutorials, besides her beautiful quilts, on her blog. I urge you to check it out.

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Tags: brown, quilting, spirals

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