QUILTsocial | Issue 10

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The design you’re trying to copy
won’t work for you! You must take
that design as an inspiration and
adapt it so it works for you. Someone
might be able to do tiny little circles
and your circles might end up
looking like ovals. That’s OK – that’s
your style. Don’t try to fight it – let
your style develop instead of trying
to force something. Once you’re
comfortable with your style, then you
can start to learn new things.
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Take the style and figure out how
you can modify it to get a new look.
What if you lengthen or widen the
marks? What if you adjust the height
within the same area (like a triangle)?
What if you add a small loop
between your main components? If
you look carefully at the professional
quilters, they do this all the time. It
broadens their repertoire without
requiring them to learn a whole lot
of new styles!
I had a quilt to quilt recently and I
wasn’t sure what to quilt in the blocks.
The block had been designed using a
computer software program. The block
was 6'' and I was able to print out an
outline of the block onto paper. I then
took a pen and tried different ways of
“quilting” the block.
You’ll notice how rough my doodling
is – it’s horrible in fact. I didn’t really
care as I was trying a couple of things.
Does the design that I’m trying even
flow so that I can complete one block
without stopping? That’s very important
– no one wants to spend a lot of time
starting and stopping!
I was also looking for issues – like the
bottom left corner – should that have a
mitered design or not?
The block represents a flower and I
tried multiple designs in each block to
see which I liked best. Often I find that
the vision we have in our head doesn’t
always translate well to the real thing.
That is why this doodling exercise is so
important.
Doodling attempts in a 6'' flower block
Below is an example of whether the
bottom left corner should be mitered
or not? If I was going to miter it, then
this is where a registration line would be
helpful so I would be reminded visually
to miter the design.
Should I miter the design in the corner?
It would be a tad easier to see if the
block were colored, but I’m using the
sections of the block as my reference
lines. No need for marking and no need
for registration marks, unless I decide I
need something in that bottom left.
Same design, different direction and some of the
potential background quilting
And yet another option
And another
Q
50 .com| issue 10
UILTsocial
Same design in the two sections