July 23rd, 2013

Tutorial: Free Motion Quilting Modern Petals

by Julie Hirt

I came up with this design when trying to attempt Dogwood/Orange Peel quilting and mine was just looking too sloppy.

modernpetals

Patchwork squares make this an easy pattern, so it works well for the Scrappy Trip, Postage Stamp or Scrap Vomit quilts.

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Here we go:

Pretend my drawn lines are patchwork pieces.  Just use your blocks as a grid pattern.

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Step 1:   Quilt a straight line up between 2 blocks

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Step 2:   Curve up and around to the left corner

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Step 3:   Swing down and around to the upper right corner creating a half circle

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Step 4:   Curve back down to the middle

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Repeat:  Steps 1 – 4 all the way up your row.

TIP:  I don’t have my petal tips reach the points of the corners.  This way there is a little spacing between the rows.

 

Now, I’ll show you how on the machine.  Use your free motion foot, feet down and draw your thread up.

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Straight line up

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Curve up to the corner

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Half circle around to the other corner

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Curve back down

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When you get to the top of your quilt you can just reverse these steps and work your way back down.

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This is a simple pattern and depending on the size of your squares, it can get really crinkly in the wash!

Here is the Scrappy Trip  quilted with ‘Modern Petals’.

scrapp

Let me know if you have any questions!  I’ll answer questions in the comments thread rather than emailing.

julie

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24 Responses to “Tutorial: Free Motion Quilting Modern Petals”

  1. I love this! I’m actually working on a quilt right now that I was considering doing something like this with. Thanks for the tute!

  2. Love this idea! what kind of markers do you use?

    • I use this pattern with quilts that have small patched squared, so no markers! The pictures above are made with a pen and you definitely don’t want to do that on your quilt top.

  3. Thanks for the very, very clear tutorial. I think I might even be able to try this.

  4. Thanks for sharing! Very clear instructions and great pictures. I love the look of this design. I have one question though. Did you press your seams open or to one side for the patchwork and do you think it makes any difference when you quilt up the seam?

    Lorna:)
    http://sewfreshquilts.blogspot.com

    • The scrappy trip tutorial actually has a clever way of pressing so your seams line up.

      I think it actually makes a difference to press the seams in opposite directions. It helps them butt up together so it’s easier to line them up to sew.

  5. Thanks for the instructions! I think I need to try this!

  6. Nice! I haven’t tried FMQ yet but when I do it’ll definitely be something like this.

  7. I love your quilting on the Scrappy Trip! Fits the pattern so well!

  8. Very nice! It’s funny, I find that with almost every pattern I’ve tried, I can work really well with it in one direction, but when I come back to do it in the opposite direction, everything goes crazy! That’s my biggest practice hurdle these days. :)

  9. The modern petals look great on your scrappy quilt!! I’m going to try some of these for practice.

  10. I think I’ll try this! I have a Trip Around the World top that I did that is still just sitting there waiting for me to do something with. This modern petals tutorial of yours looks like it would be perfect for it! Thanks bunches!!

  11. Love it! What an easy starter tutorial for making a quilt look great! I would love to see more of these posted

  12. Great instructions and I want to try this. I am no clear on one thing though. When you bring the stitching back to where you started do you sew over that beginning point again or end the stiching, lift the needle and start again on the next block?

  13. Doesn’t going up, and then down, up and then down, leave wrinkles in the quilt? I thought all patterns were supposed to go in one direction!

  14. love your tutorials so clear to understand thanks

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