Free motion quilting sampler pillow

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Freemotion quilted pillow sampler

This morning I sewed my free-motion quilting sampler into a pillow…you know me…I have to make something out of it!

Free-motion quilting sample

I used a tan sateen fabric that has been in my stash for years and years for my sample. I also used Warm & Natural batting but no backing which I think is why the designs don’t show up that well. I think if I did this again I would prefer to make my block lines with straight stitching, my free motion straight lines….didn’t stay too straight.

Of course I used my 15-91 Singer.

free-motion quilted flower sample

The Free-motion quilt challenge this month featured Angela Walters who gave us some wonderful ideas. I really love this block and want to practice it some more.

2012 Free-motion Quilting Challenge

It is funny, I can stipple quilt in my sleep as I have been doing it for over 20 years but it is VERY challenging to learn some different forms of free-motion quilting.

I was asked what kind of foot I used for my free-motion quilting. This darning foot is my favorite. I bought it over 20 years ago when I saw free-motion quilting for the first time in a shop in Clovis, CA. At that time I was using a Elna sewing machine so this was the foot recommended. Remember….this was a long time ago and there weren’t all the fancy feet for free-motion quilting. I bought it and then headed back to Iowa.

You don’t learn to do this type of stitching over night. I spent many frustrating hours, with lots of poor tension, thread knotted up in my machine and sometimes I would just get mad and quit. Then I would remember the beautiful quilting I had seen…..and try again.

Darning foot

This is a short shank foot which fits on any sewing machine that uses that type of foot. I do have several other feet for free-motion quilting and have a couple that I had Builder Bob cut the front off of so I can see better.

darning foot on a 15-91 Singer

The foot I use really depends on what I am working on. I do a lot of raw edge applique and the open foot seems to get caught sometimes in the fabric….so I use the darning foot. Do you have a favorite foot for free-motion quilting?

Connie Quilting by the River

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30 Comments

  1. Love your pillow — what a great use of your practice piece.

  2. Beautiful job Connie. When I saw this at first I wondered if you were already playing on one of your most recently aquisitioned machines. LOL

  3. That pillow is so pretty! I'd just sit and stare at it and trace the stitches with my fingertips…kinda like I do with my lap quilts when we're watching something boring on tv.

    1. Haha. You are a quilter now, I trace designs in the air if I’m without pencil and paper. Tom thinks I’m crazy. I think I do probably look a bit loony

  4. Ray and Jeanne says:

    Love your sampler pillow! I totally agree that learning those new forms of quilting are hard – takes a lot of brain power! ~Jeanne

  5. Connie I love your pillow – really pretty. I hadn't thought of using the darning foot but I'm going to check that out. blessings, marlene

  6. Your sampler pillow is wonderful! You did a great job. I doubt that anyone would notice that your lines aren't exactly straight. I think most of us (me included) tend to be overly critical of our own work because we expect nothing less than perfection from ourselves and we don't notice the imperfections of others. 🙂
    I like the open toe quilting foot for my Janome but it tends to snag up in the stitching and that just frustrates me no end so I mostly use the closed toe. It's fairly small so I still have a pretty good view of my stitching.

  7. love your cushion Connie,well done.xx

  8. Looks gorgeous to me, but then your stuff always does!
    What kind of foot? The one my Janome6500 came with… I haven't had the courage to cut out the tip yet – afraid of breaking the whole foot! lol. I would like better visability, though.

  9. That pillow turned out gorgeous! Wow! I am just learning how to meander, so I guess it will be a long time before I get to the point that you are at! Yours looks wonderful. 🙂

  10. Your cushion is just beautiful. Thank you for sharing what kind of feet you use. I have been using an open on and a closed plastic one and I prefer the open one too – maybe it is because I can see better…never though of that before reading your post today.

  11. Quilting Babcia says:

    Hi Connie, So happy to see you're also a part of the FMQ Challenge! I've also used my 15-91 for most of the monthly challenges; my favorite foot can be seen in the second post for June on my blog. It's a generic foot, perhaps an Alphasew – got it from Jenny at Sew-Classic.com. I like it so well that I just ordered a high shank one for my new Janome, which came with a fancy 3-way adjustable FMQ foot but leaves a lot to be desired as far as visibility.

  12. Love the pillow. Did you use a stabilizer under the pillow top to quilt it?

  13. krislovesfabric says:

    Love your pillow, so nice to make a finish out of your practice!!

  14. Great job on the pillow, Connie!

  15. Jacquelin says:

    No tiene que ser fácil hacer estos acolchados con esa máquina. ¡Un trabajo estupendo!

  16. Beautiful quilting. I've got stippling and meandering down pat, but the OCD in me keeps me from branching out. One day it will happen.

  17. Dora, the Quilter says:

    Great job on the pillow with very interesting "tiles". (I'm thinking, however, it must have been horrible to clean batting fibers out of the inside of your machine.)

  18. Apple Avenue Quilts says:

    Love the pillow. I've wanted to try FMQ but haven't been brave enough and I hate to "waste" the fabric to practice, but if I could make it into pillows…

  19. The pillow is beautiful. If your straight lines aren't quite straight, that just makes it more organic.

  20. Very pretty indeed! I couldn't get the hang of freemotion without pleats until we bought a long arm, now I am going to town with it!! nice work!

  21. Great job on the free motion sampler! I know how hard that is…I'm working on mine today.
    I also use a variety of FW feet depending on what I'm quilting.

  22. great job….such a nice pillow….I agree the straight lines were VERY hard to do!

  23. The pillow is beautiful Connie. I can't get relaxed enough to have it look smooth………lol. A favorite foot…haven't been at it long enough to know. I do have a usual one for my Baby Lock…with the spring and bouncy..works fine…but I don't get a smooth flow(probably me not the foot).

    I have a similar one for my singer..without the spring. I find it glides much nicer; but no speed control on that machine, and I go crazy!! lol. yours look like the Big Foot FMF…I have been tempted to buy one for mine…we'll see.

    If I don't get any better; NOT..lol

  24. Wonderful pillow and quilting! You always make me think I should try machine quilting, and then I think again…maybe some day! Thanks for spreading the word about the hop! See you on August 1!

  25. I think a lot of people had trouble with the 'straight' boxing lines – and lots of retries. I have just one foot and can use it on all three of my machines (thank you) – I did alter it a little to make it easier to see as well as prevent the 'catching' problem. Love the pillow!