Favorite Free-motion Fillers - Week 4 Free-motion Challenge Quilting Along with Angela Walters

hi everybody i'm angela walters from quilting is my therapy and welcome to the fillers free motion challenge quilting along through this five part series i'm going to show you some of my favorite fillers so in this tutorial i'm going to show you how to quilt the leafy meander the paisley meander as well as talk about how you can combine multiple designs to create awesome texture on your quilt i'm going to show you how to quilt them on a sewing machine and a long arm plus i'm going to give you practical tips on where you can use them on your quilts so let's get to it and even if you haven't started the free motion challenge yet no worries these videos will stay on my youtube channel until you're ready to participate and you can still quilt along with me on the custom panel i put together for the challenge so to find out more information about that as well as the exclusive products i put together just click the link in the description box below for this first design we're going to add a leafy pointy texture to our quilting with the leafy meander we've actually seen this design a few times before in previous free motion challenge quilting alongs but it's one of those great versatile designs that's going to work in a lot of areas on your quilt so of course i had to include it so starting from any point on your area i'm going to quilt a line that curves out to a point and then return back to my starting point once i have that shape that's going to be the center of my leaf and i'm going to echo around it a couple more times just to build it up these lines aren't going to touch at the bottom of your leaf so as i start echoing once my foot hits a previously quilted line it's time to stop and change direction and i can echo it as many or as few times as i want but once i decide ah it's time to stop with that i'm going to quilt another leaf that goes in a different direction and then of course echo echo echo i'm just going to keep echoing until i decide it's time to move on and once i'm ready that's time to go ahead and quilt another leaf shape as i'm quilting the center of that leaf it doesn't have to be perfectly symmetrical if it goes out in one point and kind of swoops out at another that doesn't matter i just need a shape that's a little rounder in the center and more pointy at the top and if i get stuck in an area where there's not quite enough room to add another leaf i'm just gonna echo what i previously quilted i'm going to put some arcs in there it really doesn't matter just make sure you fill it in and move on and just like we've seen with previous filler designs you can use your echoing to maneuver your way around the area so you can echo what you've just quilted you can echo what you previously quilted just use that echoing to help get you where you need to go and continue on now since this leaf shape that we're quilting is directional i want to be intentional about going in all different directions having all the leaves go in one direction will help draw attention to an area which is great if that's what we want but for this i just want that nice all-over texture so by aiming them in all different directions and then using the echoing to fill in any gaps that's just going to give me that beautiful all-over texture that i want for my quilt what i love about the versatility of this design is that i can use it in areas of all sizes and it looks great on all kinds of quilts so from traditional to modern from busy fabrics to solid fabrics this is just going to give your quilting that little bit of a pointy detail and quilting on a long arm isn't really any different than doing a sewing machine i'm still creating my shape i'm still echoing around it and i'm still going in all different directions to get that beautiful overall texture and whether you're quilting this on a sewing machine or a long arm looking ahead of where you're going and trusting your hands to get you there will give you a beautiful smooth echo line and make your design look as great as it can possibly look [Applause] now before we get to the other designs in the video i just will let you know i've put together a free quilting diagram and tip sheet that will show you how to quilt all the designs in this video as well as in the other videos of this week's series if you need a little bit more help a little bit more instruction i've also put together an expanded pdf with even more pages of quilting diagrams and even more tips and you can find the link to both of those in the description box below now that we've seen how to quilt that leafy meander let's smooth out the point a bit and make a curvy variation of it called the paisley design the paisley design is perfect for adding a slightly curvy look to your quilt and it also can look a little bit more feminine in the way it goes together making it perfect for any kind of quilt including traditional quilts and more girly type quilts we're going to start by quilting a long curved shape that returns close to the starting point it almost looks like a teardrop or almost like a little finger kind of hanging out i like to quilt my paisley so they curve a little bit but if yours are a little bit on the more straighter side that's fine too i just need a shape that's curvy at one end and pointer on the other and once i have that shape i'm going to echo around it a couple times these echo lines are not going to touch at the bottom so as soon as i approach a previously quilted line it's time to stop and change direction and just like we saw with the leafy meander i can add as many or as few echoes as i'd like but once i'm ready to branch off i'm going to quit my next paisley by quilting that little teardrop shape that extends into the unfolded area and echo around it now something that i do when i'm holding my paisleys is i make my echo lines are a little bit closer at the point than they are at the curve on the outside that's just the way i do it you might not have the same exact look either way it's going to be fine and i'm going to continue on quilting my little teardrop shape and echoing around it now i'm kind of treating this quilting like a blob what that means is as i'm adding my paisleys i'm trying to handle any gaps in the quilting or any unfolded areas while i'm there so if i come to an area where i can't quite fit in another paisley i'll add some echoing or maybe i'll quilt a smaller paisley i mean you know the drill i just want to make sure i fill it in with something and just like we saw with that leafy meander i want to quilt these shapes in all different directions to give it that nice beautiful texture this definitely isn't something that you need to overthink though if i just hold the one horizontally i'm going to put the next one so it goes vertically and of course i'm going to use that echoing to maneuver my way around the area by figuring out where i need to go and then echoing around the quilting to get to that point and just like i've been doing throughout this whole free motion challenge i've been using the foot of my machine as a guide as soon as my foot approaches a previously quilted line i know it's time to change and turn direction this is very important because if all my echo lines come back to that point it's going to build up that thread there and it's really going to draw attention and sometimes we might do that because we want to draw attention to an area but for this particular design that's not the case so i'm going to make sure my lines aren't touching i'm going to get them close and then move on and when i'm finished i have that curvy paisley beautiful look now closing this design on a long arm is actually a lot of fun because once you can get the movement of the design down you can really quilt this nice and fast but the one thing about quilting on a long arm is that the momentum of the machine can sometimes outrun us so it's really important to look ahead of where you're going and just trust your hands to get you there and as you work through learning a design on the sewing machine or a long arm you might find that you need to change the speed of your machine it makes sense right the more comfortable you get with it the quicker you can quilt and so just being aware of the speed of the machine to your hands will really help you find that perfect speed for you [Applause] what i especially love about this filler is it can be quilted really densely to create a tight filler to make something really pop out or you can quilt it nice and big as an all-over design remember it's the spacing between the echo lines that determines the density not necessarily the size of that paisley so focus on the spacing to get the density that you want to get for this design we're going to create an interesting texture by combining a couple different shapes we're going to start by quilting our pod shape which is just a pointy curvy design and then we're going to fill in around it with other fillers to really make them pop to create our pod i'm going to put a slightly wavy line that comes out to a point almost like a hill and valley then i'm going to quilt that same general shape back to the starting point basically i want something that's a little curvy in the center and pointy on both ends now once i have that shape i'm going to fill inside of it with a different design now for right now we're going to do pebbles to make them look like little peas so working my way from one point to the other i'm going to quilt those little circles and end up on the opposite end i'm trying to pull my circles so that they fill in that whole area but they don't have to be perfect i just want that slightly different look of texture inside of it to help separate this from the rest of the filler that we're going to put around it i'm going to add a couple of echo lines but they're not going to be a true echo they're going to be spaced out on the sides and they're going to come to a point on the ends until i have that pea pod kind of shape now if you're watching this and you're thinking i don't love anybody enough to quilt pebbles on their quilt don't worry i have some easier variations i'll show you in just a second but once i quilt my pod then i want to add some filler around it just to help get me to the next area where i want to add another one now this filler can be anything that you want but i'm gonna go with swirls since i feel like it's a nice versatile shape that will look good with it that filler is just helping me kind of maneuver my way around the area until i get to a point where i have enough space to add another one of those pods so i'm going to repeat holding that same shape and then at this point i can either echo or fill it in either one is fine but whatever i do i want to end up at the opposite end so i can continue on adding my filler i'm not only using this filler to help me maneuver my way around the area i'm also using it to fill in any gaps while i'm there so as i'm continuing on quilting those swirls or whatever filler you feel like quilting just make sure all those gaps are filled in before you move on and then once you've filled it all in and you have room go ahead and quilt your next pod shape echoing it and filling it in this pot doesn't have to be any particular shape if yours is a little bit curvier than mine a little bit more straight on it doesn't matter again i just want that shape that's pointier on the ends and curvier in the center now if you want your quilting to be nice and dense and really ornate you can make those pods and that filler really small but if you want it to be a little bit softer a little bit less dense there are some variations that will make it a little easier the first thing you can do is leave out that filler in the center so i'm still going to quilt my pod shape i'm still going to echo it but instead of adding those pebbles inside i'm going to quilt another line that just takes me on to the other side and continue on the result is going to be a design that has a lot less density a lot less traveling on it and it's just going to give you that nice overall look even though the individual pod isn't going to stand out from the filler the points where the thread comes together is just going to give it a little bit of a pop of texture and a really cool look beyond that everything's the same i'm still using my filler to fill in the area extending my pods out into that unquoted area and echoing now in this particular example i'm trying to quilt those little pods so that they go in all different directions just to give the quilting a subtle texture however you can be more intentional about the placement of those pods and create a design that really draws attention to a particular area let me show you what that looks like on my long arm [Applause] while this design does make a great filler for your quilt you can also use it to create movement and draw attention to a particular area instead of quilting my pods so that they go in every different direction i can quilt them so that they follow a general line whether i want to mark that line out or just eyeball it having them all going in one direction will create a design that draws your eye there's a lot of different placements that you can use with this design to create some really cool effects you can quilt them so that they wrap around a main element or so that they draw your eye from one block to the next and as you're quilting your pods design use the filler to maneuver your way around the area not only is it going to help get you to the spot where you want to add your next pod it's going to also help you fill in any of those gaps in between them i'm using a contrasting thread so that you can really see what i'm doing that will help the beautiful texture of the design shine [Applause] through this design does take a little bit longer to quilt since i'm switching in between different shapes and i'm adding those echo lines so i'm definitely going to use this in more solid or tonal fabrics so you can see the beautiful texture but beyond that it looks great on quilts of any kind from traditional to modern from novelty to art quilts plus it works in areas of all sizes since i can throw those pods in wherever i want if i don't have room to add it i won't and when i do have room i will making it a really versatile design that i think you're going to love for this next design we're going to throw in a bunch of different designs to create a beautiful all-over texture throughout this video series we've learned a lot of great fillers and sometimes it's hard to choose just one so i'm going to show you how you can combine several of them together to give yourself a beautiful filler design that incorporates a lot of different elements not only is it a great way to learn different designs it's a lot of fun to quilt i'm going to start by quilting my bigger elements first the designs i know that take a little bit more space to develop so for instance in an earlier video we saw the flower meander i know that that takes a little bit more space so i'm going to start with that shape and then any point i can stop and pick another design let's do a leaf as we start putting these designs together we're going to start getting little gaps in between the shapes so i need a couple of smaller designs that are going to help fill those in one that's really great for this is pebbles i'm gonna use those pebbles to fill in all those gaps before i move on to my next shape it's kind of ironic because now i'm using the filler to fill in the filler and once i have that gap filled in it's time to quilt my next shape i think i'll do a swirl hook these are all designs that we've learned throughout this free motion challenge quilting along so to see any more of these in detail click the link in the description box below and now i think i'll switch to a concentric swirl what's great is if you're quilting along with me on the custom panel you can pick and choose which designs you want to use so once you have your little gaps you can fill those in before moving on we've already seen the pebbles which is a great small design how about a back and forth line and i'm just going to quilt it until that gap is filled in and then move on to my next design how about flower now sometimes i'm asked if you can have too many designs on a quilt i'm guessing you probably could i've just never seen it happen so even though we're using a lot of different designs on this area what's keeping it from being overwhelming is the fact that they're all the same density i'm trying to keep the spacing fairly consistent throughout all the shapes and that's going to prevent one element from standing out more than the other and when it comes to using this as a filler that's what i want i want a beautiful overall texture with a pop of interest that doesn't take away from the things i'm putting it around and you can quilt these designs as dense or as lightly as you'd like if you want something that's less dense just put your shapes so that the lines are spread out further apart and not only is this a great way to add beautiful interest to your quilt it's a great way to practice the designs without committing to using one over the whole area and don't overthink your design choice you can use geometric shapes next to curvy shapes you can use flowers next to swirls and you don't even have to worry about how often you're using each design really just kind of relax and have fun with it and quilt the designs as they pop into your head the most important thing is just that we're filling any gaps while we're there and using echoing to maneuver our way around the area as long as that whole thing is quilted in it's going to look gorgeous and this is a technique that can work on any quilt in any area if you're dealing with really small areas you're just going to use more smaller designs and if you're dealing with larger areas and you can experiment by quilting some bigger shapes and then ultimately the result is a beautiful texture with interest that's going to be really engaging to quilt now it's your turn if you're quilting along with me on the custom panel i designed for the challenge fill in the areas highlighted in yellow with the designs we learned in this video then check out the next video in the series where i talk about clamshell designs and how you can create some really cool variations to find out all that information as well as to find the links to the other videos in the series click the link in the description box below

Channel: Angela Walters

Views: 24,860

Keywords: allover machine quilting designs, angela walters free motion quilting challenge, angela walters tutorials, filler quilting designs, fmq challenge angela walters, fmq challenge.com, fmq quilting, free motion challenge, free motion challenge angela walters, free motion quilt challenge, free motion youtube challenge, free-motion quilting angela walters, machine quilting circles, machine quilting on a sewing, machine quilting pebbles, quilting on a regular sewing machine

Id: FUrJqxYRjx4

Length: 17min 42sec (1062 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 13 2022