Welcome back to Week 21 of #freemotionfriday! Our video library is growing with these awesome free motion quilting videos, so if you’ve missed any of them be sure to search for them here. Learning each week with you, as we share our faith journey, is such a pleasure. If you’re just beginning your journey, here’s a post to help launch your free motion practice this year.
This week we’ll be making a free motion quilt design called “sacred wind” – also known as spirals and swirls. It’s inspired by Genesis 1:1-2 — we’re going to the very beginning of scripture for this one! I love how the Holy Spirit is called out in the first two sentences of scripture…always was, always will be.
In the video, we’ll take a look at this fun design! This design is a great space filler, and adds movement to your quilt. This movement is perfect for so many quilts, as it helps to offset all the straight lines often seen in blocks.
So let’s get started in sewing spirals and swirls, our free motion quilting design for the week. Here are two tips to help you as you create this design:
Each tips sounds simple, but is hugely important. First, determine if you want tight or loose spirals. The more you spiral in the first movement, the more you’ll need to back out of in the second resulting in more and more layers in that spiral. So, be sure to preplan whether you want your spirals to have multiple layers or not before you start, as you’ll want to keep a consistent look to each spiral you sew. Second, know your exit strategy. This design is forgiving, as you can easily pause at the center of each spiral and plan where you’ll be quilting next. Know where you’ll be moving before you exit each spiral to avoid having a meandering look in your spiral (it can end up looking more like bad ocean waves if you do this).
…and that’s it! Watch the short video above that breaks down the free motion quilting process even more. I look forward to hearing how your sewing goes; leave a comment letting me know how you did, and be sure to share your work on IG using the tag #freemotionfriday so I can see your beautiful work!