Well, after some thought, I decided it would be a good idea to share my machine quilting ideas with you. In my last post, I shared with you a simple butterfly.
To create this butterfly, you need to know some basics first. In most circles, they call the four motifs combined to create this little cutie a "clam shell."
When following a machine quilting pantograph, start at the star. The number refers to the "Pass" number, or how many times you start, stop and connect at the starting star. To get some practice with this technique, you can print & tape this page and trace it or use a dry-erase marker board to do it over and over until you feel comfortable. If you are trying to do this using a domestic sewing machine, have someone hold the dry-erase marker vertical for you while you move the dry-erase board. With a little practice you can awesome clam shells. These are great motifs for back-ground fillers.
Now...on to creating the butterfly. The butterfly is simply one center point--which I like to center inside of a block (easily marked using an air-eraseable pen) then repeat the clam shells in four directions. If you notice, the top two wings are 3 echo-repeats of the shell while the bottom are only two repeats. This keeps the wing proportion nice.
When creating a motif, I think it is useful to show how to enter and exit the motif while using continuous thread paths. It is not necessary to tie on and off to center this motif. The "enter" line is the 4-pointed cross, the "begin patograph" point is the blue star and the "exit" line is the lightning bolt. After that, just follow the numbers and the direction arrows shown on the motif. In no time you will have free-handed a cute butterfly on your quilt!
Until next time, happy quilting! Also, if you like this post, share it! Here is my blog button for Tuesday's Tutorials.
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