The Faux Braid pattern provides a nice area of light to feature free motion quilting motifs. I have filled this area on other quilts with feathers, so I thought something a little more open would be different this time around. I ran across a pin on Pinterest for open ended leaves. They have a neater appearance because there is no over stitching. It is really a small thing.....but that over stitching really does appear messy, and it gives a lot of my students the shakes! They panic because they are unable to stitch exactly over the prior stitches. Viola! This idea will improve on that.
So a little tutorial is called for.....as a response to Dana at Stormy Days.
So doodling a few leaves, lead to another and another, and a vine emerged, and then a curl or two.....I put together what I called a "stylized vine". It has no drawn or actual stem, rather the leaves and curls flow along one to another to develop into an "implied" stem. The eye just sort of fills in the gaps and you think it is a complete stem line.
This is a photo of part of the back side that shows the vine. My leaves are about 3 inches long from the base to the tip.
This is easy once you get the leaf shape into muscle memory. I did find a couple of things that you need to watch out for to avoid the cross over stitching.
Draw the leaf shape by beginning to the left to the tip, and back down to the base. The vein goes up about half way and back down beyond the base. This brings you to the center "stem area" and you now add a leaf to the opposite side.....only this time you begin the leaf to the right side and up to the tip, and back down to the base. Add the vein and you are again in the center.
You will alternate sides as you add each leaf or curl as you build the vine. I learn better from pictures and doing, so I drew off an example for you to see. Some of my leaves are being lazy and lying down, and others are standing tall.....what kind of leaves do you draw?
For a PDF of the leaf and vine, click here. I apologize for the upside down scan....I could not get it upright for some reason. Just print it out and all should be fine!
Final words.....practice drawing before you stitch. Then...happy stitching.
16 comments:
Woo Hoo, thank you so much! The tips are excellent, you'll be seeing this real soon on one of my quilts :)
Thank you for this - I am going to doodle practic and I have a quilt I am going to try this on.
Thank you! I'll be doodling later tonight! I greatly appreciate your drawing. ~Jeanne
Thanks for the pdf. I've printed it off & going to start ANOTHER free motion quilting folder. My muscle memory needs as lot of help. I keep drawing the top of the leaf first so when I draw down to start the vein my line has to cross over the line to go back up for the next leaf. grrr And when I think about the leaf shape too much it turns out really weird shaped. Oh well....one of these days! :) You are such a great teacher & your students are lucky to have you to help them.
Thanks for this, Debbie. I know it will come in handy!
Oh, I love these leaves... they do look like something I could do... will have to give it a try soon! Thanks so much for the tutorial....
:)
Very pretty! Vines are always my favorite to do--somehow they're relaxing, almost hypnotic. I esp like how you've done these and can't wait to try them out myself. School starts in two days, fall is around the corner and quilt season is in site!
Great tutorial! Your FMQ is lovely!
How beautiful Debbie! I'm going to have to try your vine! Thanks for sharing!
That's a very pretty vine! Love the occasional swirls mixed in.
Oh, cool! Thank you for this one. :D The really funny thing is that I've been mentally planning my quilting on my Plums in November braid quilt, and I wanted something right up this vein for it!
Gorgeous Design. Thank you so much. This definitely goes into my list of favorite tutorials and I'm eager to master it to free-motion quilt on my projects. Love it.
SewCalGal
www.sewcalgal.blogspot.com
Love This Tutorial. Thank You!
This is a beautiful design Debbie! I'm never very good at over stitching either, so your tutorial has great appeal to me.
Nice - I do panic over getting my over stitches just right! Thanks!
I do like the look of this motif.
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