Free Motion Stylized Vine Tutorial

  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.