Monday, August 25, 2014

Practice for Butterfly Wings

   I get questions and comments about free motion quilting all the time.  Often I am asked about practice.....do I really practice drawing?......do I practice stitching a pattern before using it on a quilt?   Of course, I do!  It only looks easy when I do it because I put in the time to practice.  I practice on paper.  It helps me break down the motif and figure out which direction to stitch first and how to end up in a position to move on with the design.   Then once I have some confidence in that I usually put the motif into thread on a small piece, like a table runner or small table topper often.

   I found Butterfly Wings ---she calls it plumify---motif  on LuAnn Kessi  blog under her sketchbook.  She also has them  on Pinterest, so you might have seen them there. She provides a sample drawing and also breaks it down into steps to learn.   You can barely see my first practice drawing on the bottom  of the page.








  I put together a very simple table runner.  Not too easy to see the stitching from the front.







  So from the back you can get a better view.  Individual plumes are stitched and then outlined to form that wing look.  Note----you end up back where you started stitching.  Generally 3 plumes, then outline to form the wing shape.  But sometimes you only have enough room for 2 plumes, and that is fine.
  The head of my plumes are about 1/2" to 3/4"...compare to the size of the bobbin.  I did have to remind myself to remember to change/alternate direction that the plume tilted.  This is a great all over design and filler, like for background or sky even.  Once you get the teardrop/plume shape down, I think anyone could do this with a little practice.


  The table runner still needs binding.   Add that task to the list  :-)











Quilting done on Hot Legs---my Tiara sit down machine.  And she got a little extra enhancement this past week.  I ordered another swing arm lamp with a clamp base.
    We wasted an afternoon running around town for a swing arm lamp with a clamp base.  Supposedly the "store" had them in stock.....what they offered me was a goose neck on a small base!  If I wanted to wait a week for them to order my item.....huh?  And they wonder why local big box stores are losing business......I went home and found exactly what I wanted on line, cheaper even with shipping in 10 minutes, and it was delivered in 4 days.  Done deal!   Sorry for the small rant ---sometimes these people scare me---because they are walking among us!
 So I have light on either side, and I can easily adjust the lights for my viewing pleasure.     Get those pencils out.....practice drawing, then happy stitching.

   Comment on comments.....I try to always respond to comments.  But lately I seem to have missed a few because they are not appearing in my mailbox as directed.  So if you do not hear from me that is why.  If you have  a question, just send an extra email and I will answer.  Thanks.

4 comments:

Janet O. said...

That is a beautiful design. LuAnn does some amazing stuff!
I love the name for your Tiara--makes me smile! And I may have to copy your lighting idea! Brilliant!

Dana Gaffney said...

That's really beautiful! I look at LuAnn's designs on pinterest all the time. I'm still not getting comments from Yahoo or AOL in my email, so I have to check my blog comments to see if I'm missing anyone.

Impera Magna said...

...another lovely design so well executed by the marvelous Debbie!

I honestly try to shop locally but when what I want isn't carried... I head to the internet.

Createology said...

Beautiful Butterfly quilting design. Practice in everything always makes the difference. Customer Service is sadly lacking overall in our society. We try to shop local but it usually turns out to be a disaster for us. Creative Butterfly Bliss...

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