Must-have tools to guide you through free motion quilting

Welcome back to my last post of the week on how to create this stunning Ariel art quilt pattern designed by Lise Bélanger. Yesterday was about 6 essential tools to help place interfacing onto your fabrics. Today, I am so happy to share my tips on how to free motion quilt this project. I must say that creating this quilt had its share of challenges, but I was able to succeed thanks to several tools I found. These tools are must-haves when it comes to free motion quilting.

Here are the must-have tools I loved using for quilting this project.

Klassé Quilting Needles Size 80/12

These needles are ideal for quilting this project using Gütermann 30 wt cotton quilting thread. Their strengthened longer shaft helps reduce needle deflections as the needle penetrates multiple layers of fabric while maintaining a perfectly straight stitch. Now keep in mind that I used Fairfield Toasty Cotton Natural Cotton Quilt Batting for the project. And I can honestly say that I used all the 5 needles in the cassette to quilt this project. As soon as you start ‘hearing’ the needle punching through the fabrics, it’s time to change needles (tops 8 hours on this piece as there was a lot of layers and interfacing).

UNIQUE Quilting Grip Gloves

I honestly can’t quilt without them! Wearing these gloves help you easily control your project as you quilt! They have soft, flexible grips that give you full hand control so you can guide fabric effortlessly reducing tiredness and tension in hands, arms, shoulders and neck.

UNIQUE Sewing SeamFix Red Seam Ripper and Thread Remover

Now this is a new tool for me and I can honestly say that it will never leave my side. Now it starts as a seam ripper with sharp blades, so there’s nothing amazing about that part. But it’s for what follows that makes this tool so great! It has a safety ball and lid with innovative thread removers on each end. Especially formulated plastic material grabs and removes excess threads without marking or sticking to the fabric.

And yes! I had to make a video to show you exactly how useful it is when you need to undo a section you just quilted.

I really enjoyed quilting Ariel using the free motion quilting. I started by quilting the eye as those were the smallest fabric pieces and I didn’t want them to accidentally peel off while quilting the rest of the project. And then I moved around the eye. Changing the thread color every time I changed sections to match the fabric.

The trick to a smooth free motion quilting is to adjust the speed of your machine and knowing what you want to quilt before starting. Here’s a video showing how I quilted the straight lines using the free motion technique.

And here is a video demonstrating how I free motion quilted one of the manes. I also demonstrate how the bent tweezers are so useful to grab the threads at the beginning of the quilting to ensure proper tension. And listen to the end as I show how to cut off and hide the thread at the end of the quilting.

Now I know what you’re thinking! You’re afraid to make this quilt cause you don’t think you can pull the quilting off…. Well, here’s the scoop… YES, YOU CAN! This project makes it really simple… because the mane is a collection of small pieces, they’re actually the perfect size to practice. And best of all you can practice with a pen and paper beforehand. Here’s another video to explain my process!

Once you finally finish quilting, you’ll have one last thing to do, after you finish the binding of course! The final tool you need for this project is the Odif Fabric Protect. You simply spray an even application throughout your project to protect it from dust or unexpected spills while also protecting it against sun fading from the UV rays. And don’t worry, it won’t stiffen, soak or discolor your fabrics. It’s the final touch for any art quilt.

And that ends my week of blog posting on how to create this stunning art quilt. I really hope that I’ve convinced you to make one for yourself. It’s not too late to get started; it can be the perfect Christmas gift for a loved one. And remember that free motion quilting can be a success with the help of tools like Klasse Quilting Needles Size 80/12, UNIQUE Quilting Grip Gloves, and UNIQUE Sewing SeamFix Red Seam Ripper and Thread Remover.

Please do share and comment below as I love to hear your thoughts on my posts.

This is part 5 of 5 in this series

Go back to part 4: 6 essential tools for detailed art quilt appliques