Too much busy fabric? (Part two)

I love my fabric choice but I don’t have any idea of how to quilt the quilt!

Today I’m starting a blog series about one of my most asked questions… “how to quilt a quilt with busy fabric?”

Of course you can always go with horizontal or vertical lines each 1/2” or 1” apart, or use some “neutral” edge to edge quilting design… but would you?

Image: Kaffe Fassett bundle from my own fabric stash

First of all there is no such a thing like a “rule” about how to proceed in a situation like this. And I’m really a believer that in quilting you should do whatever you want, let your imagination fly, try something different every time and enjoy the process of learning something new and expanding your comfort zone!

For this blog series I will be using one of my show quilts, “Papaver Somniferum” as model, and showcasing all the hidden details of this super busy project.

Embrace the busy designs and take advantage of them! Remember that they are there for a very strong reason: you chose them!

“Should I use a neutral thread or coordinate all the different shades?”

Not necessarily.

If your idea is really highlighting your quilting you don’t want neutral threads, you don’t want to coordinate exactly the thread shades, actually you can even go with metallic, variegated or even decorative threads.

So, time to get to work! Let’s start with our second design!

Sometimes quilt fabrics with large designs can be intimidating, especially when you decide to quilt something special for each design.

In this case the fabric design was about 2 1/2” and 3” and outline the outside with thread painting just repeating the flower shape on the center was the perfect solution. The darker blue thread was also the perfect shade to highlight the quilting and not make it disappear between the vibrant colors.

I know that your next question is: “do you have a video?”

The answer is no and YES! I made this quilt in 2017, and at that time I didn’t have the habit of recording all my quilting adventures, BUT I did a simulation with my IpadPro and Procreate of how I would approach this quilting design on my machine, just click the video below ;)

The cool thing about using the fabric design motive to practice your quilting is that you will also be adding a new quilt design to your background, and it can be used in other situations in the future!

Just click the image on the side to download a version.

See you tomorrow, with the “Too much busy fabric? (part three)”

Carolina