I don’t want to put pressure on you but you really, really need to know how to free motion quilt. Some quilters go through their whole quilting life without learning free motion quilting and they are missing out on a huge part of the quilting journey. I believe that using free motion quilting in your projects can be the most creative and satisfying part of the quilting process. Along with choosing the fabrics, quilting your projects is one of the two ways that you can really put your personal stamp on the quilt. It’s a shame that some quilters miss what can be the most creative aspect of the project, even more impactful than choosing your fabric.
Money
Let’s start with the most straight forward reason to learn how to free motion quilt – money! I don’t think that saving money should be the only reason for doing your own quilting on a project but it certainly is a tangible benefit that you will get for every project you quilt yourself. The cost of getting someone else to quilt your project can run from $100 to hundreds of dollars depending on the type of quilting that is being done. Now, I am not saying that you shouldn’t send out a project to someone else for quilting. Some of my best quilting friends are long-armers and they can do an amazing job for you. If you have an extra special project that warrants custom quilting and you are not confident you can do it justice, then it is definitely a good idea to get a “professional” to do the quilting. The results from a professional longarm quilter will be worth the extra expense. Most projects don’t need a professional’s touch so if you are able to quilt your own projects, you’ll be able to save money on every quilt that you do yourself. Depending on the number of projects you complete, this can mean hundreds or thousands of dollars in savings in a year.
In addition to the explicit cost-savings of doing your own quilting, the cost of quilting can show up in the number of UFO’s that are in your studio. A significant number of UFO’s (or WIP’s as I prefer to call them) will be stopped at the stage where the top is finished but there has been no progress in the quilting. This is often because the quilter doesn’t know how they should quilt that particular project. They are unwilling to try free motion quilting themselves but are also unwilling to have someone else quilt it. The inability to finish a project is a huge waste of effort and money. In addition to the cost of the fabric, thread and time that have gone into that quilt, it’s tragic to put your creative efforts into a project only to leave it in an unfinished state.
Finally, the cost of having someone else quilt your projects will impact the decisions you make in very subtle ways. If you don’t want to pay someone else to quilt your projects, you may be unconsciously choosing methods for quilting your projects that you are capable of doing (e.g. stitch in the ditch only). You may even be choosing projects to make that don’t need free motion quilting just to avoid the whole issue. Just imagine what you could do if you knew how to free motion quilt yourself.
Control
Not knowing how to free motion quilt means that you are abdicating control over a key part of the quilting process. You will either be sending your quilt to someone else to quilt or you will be making design choices that limit your choices when it comes time to quilt your project. As a creative person you may feel really uncomfortable giving up control of something in which you have invested so much of yourself. By learning how to free motion quilt you will be able to take back control of your projects.
Once you become comfortable with free motion quilting technique, you can complete your project from start to finish the way you want. Quilting just becomes part of the process of making a project and can be adapted to ensure the project turns out the way you envisaged it. You will be able to control the design decisions and the timing decisions for the project rather than be dependent on the decisions or availability of a third person. If you do the free motion quilting, you can complete your project how you want and when you want. Even better, you’ll be able to say that you did it all yourself.
In the situation where you want to send out your project for quilting, your knowledge of free motion quilting will really help you communicate your expectations to the person who is going to quilt it. It can be difficult to communicate how you would like the final product to look if you have never done any free motion quilting. Your experience with free motion quilting will help you discuss options with the professional quilter so you’ll both be happy with the end result. It’s always good to have some knowledge about the service for which you’re hiring someone to avoid miscommunication and disappointment.
Creativity
Enhancing your ability to express your creativity is what I think is the greatest benefit of knowing how to free motion quilt. Being able to complete the whole process when making a project allows you to free up your mind and bring your creativity to bear on the whole project. You will be able to make creative decisions that coordinate all parts of your project from the original design choice, through fabric choices, quilting and finishing. Having control of all aspects of the creative process allows you put your personal stamp on every one of your projects. Not only do you get to make the initial design choices but you can adapt as your project progresses. If your original thoughts about quilting motifs don’t seem to be working out, you can make adjustments to adapt the quilting to your new perspective. The ability to adapt as you move through your project allows you to problem solve and also opens up opportunities to make creative decisions as inspiration strikes you. The ability to influence all parts of your project construction will make the creation of your quilt an integrated, organic design process rather than a set of rigid tasks.
Awesome Blossom pattern from Chatterbox Quilts
As you become more confident in your free motion quilting, you may find that the quilting part of making a project becomes the dominant part of the creative process and the signature feature of some projects. Adding more complex quilting to areas of your quilt will allow you to express your creativity in ways that are not possible if you just do simple quilting. The ultimate example of this is a whole cloth quilt where you start with a “blank page” and use the quilting to make the design. The freedom of not being constrained by a “pattern” or fabric choices can be daunting at first but can also result in some of your most creative work.
Finally, as you become more comfortable with free motion quilting, you may find that your desire for creativity leads you to experiment with projects that are on a whole different level. There are an infinite number of ways to combine different quilting such as free motion quilting and ruler work with nontraditional materials such as cork or leather in ways that result in an amazing project. The free form nature of free motion quilting allows it to be adapted to many applications rather than just keeping your quilt sandwich together. Once you get started you won’t want to stop.
“Just Do It”
There are many reasons that quilters should know how to free motion quilt but I think that having creative control of your whole project is the most important one. Once you learn how to free motion quilt, you will revel in the creative freedom that you have when quilting even the simplest quilt. Sure, you’ll save money if you quilt your own project but I think that the ability to put your own personal stamp on a project is priceless. So what are you waiting for? It’s past time for you to begin improving your free motion quilting skills.
Download the free Get Out of the Ditch! guide to learn how to start free motion quilting by clicking here.
Now that you know the reasons you need to learn free motion quilting, check out my course “First Steps Into Free Motion Quilting” by clicking here.
If you already know how to free motion quilt then you may be interested in “3 Ways to Improve Your Free Motion Quilting” by clicking here.
Kim
Creatively,
P.S. Do you strive to improve your quilting skills? Do you want to have fun doing it? Do you want to meet other quilters in a supportive, safe environment? If you answered “yes” to these questions, you need to join The Quilter’s Way. The Quilter’s Way is the only quilting membership site that includes both training and an active, supportive online community. Don’t wait another day! Join now.