Recently I made an oversized pillow for my upcoming book, Christmas Figs, with the lovely ladies at FQS and I needed to quilt it. Well my long time friend and quilter, Diana, no longer lives right around the corner from my house so unless I wanted to ship the pillow to her in the Pacific Northwest, I needed to figure out a solution on my own. Plus there was that whole deadline thing happening too.
So I had seen some "uneven" straight line quilting that I loved before, something about the lines the moment they became uneven, made the entire thing feel like hand quilting to me. I wasn't sure why it felt so different from regular straight line stitching but I absolutely loved the effect of it. I experimented with the method a little bit with some pillow props at the last Market and I was very happy with how they turned out so I decided that I was going to do my version of utility stitching or quilting on this book project.
I made my zigzag stitch as long and as large as my machine would allow and I played around with the proportions a bit until I liked how the lines felt when they were next to each other. It took a few different experiments and had one that I liked and voila… Insta zig zag straight stitching that looks almost like large hand stitching when it is done. Seriously… I love how the finished look feels all vintage and slightly puckered and yet even all at the same time.
Many of you wanted to know how I did it when I first showed this pillow on Instagram so hence this post. That is all there is to it. Aurifil ivory #2000 thread on the machine and in the bobbin. I seriously recommend that you try it!
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Pat Gabrielides | 27th Feb 18
Love, love, love the pillow pattern and the quilting stitch. This is definitely on my 2018 must-do list… ????????
Jeanie | 27th Feb 18
Yikes! Diana moved? Is she still quilting? Your pillow looks great. I might need to try this out on a small quilt:)
Annie O | 27th Feb 18
Beautiful! I use a three-step zigzag on my quilts a lot. It’s simple and charming.
Joanna | 27th Feb 18
What does that mean “3-step zigzag”?
Hildy | 27th Feb 18
Beautiful pillow and quilting!
Suzanne Scarola | 28th Feb 18
Oh my goodness. What a beautiful pillow and a very cool quilting idea!
Peggyv253 | 28th Feb 18
3step zig zag is a stitch on sewing machine. My Viking Sapphire has this stitch.
Sharon Ernst | 28th Feb 18
Is this house pattern in the Christmas Figs book??
Monique | 28th Feb 18
I love it! Thanks for explaining…I am always looking for a new way to quilt my projects and this one will be added to the “repertoire” 😀
Stephanie | 28th Feb 18
This is my go to quilting method when I have a deadline and my Long Arm Quilter isn’t available to me. I love the texture it creates.
Karen Seitz | 28th Feb 18
It’s 3 stitches up on the zig and then 3 stitches down on the zag. I have a Sapphire too. 🙂
Maria Elena Blecha | 28th Feb 18
when can we get th3e pattern? I love it!!
Joanna | 28th Feb 18
This will be in a book that releases in May/June!
Cathy Melancon | 28th Feb 18
Fantastic!! I love how this looks and will try it soon!! I bet it would look great on a lap quilt and give a super texture after washing!
Joanna | 28th Feb 18
Thats not a stitchI have but it sounds like fun!
Joanna | 28th Feb 18
Yes it is !
Joanna | 1st Mar 18
In May in the Christmas Figs book 🙂
Patty Flynn | 2nd Mar 18
Love it.
sheri forrester | 3rd Mar 18
oh my gosh that looks just adorable on there!! love the houses and the pillow!! so cute!
Linda Smith | 4th Mar 18
Looks really good. Can you tell me how far apart you did the lines? Thanks!
Joanna | 4th Mar 18
about ⅜/ ½ apart