I have a scientific brain, and I love experiments, so I thought I would try a quilting experiment.
Since I had a lot of pink and green scrap fabrics from my pink and black twin quilt, and other pink and green quilts, I decided to test how different quilting patterns can affect the look of a quilt.
I made two similar quilt tops with the green and pink fabric. In one quilt, I made all the squares pink and all the rectangles green, and in another quilt, I did the opposite. I also wanted to do a border around a quilt to see how that affects the overall look.
Yes, I know, I am dealing with a lot of variables here (borders, quilting, design), but take a look at the results!
This is a Pink and Green quilt with my normal stippling in a meandering pattern. This quilt has no border.
This is the stippled quilt up close.
Quilt 28 was quilted in a meandering pattern. I love this look because I find that it makes the quilt seem seamless and unifies the quilt. I love the texture of the resulting quilt too. I can’t help but reach out and drag my hand across a finished quilt.
Pink and green quilt with white border and straight line stitching.
Here is Quilt #27 up close
Straight stitch quilting with lines this closely give such an amazing texture and look, but it is very difficult to do! I started from one end and ended on the other. I also began stitching from the same side of each quilt, which began to cause problems because the quilt began to shift down with each row. I think the next time, I will start stitching in the middle of the quilt and once I sew a line, I will turn the quilt around and begin stitching from that opposite side. But, even though it was difficult and took FOREVER, I think the effect is awesome. I’m a big fan.
This quilt was given to a friend and his wife who just adopted their first baby and I AM STILL SO HAPPY FOR THEM!!!
After doing this experiment, I feel that the quilting affects the resulting quilt a lot! I think straight line stitching gives it more of a refined and modern look, while the stippling makes it feel more homey and loved.
What do you think?
