Isn't Following a Line Cheating?
Is following a line using a quilting stencil or marked line "cheating"?
No!
This is helping you form the design and quilt your quilt efficiently. It's not free hand quilting, technically, but you are still free motion quilting and you're learning a design - win, win.
The whole "cheating" thing is so silly anyway. It implies that we're taking a test and the quilters using modern techniques are doing it "wrong" while the slower, traditional methods are "right."
That is a massively limited viewpoint.
Personally I consider all quilting techniques free game, all quilting technology a
necessary resource, and all materials interesting and fun to play with.
If it helps you memorize a quilting design, do it! The point if quilting is to make finished quilts so they can be cuddled with on the couch and enjoyed.
I hope this newsletter has inspired you to memorize a new quilting design this week. If you'd like to learn stippling, here is my Ultimate Stippling Quilting Tutorial, which features multiple styles of quilting to create this pretty,
classic design.
Let's go quilt,
Leah Day