Hi ,

Spirals are one of my favorite free motion quilting designs 🌟 They add simple, swirly quilting texture that matches with any style of quilt top. In this newsletter, you'll learn several ways to quilt spirals from walking foot quilting to free motion quilting and a new technique - groovy board quilting!

Let's start with the easiest method - stitch a Super Spiral over your entire quilt. This all-over quilting effect is actually only possible to achieve when quilting with a walking foot on a home sewing machine - the easiest form of machine quilting 🤗

You can start right in the middle of your quilt or off centered - it's totally up to you. Learn how to quilt Super Spiral with walking foot style quilting in this video:

You can find the template in this video in the book Explore Walking Foot Quilting with Leah Day.

Using this template is the key to starting your Super Spiral in the right direction. If you turn the spiral in the wrong direction, machine quilting will feel very challenging because more of the quilt will end up piled in the throat of the machine.

If you turn in the right direction there will be less and less quilt in the arm of the machine with every swing around the swirl. The Pinwheel block above is from the Friendship Sampler Quilt - and super spiral was the perfect way to finish this design.

Free Motion Quilting Basic Spiral

The wonderful thing about walking foot quilting is being able to set your stitch length and let the walking foot do the work. The downside - it's slow 😑 

If you're wanting to cover your quilt with spirals and need a faster quilting method, you'll want to try free motion quilting Basic Spiral. This all-over quilting design can be quilted on any style of machine - sewing machines or longarms on a frame. 

Watch this older video (made in 2009) to see how to quilt Basic Spiral on a small scale:

Free motion quilting designs like this simply requires memorization and lots of practice. This is like writing words in cursive - memorize the shapes and the way the designs connect and you'll be able to quilt it anywhere, any size.

But what if you've never tried this before and don't want to quilt imperfect spirals on your next quilt?

Quilt Spirals with Stencils! 

Quilting with Paper Quilting Stencils is easier for beginners because you don't have to guess where to go next. You can put more focus on moving the quilt over the table (or moving your machine over the frame) and producing beautiful stitches.

We have two options for spiral stencil designs:

Swirls Printable Quilting Stencil - This is perfect for quilters using a larger home machine with a 10-inch throat or bigger. The larger size paper stencil will cover more space and give you several repetitions of the design.

Spiral Mini Quilting Stencil - If you have a smaller sewing machine, you'll need to use a Mini Stencil. These are sized to fit your quilting space better AND still give you a soft, cuddly quilting effect.

Watch this video to see how to quilt a baby quilt on a small home sewing machine using the Spiral mini stencil:

I made this quilt using the Singer Heavy Duty 4411, which proves you don't need an expensive sewing machine to be able to free motion quilt spirals, or any other design, easily over your quilts.

Longarm Quilting with Groovy Boards

Our final option for quilting perfect spirals is with Grace Company's Pattern Perfect. This is a plastic template set that bolts to the back table of your quilting frame. Using a stylus, you can lock into the grooves on the board and will be forced to quilt the design perfectly!

Grace's Plastic Pattern Perfect groovy boards for quilting are on sale this month for 20% off. 

To get started, you'll need to pick up the Starter Kit which includes the bracket, stylus and hardware needed to attach Pattern Perfect to any Grace / Qnique longarm or sewing machine on a Grace frame carriage.

Using the stylus included in the Starter kit, you'll be able to quilt additional designs, including a Spiral design! 

I found with my Grace 16X longarm machine, I could quilt 2 rows of the design just simply by moving the stylus on the bracket from the top to the bottom position.

How to Quilt and Advance with Pattern Perfect:

I first positioned the Spirals Pattern Perfect template on the frame's back table and bolted it in place. Then I moved the stylus into the #1 position - the most forward position and closest to the needle of the machine.

Drop the stylus down into the groove and add a little tension to it by pressing it against the board before tightening the knob. Across from right to left, standing at the back of the frame. Break thread and return the machine to the far right.

Now loosen the stylus and slide it down so it rests to the far back of the bracket. This moves the position up to 4 inches, allowing you to quilt two evenly spaced rows of the spiral design.

Again, add some tension to the stylus down on the groovy board before locking it in place and quilt across.

After quilting the second row, you will need to reposition the quilt AND reposition the stylus on the bracket. How you position the quilt on the hoop frame will determine how straight and evenly spaced the rows will appear.

Would you like to see a video on how to use Pattern Perfect? Reply to this email and let me know! 

All Hoop Frame Accessories 20% Off

If you're in the mood to upgrade your Hoop Frame, this is the month to do it as all Hoop Frame Accessories are on sale!

Q-Zone Hoop Frame Upgrade - Go Pro with your Q-Zone Hoop with a fused back table and dual track upgrade.

Q-Zone Hoop Table Inserts - I upgraded my Q-Zone Hoop Frame with these table inserts to support the Pattern Perfect templates.

Hoop Frame Leader Cloth - Keep your quilts organized and easily load using special leaders designed for hoop frame quilting.

Click Here to find more accessories for your quilting frame, longarm machine and more!

That's it for this week 😍 We've learned multiple ways to quilt spirals from simple walking foot quilting, free motion quilting, stencil quilting and longarm quilting using a groovy board.

I love playing with these creative tools and finding multiple ways we can finish our quilts beautifully. Please give these ideas a try this week and let me know your favorite way to stitch spirals on your quilts.

Quick reminder, the new 4th Edition of 365 Free Motion Quilting Designs has begun 🎆

This new edition is amazing with an updated introduction, two quilt patterns including the massive 365 Free Motion Quilting Sampler quilt. If you've been looking for the ultimate quilting challenge - this is it.

This is a picture book of the first 365 designs shared to the Free Motion Quilting Project from 2009-2011. For this edition, I'm also editing the photos to include the outline of each square so you can better see how I travel stitch and move around the designs.

This means you'll see my mistakes too. At this point, I'm not afraid to share my messy edge stitches, especially if it helps give you the courage to try this yourself 💫

Let’s go quilt,

Leah Day