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Quilting backgrounds for motifs


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Recently I quilted a sunflower quilt and placed freehand sunflowers through our.  After adding a background quilting you can hardly see them.  A huge disappointment.  Now,  I am currently working on a snowman quilt and plan on placing snowflakes throughout it.  What can I do to make the motif more noticeable?   Thanks - Polly

 

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Batting choice is crucial.  Flat batting means quilting does not show as well.  If your background is a busy print, the only thing that will help is a  battling with loft.  On your sunflower quilt, it sounds like your batting was not puffy enough.  The only other thing that would help is a thread that shows up for your motifs and a thread that blends for the background fill.

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If you're stitching snowflakes you'll need a design that has the outlines of snowflakes and not just a single-line motif. Those will be lost in whatever background you use. Stitch the snowflakes is a slightly-contrasting thread as Lynn suggested above--like a pale blue thread if the background is white or cream. To further isolate them stitch one echo in thread that matches the background. The even line around the motifs will make them more defined. Then, again as Lynn advised, use a matching thread for the background fill.

 

If you want to stitch a continuous-line design with snowflakes all along, stitch the single-line snowflake and again echo it with perhaps a six-lobed petal shape that encloses it. Then continue with your filler design.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Great advice for you, Polly.  Since you're a newbie, it may help to know:  another advantage to echoing the motifs in your quilting is because one line of stitching alone can sometimes show every wobble.  If you echo (or outline) the stitching line once or twice or even three times, each line of stitching becomes less 'critical' and the motif just stands out better from your background fill.   Nancy in Tucson

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