Stippling

Ive had quite a few emails asking for some advice on stippling. Im no expert but I love to use stippling in my quilts, so I thought Id share what works for me and the things Ive learnt along the way, and hopefully answer your queries.

When I first started, I scoured the internet for information, watched a couple of quilting DVD's to find some tips but they all made it look so easy!!. Its been trial and error!! One of the most useful tips I found was to "draw your stippling":

We can always find time to doodle....while we are waiting for a "human" telephone operator (my phone book is covered in doodles lol), waiting in the car at school run, while trying to complete a crossword etc......just draw up a block and doodle in the stippling to fill it up!!!

Good tools are important to help make stippling relaxed and effective:

My machine came standard with the darning foot on the left but I much prefer the "open toe" darning foot on the right, which I purchased seperatley. It allows a better view of the area Im working on (but currently mine is broken......overuse!!!! and Im waiting on a new one from the shop!!). I prefer to stipple with my feed dogs UP, I feel I have much better control. One of the features of the Pfaff is that it has 2 presser foot settings, so I use the first niche and it works fine for me. If your machine doesnt have this feature, Id suggest you put your feed dogs down!

Always remember to take a few "bunny hops" to secure your stippling and if your machine has the "needle down" feature, use it because it anchors your needle when you need to stop.

Most important tip.......stippling is quick and fun and very "forgiving". The only rule is to not cross over your stitching but in the big picture, if you do...... keep going, no one will notice!!! There will be days when your stippling is nice and even and then days where its not (on those days, turn up the music and keep going!!!!)....its all about having fun and bringing that quilt top to completion.......Hope that helped guys, happy stippling!!!

7 comments

  1. I was going to write some clever comment here, but then discovered that I didn't understand anything at all of what the post is about ... o_O

    ;-)

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  2. Thanks Rose. You are very good at explaining things.
    Jules

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  3. Thanks for the tutorial, hun! Always good to know how the pro's are doing it!!! (and you're a pro at this, you know!!!) I see your darning foot looks very different from mine (ok, Bernie's vs. the Princess' *lol*), which is all metall, and the circle is a lot smaller... no setting for the foot, either, so the feed dogs are lowered (when I remember *lol*). Music while stippling is a must ;o)

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  4. Thanks heaps Rose I tried but said never again of course I will try again that was very helpfull .

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  5. Thanks for the tips, Rose. I will definitely try drawing some stippling. Will be good for staff meetings! I am going to try and do some machine quilting every day in the summer holidays. Hopefully with a regular practise, I'll improve and get more confident.
    Christine

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  6. Great tips - do you use your drawn stipples as a template then? Or just to practice making the stipples? I had never thought to try an open toe foot but I might give that a try!

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  7. Thank you Rose I have tried and gave up but will give stippling another go.

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