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Writer's pictureCarli Marsico

Quilting inspiration for Wonky Woven

Updated: Jul 15

"Quilt as desired" isn't helpful or inspiring. Sometimes you just need a little jumpstart to your creativity to get the process flowing. If you've just completed your own Wonky Woven quilt top, here are three ideas for how you could finish your beautiful quilt.


Since this design is scrappy and therefore always at least a little busy, it is particularly well-suited to an edge-to-edge design. So instead of my usual waking foot, simple free motion, and crazy custom options, I'm proposing 2 walking foot-friendly designs and a simple free motion. A pantograph would look great if you'd rather send it out to a longarmer.


Contents:


The simple walking foot


If you're looking for something fairly simple and abstract, try this variation on straight-line quilting. Use masking tape or a Hera marker to make nice straight line guides across your quilt then stitch those marked lines using your trusty walking foot. Add straight lines going one direction to 2 corners and in the opposite direction on the alternate corners. Use yet another angle to fill in the open box in the middle.



A simple design like this will add great texture while still being finish-able in a day. It's also something a little different from the trusty grid or regular straight-line quilting. You also don't have to make sure all your lines are parallel; if you get a bit off, it only adds to the aesthetic.


The more complex walking foot


If you're looking for something with a little more visual interest but still walking-foot-friendly, try this design. You'll start by marking and stitching the red grid. Once that's done, stitch the blue lines to put horizontal lines through each of your squares. These will be used for marking. Lastly, mark 2" (or so) increments in both directions from the center line where it aligns with the middle of the sashing then stitch the green zig-zag lines horizontally across the quilt making sure to pivot at the marking and go through the intersection of the grid points and the blue horizontal lines (one single pass is shown in the fat dark green line). It looks way more complicated than it is and the effect is a very cool optical illusion.



Vary the increment of your markings and the size of your initial grid to control the density of your quilting.


The simple free motion


If you're feeling a little more adventurous, this curvy abstract free-motion motif works great. Use long vertical curvy lines roughly along the sashing to partition the area and stabilize your quilt top. Randomly varying the curvature and the spacing will give more movement to the overall design so don't worry about being perfect. Then, work side to side with short arcs back and forth across the column until you've filled it all in. It's that simple.


Check out my Instagram to see a video of how this design get's built up.


For my cover quilt version, I ended up quilting option #2. Funnily enough, this was actually my plan even when I was planning on using my longarm to finish the quilt. But alas, my longarm was still temporarily in boxes for moving when I needed to quilt it so I ended up stitching this design out with a walking foot on my domestic machine. Either option quilts up beautifully and adds great texture to put the finishing touches this fun design.



I used a light gray 80 wt polyester thread (Decobob by Wonderfil) all over this quilt. The gray color and thin weight of the thread blended great across all the fabrics.

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