Free-Motion Quilting Essentials with Christina Cameli
Free-Motion Quilting Essentials with Christina Cameli is a fabulous course to consider if you are just starting out with free-motion quilting. Christina covers all the basics for those just starting out.
Lesson 1 covers the basics of starting to free motion quilt from basting your quilt to setting up your machine for free-motion quilting.
Lesson 2 covers all sorts of wiggles and loops…great shapes for those just starting out. Easy to form and great for learning to master matching your machine speed to your hands for even stitches. She also explores changing up sizes and combining shapes to make interesting new whimsical patterns. I love that she also explains how she goes around corners with the different wiggles/loops.
Lesson 3 covers spirals and sharp points. First let me say that I love spirals! It’s a rare quilt of mine that doesn’t have spirals at some point in the design. And there are so many ways to change them up. Christina also covers straight lines in this lesson. I personally found straight lines harder to master than most of the curve designs as I was learning to free-motion quilt. Christina’s technique for focusing on hand movement rather than the stitches being created is an excellent way to master straight lines. And, of course, practice, practice, practice.
Lesson 4 covers circles and traveling. Your circles may be a little wobbly at first, but honestly it is one of those techniques that comes quickly with a little practice. She also covers ovals. I honestly find ovals a tad harder than circles…who knew? This also an introduction of traveling while making your circles and ovals. Hitting those lines exactly take practice. Christina also covers basic leaves and feathers and I lover her approach. No long explanations just add drops to a vine and go. And like she says there are classes devoted to feathers that I’ve taken and love, but this introduction is enough to get you started and practicing. Trust me, the “aha” moment when you master feathers is very satisfying. I also use Christina’s technique of working both sides of the vine at the same time when doing my feather as opposed to working one side, coming down the vine, and then working the other side. It’s really a matter of preference when you get to that level of detail.
Lesson 5 covers radiant designs, S-curves, and arcs. Christina includes the valuable traveling around corners for S-curves and arcs.
Lesson 6 covers adding emphasis and mashups. Christina starts out by showing identical blocks quilted different ways and how those differences change how the block looks. Echoing is introduced to change simple designs learned in previous lessons resulting in totally different designs. Mashups creates designs by combining different designs learned in early lessons to create totally different designs as well. Her mashup feathers are awesomely unique.
Lesson 7 covers putting it all together on an actual quilt. She covers playing with designs on photo copies to audition quilting ideas before you start quilting. Then she illustrate the quilting process. And… she used her vintage Singer featherweight to illustrate that you can free motion quilt on any machine…despite size and feature limitations.
I love Christina’s teaching style. She does just the right balance of explaining and illustrating. I am very much a visual learner and her style is perfect for me. If you are just starting out with free motion quilting, I highly recommend this class. If you’ve done a few quilts and need some inspiration on coming up with new designs, I also recommend. She does such a fabulous job on explaining ways to change up simple designs by combining to make new intricate looking designs.
It’s on sale right now (25% off) for $29.99. It’s an excellent time to grab this fun video.
