Today, I want so share the process I went through to come up with a quilting plan for my Planview quilt. I use an app on my iPad called Procreate (I think I paid $9.99 for it) which allows me to use an Apple pen to doodle out quilting motifs. I’ll explain more about how I work through the process as we go along.
Planview Quilting Plan – Part 1
After I import a mockup or photo of a quilt top into Procreate, I create a new layer and start doodling. I have to admit, I spent quite a few minutes trying out motifs in the center yellow diamonds, but I didn’t like anything I sketched. So I deleted that layer and started over with a fresh new layer and a different area of the quilt. Bingo! I really liked how the lines create interference patterns with one another in a small section.
Planview Quilting Plan – Part 2
Once I had a section that I liked, it was much easier to go back to the yellow diamonds and come up with a motif that I thought complimented the design. Again, the yellow diamonds are on a different layer than the green motif from earlier. That way, if I decide I want to try something else or change out one area, it’s a lot easier to turn off a layer than try to “erase” some lines but not others.
Planview Quilting Plan – Part 3
In the next layer, I stared trying to see how the already designed quilting motifs could related and have a similar conversation with the other colorful pieced areas of the quilt top.
Planview Quilting Plan – Upper Left Quadrant
The final layer for me to add was for the background. Again, I wanted just a little bit of interference to be created to continue the quilting conversation that I started with the first layer I created in the lime green. Because of the symmetry of the Planview quilt design, I focused on getting all of the quilting motifs filled in for the upper left quadrant of the sketch.
Planview Quilting Plan
After having one quadrant sketched, it was a simple matter to reflect the quilting plan around to see what the full plan might look like. I see a few areas that I’m likely to tweak or change a bit, but overall I’m really excited by the quilting plan and have been working towards getting this quilted for a little over a week now. Thankfully my quilted lines with a walking foot are a lot more straight than my shaky hand sketched lines!
I like this idea of how to decide what and how to quilt your designs. I think that I either need to go with an iPad or find an app that will work with my tablet.
This is all pretty amazing to me, as I’ve never done this complicated of a quilting PLAN, let alone actually quilted a multi-faceted design like this one. We don’t have any Apple devices, but I’m always impressed with what folks do with Procreate! Enjoy bringing your plan to life!
It’s fascinating to learn how you do certain aspects of your quilting. Like others have mentioned, I don’t have Apple devices but I do have a couple of art/drawing programs on my computer. With a drawing pad & pen connected, I could easily build a quilt design and draw the quilting plan on top. Stupidly, (duh! ) I never thought to try it. Even so, it’s a bit klunky compared to Procreate and an I-pad, plus I’m kind of an old-fashioned paper and pencil sort of person. I envision it in my head, then scribble it on a paper tablet I keep with my quilting supplies just for that purpose. We each have our own ways and I think whatever works for a person is the way to go. (But I am a tad envious of your I-pad !) You have such great ideas!!!!
Oh my goodness, Yvonne! Even though this is not the sort of quilting I can ever imagine doing I found this post completely fascinating. Thank you so much for taking the time to talk us through it. I will look at your finished quilts with an extra level of admiration now that I understand your process.
I love your linework! I can’t wait to see how it looks in thread. I’ve been considering Procreate for other art – I didn’t even realize it could be so handy for quilting, too.
That’s going to be a lot of lines! It’s fascinating to see how you developed your quilting plan.