Quilting Plan 2 - Crosshatch
Quilts

Sesen Quilting Plan

After getting the Sesen quilt top pieced, I placed it up on my design wall and sat back and thought about how I wanted to quilt it. The first time I made Sesen, I made it as a commission and I opted for an allover free motion quilted meander motif for several reasons (cost, a link back to the inspiration behind the colorway and design, etc.). I’d like this quilt to have more custom quilting, but I don’t want to spent 7 weeks quilting it like I did Pulsar.

Quilting Plan 1 - Custom Motifs

Quilting Plan 1 – Custom Motifs

When in doubt, I take a photograph of a finished quilt top into Procreate and start doodling. Of course, the first thing I did was give each area in the quilt it’s own custom motif that related to its shape.

To keep things simple for myself while I was working in Procreate, I used a single color to represent the quilting lines. In reality, I have color matched 50wt Aurifil thread that I will use that will blend in and be much less bold, especially for the background quilting.

Quilting Plan 2 - Crosshatch

Quilting Plan 2 – Crosshatch

A bit overwhelmed by thinking about how much marking, twisting, turning, and tying off the first plan was going to require, I tried a simple crosshatch to see how I felt about it. I would probably use thread to match the Kona Natural background if I were to go with this option.

Quilting Plan 3 - Diagonal Crosshatch

Quilting Plan 3 – Diagonal Crosshatch

And to give myself options, I also evaluated what a diagonal crosshatch would look like. Based on these quick sketches, I knew right away that I preferred the horizontal and vertical ‘normal’ crosshatch, so I’m glad I took the time to look at this option as it helped me feel confident I wasn’t overlooking something I might prefer more.

Quilting Plan 4 - Dense Background Quilting and Custom for Piecing

Quilting Plan 4 – Dense Background Quilting and Custom for Piecing

The all over motifs still didn’t seem quite right, so I went back and fully sketched out what the quilting might look like for custom quilting inside the pieced areas. In order to help the pieced areas stand out more, I then doodled in a back and forth meandering line. It’s easy to let the color of the “thread” on the background overwhelm the desired effect; the dense background quilting would have the benefit of helping the background recede and allow the piecing to stand out more.

Quilting Plan 5 - Combining Favorite Elements

Quilting Plan 5 – Combining Favorite Elements

And then I think I settled in on a solid quilting plan by combining my favorite elements together. I plan to quilt the pieced areas with a 1″ spacing following the shapes of the curves. Then I will fill in all of the background with a 1″ crosshatch. It took me several days of thinking and trying new ideas, but now I’m excited to see this plan come together!

5 thoughts on “Sesen Quilting Plan

  1. patty says:

    Looks like the perfect quilting plan. Thanks for sharing your design process withus.

  2. Debbie says:

    I really like the plan you settled on!

  3. Elizabeth E. says:

    I’m glad you are showing others how to “doodle” or plan their quilting designs out on their quilts, either via digital programs, or paper and pencil (which is what I show). It helps so much to figure out what the quilting will be before starting. I was quite fascnated by your process of thinking–thank you for sharing it. And thanks also for a link to the earlier quilt; now I know what Sesen means!

  4. Maxine Mullins says:

    You reinforce the wisdom of knowing that it takes time to get satisfactory and satisfying results. Most of my disappointing sewing projects have been a result of being in a hurry, trying to meet a deadline, real or artificial. Thanks for this reminder that going the extra mile is rewarding in so many ways. Patience, patience, patience.

  5. This is the perfect quilting plan. I am always happy when I have the time to put into planning something, instead of rushing towards the finish line. This will be stunning.

I really appreciate the time and thought you take to comment, and I look forward to conversing with you. :)