Having a collection of background filler designs, and your skill set is a quilting lifesaver.

Today we'll draw a motif with some computerized help and then blend all kinds of fillers into the background.

Fans and twirls and pebbles and leaves.

Let's stitch freeform fun on today's episode of “Love of Quilting.” Funding for “Love of Quilting” is provided by.

The Bernina 990.

If it can be imagined, it can be created.

APQS.

Longarm quilting machines allow you to express your creativity.

APQS.

Quilt forever.

Electric quilt making every quilt a designer since 1991.

[Upbeat music] Hi there.

Welcome to the 48th season of “Love of Quilting.” I'm Sara Gallegos.

- And I'm Angela Huffman.

And today, Angela, you're going to share some interesting methods for working with background fills, right?

- Right.

A lot of times you'll see a quilt, and it will have the same background filler used throughout the entire quilt.

And there's an opportunity there to add a little bit of visual delight by combining background fills.

- Okay.

But sometimes that transition between one background fill to another background fill can feel a little bit chunky and clunky.

Yeah, how can I smoothly move from one motif to another?

Right.

So, what I've got here is a table runner and I've already dropped in a background fill.

I've just free motioned around this block, so I echoed around the block and put in a background fill.

And then there's a swath of nothingness that is quite intimidating, right?

Sure.

- Of what do I do in this giant negative space?

And then I've ended over here on the far side with a different background filler.

- Beautiful.

And so we are going to kind of plop in some larger designs - Okay.

- And then work around those larger designs with our background fill.

To be able to marry them all together.

- Exactly, exactly.

And so I do have some background fills here that I was going to show you.

This would be a great idea to stitch out some fills and put them.

You could put a little grommet in them - Sure.

- And put them on a D-ring.

And then you can kind of when you need inspiration, kind of go through them in your, in your studio.

A reference book of background fills.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

So there's one kind of a paisley peacock feather, looking background fill.

This one looks a little bit to me like a topographical map.

Right.

Yeah.

So.

Or fried eggs, either one, you know, either one.

This one is kind of a whirly, swirly, curly, smoky heart sort of thing.

- It's pretty.

This one is kind of a free form of, Baptist fan.

Almost.

This one is a little curlicues.

- Alright.

This one is bigger curlies, but more Echo swirlys.

I don't know that that's a technical term or not, but it's hard to put a name on background fills.

- Right.

That one is, I call it marbles with with, hearts.

A lot of echoes there too.

That one is leaf design.

So a lot of pointy bits, a lot of echoing.

Again.

This one is kind of a carnation fill, - It's pretty.

So it's got a lot.

It's got a central, portion of the flower and then a lot of echoing around the flower.

That one is kind of wispy curls, cloudy curls.

- Cloudy.

Yeah.

And this one is hooks with echoes.

And you'll will talk a lot today about echoes, because echoes are one of those, magic tools and a free motion quilting toolbox - Sure.

that will help you travel around and accentuate shapes.

So those are great background fills, but I wanted to show you some good transitional designs, designs that you could throw in, to cross over from one background fill to another.

Right.

And the biggest and best one is pebbles.

Pebbles are so easy to kind of give the eye a little bit of a break and then take in the next background fill.

So the most common.

- Ok.

and notice that the pebbles are not all the same size.

So if you start to have them all be the same size, they can kind of start to stack up on you a little bit like, like a cobblestone street.

- Right.

And they're going to, look a little odd if you don't have them kind of random.

So throwing in large, medium small pebbles.

And I think people get a little hung up on with free motion and making sure everything is perfect and consistent.

And I always like the look of it not being so perfect and consistent, because that makes me feel like it's done with a computer.

So I think you could just, like, give yourself a little grace and know that it's okay to have a variety of different sizes - Right.

Yeah.

- And you want that.

So its natural.

- The only perfection is what the computer does.

- Right.

- And that can feel a little col So we're going to mix computerized and free motion to warm up - Nice.

The feel of the quilt.

So that's a very common transitional design.

Anything that is linear - Okay.

- Is going to also be a very good transitional design.

So this is some string, some string column designs, with just some squares.

This one is kind of a curvy curl again, a linear, but it's got a wave to it so that there's not a lot of repetition.

- Okay.

And the eye doesn't see a grid, it just sees movement.

That would be the important part.

This one again, another string design with just circles.

And you can even carve out space, echo that space.

And just a basic stipple - Right.

- Will also be a great a great background fill as well.

For that transition, I really kind of like this one.

I love that.

It's fun.

It's, it's like a, I don't know, it's little, little, little bumps, bumps on a log.

- Almost a shamrock.

- Yeah.

But yeah, I really like that a lot.

- Bumps on a log.

That's another great, a great transitional designs This is kind of stones in a river.

So, that curvy and then filling them in with the, with the stones, with the pebbles.

And this is another kind of curvy, - I like that.

but with that back and forth kind of claw, arc kind of look.

So you might want to stitch these out.

One, it would give you some really good practice.

- Sure.

And if you stitch one out and you don't like it, well then just don't just use that one - Right.

in your stack.

And I don't know about you, but I learned so much more from the things that I do that I don't necessarily like so much.

Because then, like, what can I do to change this so that I like it better?

So it's okay to have a little bit of a sewing failure.

Here and there to learn and lead to the next great idea.

Exactly.

- Yep.

- Yep.

So the first thing I want to do is I want to drop in some designs here with the computer, and I want to show you how you can actually use the computer to design something super original, - Fun.

if you are so inclined.

- Okay.

So I'm in like the drawing area where I can actually pull up mirrors.

And I'm going to get a little pie shape mirrors on the screen, and I can draw inside those pie shaped mirrors.

I'm going to turn the nodes off and I'm going to go to draw.

And then I'm just going to, on the screen, come up with a design.

Now I did that with my hand - Sure.

- in the air.

So what I want to do is I want to smooth this out - Okay.

Because it's a little jaggedy.

- Right.

Pixelated almost.

So first thing I'm going to do is apply those mirrors so that now they're all kind of married together.

And then I'm just going to go in and I'm going to choose, I'm going to select everything and I'm just going to smooth.

And every time I hit smooth it just smooths out those lines.

That looks pretty good.

- It really does.

Yeah.

Let's do one more smooth.

Now these are still separate, motifs in each of that Pie wedge that we did before.

So what I want to do is I want to actually remove all of the breaks and make it combine it so that it's one motif.

- Correct.

So it just took what I drew and it combined it into a motif, kind of a circular flower sort of thing.

-Yeah.

So let's go ahead.

And I'm just going to stitch that out.

On the quilt.

It's going to ask me to name it.

And just for, funsies, I'm just going to name it, one here and save it.

But you'd probably, you'd probably want to name it something that was original.

That you'll remember.

- Yeah.

And then I'm going to just show the machine, I'm going to show the computer where I would like for the machine to stitch out.

So I'm just hovering over the, area of my quilt and I'm just tapping in four points.

And then I'm going to go ahead and quilt that out.

And the first thing I'm going to do is I'm going to ask it to pull the bobbin, and it's going to start in the dead center of that design and bring the bobbin thread up to the top.

And I want to do that each time so that I don't, get it where, I don't know, there's a little bird's nest - Sure.

- on the back of the quilt.

And then I'm going to go ahead and we'll let this sew out and, and then I want to show you a different design after that.

So let's let this sew out.

[Sewing machine noise] All right.

What do you think?

Looks beautiful I love that.

- Yeah.

All right, so I'm just going to take some little tacking stitches, and I'm going to bring that bobbin thread up to the top.

And if you are thinking Oh that's nice Angela, but I would not draw something like I'm going to just use if I'm going to do it, I'm going to use a, design that somebody else has digitized - Okay.

- And pull it up.

So I just want to show you kind of how easy that is to do.

So I'm just going to pick out, a flower that I think might be fun.

So I don't know.

Let's do that one.

And we're going to bring it in.

And I want to again just show it where it's allowed to stitch.

So by dropping in little motifs kind of along the way, it helps me, break the space up.

It helps me kind of give space where a free motion design can live, and I can adjust the size of these motifs as well.

- Sure.

So let's go ahead.

We'll stitch this one out as well.

And then once we, have the computer do a couple of these, I'm going to do it free motion too in case you don't have a computer Excellent.

- And show you how that would work.

So so let's go ahead.

And sew this one.

[Sewing machine noise] So a little bit smaller.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

But that will kind of break this space up and give us a place that we can, echo around and drop in some free motion design.

So we have the, the table drop down on this side so that we could play with the computer a little bit and see the screen.

But let's, transition to some free motion stitching.

Okay.

- Let's undo the computer and raise the table up, and I'll stand and we'll do, a flower design by hand.

Looking forward to it.

- All right.

So we've gotten the table.

We've risen it up so I can stand.

I like to stand and do free motion stitching.

Some people like to sit and do free motion stitching on the longarm.

I like to stand.

If I'm hanging out in one tiny little area for a long time, then I'll lower the table and sit down.

- Okay.

But we're going to be kind of moving around here.

I did want to show you this is the foot we had on it.

And this is the foot you would use for a ruler for most every kind of sewing.

And I went ahead and put an open toed low-profile foot on there just because it can help me see a little bit better when I'm doing free motion stitching.

There are other feet.

And of course they all have different uses, but this one is just going to give me the best visibility for, Of the needle.

- Of the needle - And the motif.

Okay.

and where I'm heading and all that stuff.

Yeah.

So I brought my bobbin here up to the top, and I'm going to put the needle in the down position just so that if I come to a stop, it'll stop in the down position.

And I'm going to start out with my little free motion flower with a circle.

So I'm going to do a little circle.

And as I come into the circle I'm going to do a little curl.

And I'm just going to stop right there so that I can trim these, tails.

And I will go over where those tails were a couple of times.

So that will work to kind of anchor those.

- Secure it.

You could always knot and bury or do little tacking stitches to anchor that spot.

I'm just choosing to kind of go over that.

With my line of stitching, I'm gonna jump out into a petal and then I'm going to come back.

I'm going to do a stick with a lollipop on it, and I'm going to come back and do a petal and come back with a stick with a lollipop on it.

I know very official terms, right.

But I'm just wanting to kind of keep it whimsical and fun.

And this way I can kind of add that human touch that you were talking about.

Like, it's fun to do it with a computer, but you can also do it with a human touch.

So I would, you know, do this on a piece of paper first, get to know the design.

Now, maybe do it on, if you had an extra like width of fabric on the outside of your quilt, you'd have a place to really, play.

- Practice and play.

Practice and play.

Yeah.

And now I'm going to come out here and I'm just going to put in a leaf.

With a vein, and I'm going to echo, and I'm going to come out with a leaf and a vein, and I'm going to echo, and I'm just going to keep going around.

To build this out.

So that it can take up more visual space.

And anchor this negative space area.

So that when you do fill it with a background color, the eye has a place to kind of call home.

So there we go.

And then I'm just going to go ahead and I'm going to echo the whole outside.

And that gives it basically a little neighborhood for it to live in so that it doesn't.

The background fill won't infringe upon the territory.

That this occupies.

So we've got a central flower, and now we can start to build out, some kind of background fill.

And of course, we just finished with, with leaf designs, and we talked about the leaf filler and how that leaf filler might be a great choice.

Sure.

- And that makes sense here.

So let's just do a little bit of leaf fillers.

And I tend to do background fillers until I get a little bored with them.

And then I'll transition it to something else.

- Okay.

So, you'll have a different level of like when you're tired of doing a background filler to transition.

There's no right or wrong.

No.

Now let's do talk about density level though, Okay.

- Because I want to make these leaves a little bit smaller than the motif.

So they don't fight with my flower.

- Right.

They complement the flower.

So working on density level.

Is going to be helpful.

So it's just a little pointy bit.

And then you just kind of change the directions of your leaf.

And so I'm, I'm wanting to make sure that I'm not doing everything North-South.

I'm wanting to make sure that I do travel and echoing is where I'm going to travel, it's how I'm going to move around this space.

And I don't have to do leaves around the whole darn thing, but I don't know it might it might work out fine.

And I'm using, a gold thread here just so that you can see it on camera.

I actually thought how cool it might be to have done the motif flower in, a different color, and then the background fill in a color that blends a little bit better with the black.

Versus the gold.

- That would be pretty.

So play with, size of design, play with color of thread and then, I mean play, right?

That's the operative word here.

So I'm just gonna put my little.

And I feel myself getting bored.

Where I want to transition.

Okay.

So, I think what we should do, though, is kind of fill in this area, so it's a little more closer to me, - Okay.

and then we'll throw in some pebbles and that'll transition, and then we'll kind of pick where we want to go next.

- Sounds good.

- Okay.

It's like quilters roulette.

We'll just spin the wheel and decide - Where will we land?

what the heck we want to do.

Okay, so I'm just going to echo.

Around this area.

I'm going to drop down another leaf shape.

And I'm going to echo around.

And I feel like that's probably the end of my leaf desires here.

And then let's go ahead.

And I'm just going to do a little bit of, the pebbles and I'm going to do larger pebbles.

Smaller pebbles.

Pebbles are going to give me a good way to transition between.

Designs and when I do pebbles, I like to do some with a curl in them.

I might do some with like a cotton swab tip so that it has kind of a, paisley effect to it.

So now I can start to think about like, okay, what what is the next one that I want to do?

And I'm kind of feeling like Baptist fans, - Okay.

- you know that that that kind of echoey, - That's a fun one.

Echoey bap, Baptist fan.

So definitely not a super traditional Baptist fan - Right.

- because it's all going to be, you know, me and I do have the stitch regulator on here.

One thing I would say is don't be afraid to turn that stitch regulator Off.

- Okay?

Because sometimes, especially when you're first learning, it just gives a different feel to the machine and it will flow a little bit better.

And you're not worried about your stitch length, right then anyway.

You're worried about just how to doodle the design Right.

- And thread on fabric, Right.

- So turn off the stitch regulator that may help you if you have the ability to, turn on a secondary form of stitch regulation.

So I actually turned on two forms a stitch regulation.

It's both manual mode as well as stitch regulated mode, and it kind of travels between the two modes.

That can also help make the machine just kind of move smoother through your curves.

So if someone turns off stitch regulation, do you have a recommended speed or a stitch length setting?

For starters.

It's the one that doesn't make your heart race .

- Okay.

Which may be different for me than for someone else.

Right?

Some people.

Yeah.

So let's turn off the stitch regulator just so you can see.

Okay.

- So I've got the stitch regulator.

I am going to turn down the needle speed.

- Okay.

So when you turn on your machine the needle is just going to fire.

But the machine will feel a lot freer to you.

- Okay.

So I would just caution you about how fast you go.

Like, I'm feeling like I want to speed up this needle a little bit, so I'm just going to stop and it will.

Like I said, you are in charge of the stitch length, so you are in charge of how long the stitches go, which is why people like the stitch regulator, right?

Because then the stitch regulator is doing that hard work - Right.

for them instead of themselves.

So that is manual mode.

Let's turn it back on to stitch regulator mode.

And let's turn it on to that secondary form of stitch regulation.

Okay.

- And let's put a little swirl in here.

You can hear how the motor changed.

And it's a little bit you know, I don't have to worry about the size of the stitches now, but I do need to think more about, you know, the direction that I go.

And I don't have to do the same number of Baptist fan echoes.

For each one of these, because each of those repeats, each of those little rainbows are giving me the ability to change directions, and to fill the space.

And sometimes I want to go on the line, and sometimes I don't.

Sometimes I want to kind of make my Baptist fan get close to its friend, and sometimes I might go right on top of this friend.

Okay, so we did a little bit of Baptist fan.

I think we need a transition design.

- Okay.

We're getting close to where we put that computer design, and I do want to echo around that computer design just so that there's a little breath and space - Sure.

- before the next background filler comes in.

And so we have talked about, we've done kind of a pebbles as a background design.

I'm thinking maybe since we are doing a lot of circles, maybe the, design that we had, which was a little more boxy, might be kind of a kind of a yin and yang thing.

- Okay.

Right.

So a little bit of a difference.

So let's, let's look at doing some string designs with a square to them.

And that's the other great thing about having these you can put it right beside your needle.

And so you have something to refer to.

Right.

Visual reminder.

- So that.

Yep.

Yep.

Okay.

So I am going to I'm going to come down with a string and I'm going to put a box and I come up and I'm going to put a box a little bit bigger box and then come up, I'm going to put a little bit of a rectangley box.

Come up and do a box and then head up.

I'm going to echo over, come down.

And I'm going to travel down.

And just fill in.

It almost like fits into the.

Negative space of the previous one.

[Sewing machine noise] And one more.

And that has given me.

I'm now at the bottom, and I would probably go in here to this negative space and, add more of those.

But let's go on for the sake of time - Okay.

and let's do a different background fill.

So I don't know, what do you want to do here, Sara?

Name a number.

Call out a number.

- I I like the ones that look sort of curvy, like river rocks and such.

Curvy like a river rocks.

Okay, I think it was kind of.

Was it that one?

Sure.

- Swirly.

So in this in my head, I'm looking at a curl with a tall hat.

Okay.

- Is what's going on in my head.

So I'm going to come in.

And I'm going to do a curl with a tall hat and a curl with a tall hat.

I'm approaching that area that I had for my, computer design.

And so I'm just going to kind of echo that computer design to give him some space.

And then I'm going to do my curl with my tall hat and a curl with a tall hat and a curl with a tall hat.

And literally that is going on in my head the entire time.

Echo.

Curl.

with a tall hat.

And I want to get close to this transitional.

Design so that it makes sense.

And that's going to be some echoes to help that make sense.

Curl with a tall hat and I'm going to come over this space and I'm going to put another.

Smaller box.

And then curl with a tall hat.

And as I need to travel, I'm just going to echo that design Around until I get to a new space.

And another transitional design.

So let's see.

Sara, I am thinking you liked that one with the curl with the tall hat.

I'm thinking let's go with that typography one.

You know, - Yeah thats a really fun.

that kind of looks like fried eggs.

Yeah, something to kind of flatten the space out.

- Sure.

So I'm just going to Kind of come in and I have to think round flat Shapes.

And I want to give myself an area to, escape.

So I'm always thinking about how am I going to get out of this area and travel around, and I'm thinking about density.

I'm thinking about how it, comes in with and touches another design and the size of that background fill and fill in, to flatten that space out.

And I'm over here, I'm going.

To run into that.

So let me move that over and we'll do a little bit more like that.

So I want to kind of create a space, enter the space, leave the space.

And I'm thinking about topography lines on a map to give myself a little bit of room to leave.

And I'm getting fairly close to that other computer design.

And as soon as I get close, I'm going to go ahead and take the opportunity to echo that out.

And now I'm ready to echo around.

Let's do one more fried egg and then we'll choose a different a different design.

And I tell you what, Sara, I could do this literally.

I could do this all day.

- Do it all day long.

I could do it all day long.

you've given us some really great suggestions here for ways to just take a big blank piece of fabric and fill it in and come up with something great.

Just jump in.

You're going to have fun.

Grab a pencil, tips, and other useful information.

Coming up next.

Carol Ivey of Eugene, Oregon, sent this tip to us, and she said that she started making these years ago because she had really nice hand milled soaps and didn't want to waste even the smallest sliver.

Quilters are frugal.

Isn't that the truth?

- Yeah.

They eventually became scrubys for my young children, so she sews them into these little mesh pouches.

Any net will work.

They're gentle and the kids love them.

And they always smell, those soaps always smell so good.

They do?

- Yeah.

Look at that beautiful batik there Sara.

- Ooh very pretty.

So this is from us, Sharon Kane from Okotoks, Alberta.

She says, Dear Sara and Angela, it's very disappointing to find fabrics have run after washing a special project.

Yes.

- It really is.

Yeah.

- For sure.

I test my batiks before adding them to my stash for just this reason.

If the colors run, I hand rinse the fabric in a white plastic tub until the water runs clear.

When dry, I get my fabrics a good pressing, and snip one corner to show that they are ready to use.

Love your show!

- Great idea.

Thank you.

Like a little internal marker where she knows exactly.

That's right.

- That's super smart.

That is smart.

Okay, here we've got a little tip from Mary Miller of Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, and she says, hi, I enjoy your show.

I've made several t shirt quilts for people and it can be very difficult to quilt over the logos.

What do you think about that?

Yeah, for sure.

especially if the graphics are printed with heat transfer vinyl.

So she's come up with the solution.

She lays a piece of this thin tissue paper over the logo, and then she's able to quilt through it easily.

Then the tissue paper can just be torn off.

It's on a roll or from patterns, and you can just see through it and it tears away easily after you've quilted through it.

Thanks for watching.

We'll see you next time.

If you have a tip to share, send it with the prop to the address on your screen.

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Funding for Love of Quilting is provided by.

The Bernina 990.

If it can be imagined, it can be created.

APQS.

Longarm quilting machines allow you to express your creativity.

APQS.

Quilt forever.

Electric quilt making every quilt a designer since 1991.

[Upbeat music]