Have you ever
quilted a fabric panel? There are
NO seam allowances to deal with, so the playing field—or rather the quilt top—is wide open for any kind of free-motion quilting, ruler work, thread painting or embellishment. I purchased this Eiffel Tower/Paris fabric panel by Timeless Treasures from
Huntsville Sew and Vac with special embellishing in mind. To begin, it needs to be quilted.
 |
| Pin basting the Paris fabric panel. |
The chosen backing fabric is a tonal 108" wide backing. It looks woven, but it is a print. The beige color coordinated with the color palette of the Paris scene in the panel.
The tower was outline quilted first. See how the quilting shows on the neutral colored backing? That's what a light colored backing fabric with a subtle print will do—the quilting will show.
 |
| Eiffel Tower outline quilted (back view). |
A few of the pink roses and leaves were also outline quilted. This provided definition to the flowers and gave the scene a sense of a foreground and background. The word "Paris" was outline quilted as well. The background fillers consisted of a concentric swirl motif with occasional pebble quilting to fill in the smaller spaces.
 |
| Free-motion quilting on "Paris Rendezvous." |
 |
| Back view of free-motion quilting. |
Here is the Paris panel sunlit by the morning sun. A forest green blender for the binding frames the composition.
 |
| Sunlit free-motion quilting on "Paris Rendezvous." |
Many of my readers and ask about the threads I use in my free-motion quilting, so here are the thread and quilting stats.
Quilt stats:
Top thread: 50 wt. cotton; color: Tutti 36 (
WonderFil Threads)
Bobbin: Bottom Line 60 wt. polyester; color 650 champagne (Superior Thread)
10 hours of free-motion quilting; 3 bobbins
The next stage is the embellishment that will highlight the Tower and surrounding roses. Stay tuned.
