Double Wedding Ring Quilt

This special quilt was a wedding gift for a lovely couple. The quilt was fully made in batik fabrics and the colours represented the personalities of the couples. Blues and greens for the groom ("calm, cool, collected") and the reds, yellows and oranges for the bride ("fiery"). All the fabrics were from the Bermuda Batik collection from Moda fabrics and the background was also a batik, but not from that collection.

The quilt was created with the assistance of the Cut Rite Slit and Sew template, a tool that simplifies curved piecing and offers the option of square blocks instead of the usual curved border, making the process a bit smoother.

Given the variety of colors and the significance of the special occasion, the heirloom quilt required personalized attention. Custom quilting options range from solely using free motion, to a mix of free motion and ruler work, or even a combination of free motion, ruler work, and computerized designs.

In this case, I decided to use both free motion and ruler work to elevate this quilt to heirloom status.

How do you choose a design? What will add where?

When it comes to custom quilting, I view it as a form of quilting that varies based on the block or border being worked on. My process is to take a photo of the quilt blocks or spaces and then use my iPad, and, in my case a finger to mark it up. I really should consider getting an Apple pencil because the draft designs would probably look better with more precision. Even with just a finger, I get a really good idea of what a design will look like on the quilt top and I can audition different options. This removes the hurdle to getting going on the quilting process.

Once I have a start to my plan, I get going, then I modify as I go along. Stitching it out confirms my decisions, but I may also adapt designs as I have ideas. This gives variety, complexity and adds to the "custom" part. I do take pictures as I go to help me keep consistent from row to row as it can be challenging to maintain the scale and density. It's a good way to recall the unique designs in play on a custom quilt.

In this quilt, I decided on a feather motif in the background part on the sawtooth border and a point to point design in the patterned part of the border, alternating matchstick lines and ribbon candy in the outer border and ruler work semi-circles with alternative feather motifs inside and a dense spiral filler design to make the ruler work and motifs pop on the inner border.

In the double wedding ring blocks, I "stitched in the ditch" around all the blocks, used a wishbone design in the melon shapes and arc and circle designs on the outer areas. The interior of each ring however got varied and unique treatment.

Why did I vary the interior of the blocks? Well I liked how the varying designs makes the eye dance across the quilt. With consistency in the borders and overlaps of the rings (melon shapes), this worked well and was balanced. It really makes it look custom.

As the quilter, this is what I call going into zen mode where I am happily driving the longarm and something beautiful appears beneath the needle.

If you are interested in having a custom treatment for your special quilts, please contact me. I accept mail in quilts if you are not local to Eastern Ontario/Ottawa Region.

I would love to work with you for your next project whether it is custom quilting or an edge to edge computerized design.