Free Motion Quilting: Stippling and MicroStippling

Stippling is to quilting like lipstick is to cosmetics! You can't go to a quilt show and not see stippling or microstippling in at least half of the quilts.

Because of this, stippling is starting to get a bad wrap with quilt judges who are looking for new, innovative free motion quilting designs. Stippling and Microstippling have simply been overused to the point of exhaustion, and just like hearing the same song on the radio over and over, the more you experience it, the more boring it gets.

But Stippling will always have it's place in the quilting world and certainly should have its place in your quilts. Knowing how to create this filler design is much like knowing how to piece, it's a necessary step to becoming an experienced quilter.

First, let's learn how to make a very wide, open meandering stipple that can easily fill the whole surface of your quilt:
Click Here if the Video Does Not Appear (This was one of my very first free motion video, so forgive the bad quality)	Stippling Quilting Design

Once you get the hang of quilting Stippling on a large scale over your whole quilt in All Over Style Quilting, you can then try shrinking the design down to create Microstippling. This tiny design is perfect for quilting in tight, complex areas of your quilt like around tiny appliques or quilting motifs.

**Now let's learn how to quilt Microstippling:**
Stippling is one of the most popular free motion quilting designs and because of that, most beginning quilters want to learn how to quilt this design first. But this design is actually pretty tricky, because the rules of the design are so vague. Basically you want to stitch a wiggly line around your quilting space that doesn't cross itself. This can be challenging to get the hang of, so I advise beginners to think of cartoony letter shapes as they try to stitch Stippling: Can you see the letter E, L, H, F, M, C, and U? These are all great letters to think about as you try to stitch Stippling and might make it easier for you to form the design.	Click Here if the Video Does Not Appear

Of course you don't want to MicroStipple across the whole surface of a bed quilt! That would result in a quilt the consistency of cardboard with the comfort quality of a concrete floor.

Microstippling is best used in specific areas to flatten the quilt surface and draw attention to other quilting motifs, appliques, or design elements. This is especially effective around areas of Trapunto where the quilted motifs are raised with two layers of batting and the surrounding areas are flattened with very dense quilting.

Once you learn Stippling and Microstippling, you'll be ready to learn a whole host of new designs!

Stippling is the mother of all Independent Designs

All of these designs wiggle around independently of everything around them. Hence the name Independent Designs! They're all very easy to stitch and look great when quilted on a large or small scale over your quilts.

Here's a few Independent designs you might want to get started with first:

Sharp Stippling