So by now I hope you all know how much I love incorporating BOTH walking foot and free-motion techniques in my quilts. So I thought it would be fun to share two of my favorite books on those two techniques! Jacquie Gering’s WALK is THE definitive guide to Walking Foot Quilting, and Lori Kennedy is a whiz at showing you how to create fabulous free-motion motifs step by step.
I ran into Jacquie at quilt market last year and we both swapped copies of our books. I love how encouraging the quilting community is, even when many of us are teaching the same subjects!
By far one of my favorite things about WALK is that Jacquie shares her “wall basting” method in step by step photos. This is similar to the method I used, and it’s worth it to own this book just for this section! Of course, the rest of the book is fab, too as Jacquie walks you through over 60 different designs that you can do, all with a walking foot (or dual feed).
I love it how Jacquie sets you up for success through a series of “test drives” to get you comfortable with her process.
Take a look at these two exercises from the book, shown in the photos above and below (photography credit Lucky Spool):
Jacquie’s methods involve marking and are a little more precise than mine, but I love it that there are a whole range of options to explore. She gets you comfortable first with basic straight lines, and then she moves on to gentle curves, decorative stitches, and several designs you can do incorporating the reverse feature on your machine.
Whether you are new to walking foot quilting, or want to expand your horizons with this fast and fun technique, I encourage you to give WALK a try – you’ll be glad you did!
Moving on to free-motion, take a look at Lori Kennedy’s debut book, Free-Motion Machine Quilting 1-2-3. Based on Lori’s step by step photo tutorials, this book is a beautiful center piece for you sewing room and I know you’ll spend time poring over its pages!
Free-Motion Machine Quilting 1-2-3 features over 400 photographs plus oodles of trouble shooting tips. My favorite part of the book is where she shows the difference between good and bad tension, and what to do to avoid thread buildups (it’s all about the starting and stopping point of each design). Just having a visual guide is such a huge help when you are learning to quilt!
Take a look at just two of the 60+ designs that are shared in the book (photography courtesy of Martingale/That Patchwork Place and Brent Kane):
Loops are a perennial favorite and probably the easiest design to learn! Follow Lori’s step by step tips and you’ll be finishing your quilts with a flourish!
Once you learn Lori’s basic spirals, you can then move onto Spiral Rose, Spiral Heart, Reverse Spiral, and more! It’s like anything new: learn the basics and build your skills from there.
So whether you prefer to quilt with your walking foot, or free-motion or both, these books have got you covered. After all, even though I teach similar techniques, I always recommend that my students learn from several different sources. You ever know when someone is going to explain an idea in a different way that will resonate you!
Christa Quilts 
Love that you recommend to use several sources when learning! That is the true indicator of a great teacher……it may be on the same topic, but each teacher has a little different way of communicating which may make a difference in the way someone understands.
Thanks for the peeks- looks like I need both of these books.
These are all great ideas IF the quilter is RIGHT handed…many of us however are LEFT handed. There should be a left handed version also.
That’s interesting. I wonder how the approach is different as you are still moving the quilt under the machine. I feel like I use both of my hands equally when I quilt.
Christa Watson Instagram @christaquilts website/blog: ChristaQuilts.com Click here to join my facebook group: Quilt with Christa
On Fri, Jul 28, 2017 at 5:35 AM, Christa Quilts wrote:
>
Looks like the books I need for reference in my sewing room in Berridale NSW AUSTRALIA
oh if only it was that easy! Struggle so much with quilting have decided the next quilt I do I will try quilting each block seperately
Good plan! When it comes to quilting I’ve discovered that the more you do it, the easier it gets.
Christa Watson Instagram @christaquilts website/blog: ChristaQuilts.com Click here to join my facebook group: Quilt with Christa
On Thu, Jul 27, 2017 at 10:27 PM, Christa Quilts wrote:
>