As I began to wonder if I had missed a step, by not starting with Patsy's Volume 0.5 DVD, I decided that I really should check it out. And, of course, I wanted to share insights with you!
Fast and Free! The Beginner's Guide to Fast & Easty Free-Motion Machine Quilting! Volume 0.5, by Patsy Thompson is an excellent DVD for those interested in learning FMQ. It is also a good DVD for seasoned free-motion machine quilters who may be looking for some new design ideas for stitching quilting motifs, using Patsy's techniques and not having to pre-mark your quilt.
This DVD starts off with discussing the basics of free motion quilting, sharing insights on supplies, machine tension, sandwiching your quilt, etc..
Insights are also shared on various families of FMQ designs from Loop d Loop, Lines & Angles, and many others, where each family has a number of fun and easy to use designs.
Overall, there are 18 different quilting designs covered in this video, plus lots of inspiration and insights for additional spin-off designs. With each design, Patsy shows you a how to create it, step-by-step.
The DVD ends with a detailed lesson in how to convert your closed toe free motion quilting foot to an open toe foot, which is a very helpful tip.
Designs shared in this video are suitable for traditional quilts, contemporary quilts, and art quilts.
Skill level is for a Beginner quilter, but intermediate & advanced FMQ quilters may also benefit from this DVD, particularly if they are interested in learning more FMQ designs.
In checking Patsy's website, I noticed that "Fast and Free! Volume 1" is no longer available, but that "Fast and Free! Volume 0.5" covers the same material as in Volume 1, in an updated style.
Patsy also has a short video introduction to Fast and Free! Volume 0.5 on her site. I hope you get a chance to watch that video, as well as other free videos that she has on her site as well as those on youtube. I think if you are interested in learning FMQ, or improving your FMQ skills, you'll definitely enjoy this DVD, by Patsy, as well as her other DVDs too. I know I am!
And don't forget that Patsy also has a collection of free designs that you can download from her site. These are also well organized to correspond with her various DVDs, making these download excellent companion tools for her DVDs too.
Patsy also shared with me that there is a different learning style for "lefties" vs "righties" and that some free-motion quilting designs are easier for lefties to learn to stitch out when they see a design that has been printed in a mirror-image format. While Patsy has added various FMQ designs in mirror image format, to her website, I also want to heighten awareness that many printers will allow us to print on demand using a mirror image feature. For my HP printer, I simply click on Print, printer, Properties and click on the "Advanced" tab. The default is for the mirror image feature to be set in the "off" position, but if I want to print a FMQ design, letters, or anything else in mirror image format, I simply click on the mirror image option in the advanced printer options tab and print with mirror image option enabled.
I'm confident you'll be amazed how much you can learn thru Patsy's DVDs. SewCalGal definitely recommends them to anyone wanting to learn FMQ or improve their FMQ skills.
14 comments:
This sounds like a "must have". I would love to get more confident with FMQ and I know it's all about practice practice practice, but any tips or advice from those seasoned quilters like Patsy is always so valuable. Thanks Darlene.
I just love Patsy and her DVDs I have a few and love them.
I can't wait. I signed up for one of her classes next month. Squee! I love to FMQ and I'm always looking for instruction. might have to think about this video for my library.
I have 3 or 4 of her DVD's and love them all. I use many of these patterns in my quilting. While she does all of her quilting on a sit down machine, it is easy to adapt her techniques to a long or short arm machine. I highly recommend her DVD's to everyone! She goes slowly enough and is a great teacher! I'm still practicing the feathers :)
That sounds like an amazing resource...I could use all the tips I can get! By the way, I signed up for swagbucks on your tip, and am on my way to earning. I'll be receiving my (free) go! baby this week and starting to work on my tutorials! After wanting one for so long, to have them choose me for a blogging giveaway is a dream come true! And now, I can save up points for dies! Thanks, Darlene!
I can't believe how lovely the quilting looks in your photos. Patsy sounds like a great resource.
~ Kimberlee at The Spunky Diva
I'm getting this dvd. I'm determined to improve. Thanks for the info.
I think I NEED this.
I really enjoy Patsy's great blog and freemotion quilting designs! That was interesting what you said about left or handed learning styles, I am left-handed and some designs are easy and some seem hard.....now I know why!
I really love Patsy's DVD's. I think I only have two, but they are very instructional and helpful. Patsy does very beautiful quilting.
Patsy's free videos on her site are great so I can only imagine the info on her DVDs. I am thrilled to see her use the basting spray and demonstrate it step by step. I plan to order some and give it a try.
Thank you for sharing!!! I am very excited to go take a look see!
Wow - I am a lefty and do know that some designs are hard to do but never thought of flipping them. Being a lefty you get used to doing things a little different but never thought of quilting designs. Thanks for the heads up and I will be looking into the DVDs. I have looked at her website and downloaded her free designs sometime ago but will have to take another look now.
Patsy Thompson is my hero! The samples look good!
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