Doodle Quilting: Over 120 Continuous-Line Machine-Quilting Designs

Doodle Quilting has no photos of finished samples except for the cover and 3 or 4 pages of doodle ensembles inside the book; it is 99% black-and-white line drawings with supplemental text. So why would I rate it 5 out of 5 stars? And what sets Cheryl Malkowski's new book Doodle Quilting apart from all the other free-form quilting books out there? Words. And this is a welcome addition for quilters like me who are left-brainers who benefit from being TOLD - not just SHOWN - how to do something. I like that each drawing has a "think" subtitle, giving the quilter a type of mantra to murmur (or mutter, that happens too) as the fabric (or long-arm) is moved. Some of these are not super-sophisticated ("spiral in, spiral out"), but this verbiage can help unlock those frozen arms or help a newbie break out of the basic meander mode. Right-brain (or visual) quilters will most certainly pick up a few tips and flourishes from the many black-and-white line drawings here, even if they don't read the text. But I encourage them to read every word here, because none of them are wasted. (By the way, if you are looking for a book with lots of full-color photos of samples, check out Leah Day's 365 Free Motion Quilting Designs .) My favorite section is the "Ensembles" chapter where doodles get combined together, creating the unique and attractive design featured on the cover. This is a superb way to practice, practice, practice and at the same time create a one-of-a-kind all-over whole-cloth quilt. Right-brain or left-brain, Doodle Quilting was a no-brainer for me and it was on my wish-list as soon as I saw it was in the works. It works for me because Malkowski gives life to both pictures and words in an encouraging and truly helpful manner.

You have to know the alphabet before you can write words. You have to be able to draw before you can create a complex design. This book teaches you how to draw the simple building block patterns of free-motion quilting designs and then combine them into progressively more complex units. The author recommends tracing the patterns. I traced over the patterns with a blunt stylus then practiced the patterns on a small, 8x10" whiteboard I bought at a local office supply store. I doodled off and on, a few minutes at a time, every evening while watching TV. I found even the simplest forms extremely difficult at the beginning (zero experience drawing) but suddenly, after a month, I realized I was drawing the early forms easily and consistently. I'm still doodling on my whiteboard in the evenings, but I'm becoming more comfortable with the forms and enjoying combining them into my own designs. And, when I look at complex forms on free-motion quilts, I'm not overwhelmed by the complexity because I can break the design apart into its component forms and see how it was constructed. I've watched a lot of YouTube videos and read several books, but this is the best learning tool I've encountered because it starts with the design alphabet of free motion quilting..

I have two quilts that need to be quilted. I came across this book on a Blog that I follow. I ordered it immediately. I use my Pfaff sewing machine for all of my quilting, not a longarm. I like the idea of tracing and then drawing out the designs. I found that by the time I was ready to practice on fabric, it was a very easy transition and didn't require as much practice there as I expected. I used my variation on one of the designs in the book to quilt the sashing in one of my quilts. It was easy and turned out exactly the way I envisioned. I would definitely recommend this book. It has great ideas for background and filler designs.

Just downloaded the Kindle edition of this book to my iPad 2 the other day. Since it claimed most of the book was instructional text and black and white line drawings-- figured I would not be disappointed. It downloaded easily to my iPad and I have already read some of the instructions -- which really make a lot of sense. Since I do not have a printer attached to my iPad, I just traced my finger over the quilting patterns and think that may work fine to get my fingers going in the right direction. If I want to try the pencil grip -- I could use a little bamboo drawing tool that works well on the iPad. I haven't tried to download the book to my computer yet. If that works, I could print out the designs too. Also-- I have good reader as an app. It will let you write and draw on PdF files. Don't know if this will download into Good Reader or not. Has anyone tried this? But all, in all, this is a very helpful book as a primer to simple free motion quilting. I really like the instructions to train your motor skills and I like the way she has you combine simple designs to make more complex designs. I'm sure I'll be able to quilt many of these designs :) It was really nice to be able to download this book immediately and to have it in this portable format :)

I am a long arm quilter and enjoy free motion quilting. Cheryl's descriptions and instructions are clear and make sense. I have slot of quilts I can practice on. Thanks for this concise, clear and adventurous book.🙂 '

What a wonderful little book of ideas! This book has helped me a lot with my free motion quilting motifs. Sometimes I get stuck with what I want to do on my quilts and this just bump starts me.

fun and inspsirational

This book is full of cute designs and easy to execute designs. Continuous line means you don't have to stop and break the thread when you are quilting. Continuous line designs make quilting faster and easier. It's also fun the draw the patterns on paper.

I like that this book gives guidelines on what to think when doing a certain pattern. Guidelines like up, and over reinforce the rhythm of the particular design and really assisted me when I was practicing. I highly recommend this book for the ease of learning complicated free motion quilting patterns. I was really impressed with my quilting after working on these patterns.

Ce livre est une bible pour le quilting machine. Pour les débutantes mais aussi pour celles qui ont envie de s'améliorer et trouver des motifs originaux. De très bons conseils.

So clever. This is like Zen Doddle for quilters. Cheryl Malowski - the author - builds 'your' drawing and quilting skills - for all the basic shapes that quilting designs are based on - through really neat diagrams that you simply follow and practice. My confidence has soared and I have quickly reached the standard to actually copy the syle/design used on the book cover....on a domestic sewing machine. Loops, Ferns, Roses, Leaves, Geometric shapes - they are all covered in a continuos line format. I've got to repeat this...I do not have a professional type quilting machine...just my ordinary domestic sewing machine ... the results, even on a double quilt were just thrilling. There are dozens of continuos-line courses and books out there. Certainly start with this one.

Ich habe mir dieses Buch eigentlich nicht gekauft, um für einen Quilt das Quiltingmuster zu entwerfen, sondern um für Doodlestitching interessante Anregungen, Vorlagen und Vorgehensweisen zu haben. Sehr schön sind die Hinführungen zu den einzelnen Mustern mit Anleitungen zum Zeichnen: vom Warmzeichnen bis zur Vollendung der Vorlagen und Erweiterungen. Von ganz einfach zu komplex. Quilterinnen und Quilter werden das Buch sicherlich aus einer anderen Perspektive bewerten. Für mich ist es genau das richtige

Great doodle workbook. Was exactly what I hoped it would be. Easy to trace or copy designs. Great for reinforcing your muscle memory or for creating your own templates.