About 3 years ago, I decided I needed another hobby to keep me occupied during the day. Not that children, a home, church responsibilities and a new business weren’t keeping me busy- I just wanted something productive and Fun to do when I couldn’t get to a sewing machine.
Enter Modern Calligraphy, something I hadn’t even THOUGHT about doing before that moment. I noticed someone on Instagram post some pretty writing, and I knew that’s what I wanted to try next! I got the book Modern Calligraphy by Molly Suber Thorpe, and started learning with a nib and ink and all the fancy papers!
But soon, my kids discovered my inks and nibs and I had to clean up more stains and spills than I ever want to do again. I had to change something, so I switched to brush pens! Brush pens have a flexible tip, so the skills I learned in my ink and nib days were not wasted. In no time, I was making things to sell on Etsy, and had a great time!
But let’s not forget that my first hobby crush is sewing, and most recently, quilting. With a tight budget, I was doing most of the actual quilting on my own machine, and I can’t say I was thrilled with everything that I did. But, after several months of daily drills with my hand lettering, I noticed an interesting trend- my Free-Motion Quilting was improving drastically! I didn’t notice it right away though…
Since one quilt takes a while, and in that while I can produce 7,542 pages of lettered nonsense and art pieces alike, the difference in my quilting was noticeable literally from one quilt to the next. I couldn’t believe that the quilting had come from little ol’ me and my basic Bernina! That’s not to say it was good enough to win ribbons and quilt shows or anything, but I was so happy with how they were turning out.
I wasn’t quite sure what the difference was yet, but it encouraged me. And so, I kept practicing my lettering. Just like anything, my lettering improved with the practice, with smoother lines and better compositions. And I kept quilting. My favorite quilting to do is an all-over stipple, but I’ve done loops, pebbles, and even some creative quilting with my mini quilts. During one of those quilting sessions, my mind switched to lettering mode for just a moment and I had my “Ah-HA!” moment! My lettering practice was helping me with my quilting!
(Liberty Print available to Newsletter Subscribers)
So, how does lettering help quilting? The two might seem unrelated, but as I can tell you from personal experience, they are so similar! Let me tell you three things they have in common:
First: Curves are Curves.
In lettering or calligraphy, one of my favorite aspects are the curves. The way a Y loops, or a t crosses in a creative, curly way. But curves aren’t easy- in the beginning, my curves had angles sneaking into them. But as I practiced, my curves became more consistent, more smooth, and more beautiful! The same thing happened in my quilting- my loops and meanders had much smoother lines, and looked much more professional.
(Free Pattern coming soon!)
Second: Fill the Space.
A good composition in modern lettering has letters and words swooping in and out of each other, using the taller and shorter letters to fit together like a puzzle. This is probably my weakest area in lettering, since my brain naturally tries to put things in order (I loooove symmetrical lines). But working on fitting lines and curves and swashes all together forced me to think ahead more and to visually plan out a space before attacking it. This is ultra important in quilting too, and seeing where the quilting needs to go before you actually get there helps prevent quilting yourself into a corner! Fitting the curves and loops of stitches into the right spots without looking repetitive (for a meander) and filling a space with custom quilting has been much easier for me.
Third: Take Your Time.
Lettering is a s l o w process, it isn’t like the handwriting you learned in kindergarten, or even 3rd grade cursive. Each letter takes time to write, slowly and steadily, and with concentration. If you rush through a lettering process, you’ll end up with… handwriting. Not that handwriting can’t be lovely, but it just isn’t the same. That principle applies to quilting- if ever I rushed through a quilt just to get it done, the quilting didn’t look as nice, the curves looked hasty and poorly planned, and I didn’t love it as much as I loved those that were quilted with care. Many people might look at my rushed quilts and say, “wow this looks great!” but I know that I had the potential to do it so much better had I taken the time to really think and process what I was doing as I went along.
So, in a nutshell, that’s how learning Hand Lettering (modern calligraphy, modern lettering, brush pen lettering- you get it) helped me improve my free-motion quilting! I know that here on the blog and on Instagram I’m a mish-mash of my hobbies, but I really believe they all blend together as one in the end. It’s surprising what skills can transfer to different areas of life, and I’m so grateful I have both lettering and quilting. This week, I’ll have two more things to share: one is quilt-related, and the other is lettering-related 🙂 You can count on me to always have at least one project from each going on at any given moment! Stay tuned!
2 Comments on How Learning Hand Lettering Improved My Free Motion Quilting