DO! DON’T!
Notes:
47
FREE MOTION - ANATOMY OF THE DESIGN
In a free motion design, we want the stitches to stand out.
With the simple designs and low stitch counts common to this
technique, that can be easier said than done.
When choosing your fabric, look for a solid or tonal print.
Then pick a thread color that contrasts, and now your free
motion design is ready to shine. The design will swirl the
pattern across your fabric, creating a winding image that will
unite with other adjacent free motion blocks.
Keep in mind the simplicity of the stitches when considering
a complex fabric print. Even when using a light colored but
busy print fabric and a high contrast thread, the thin path of
a free motion design may get lost over different parts of the
print, or can even disappear completely.
If you do want to attempt a patterned fabric for your free
motion design, it may be a good idea to run a test block first
to determine how the end results will look.