Free Motion Quilting Video: McTavishing Fun

I set out to work on my McTavishing and learn more about my camera and video making and created two free motion quilting videos. One is more educational, so I'll post it first. The second turned out to be more entertaining and is near the bottom of this post. (I don't get out much....)


 I quilted a large feather and then began to McTavish all around it. There are 3 basic types of line styles with McTavishing: curve to a point (bounce), curve to a backtrack, and the "C" filler.

Free Motion Quilting Tip for McTavishing

Be consistent within a set of curve ends as to whether you are bouncing or backtracking.

free motion quilting McTavishing

I had fun trying to increase the speed of my quilting as I McTavished. I am normally a pretty slow quilter, but I also have a ton of projects that I want to get DONE!


Not too shabby. I chose a peach thread on white fabric so that you could still see it, but the reduced amount of contrast might hide some of my mistakes.

free motion quilting McTavishing detail

No doubt about it, when quilting on a sewing machine, our eyes are maybe 10-12 inches from our stitching and that can make us crazy, worrying about every little backtrack, bobble, and bump!

Now for some fun! I really sped up my quilting for this video! Wheeeeee!


It's the weekend and time for me to get some serious quilting time! So glad that my hubby's out-of-town work project is done. I missed the poor guy.

Hope you get to quilting too!

20 comments:

  1. Awesome post!!! Really enjoyed your "high speed" tute!!!! LOL! McTavishing relies on density contrast for impact and the more open feather work up against the McTavishing looks great!!! I know I'm enjoying this a lot!!!! Very relaxing! Although some speed is necessary for smoothness, excessive speed may cause a body to miss the "meet up" points. Love your blog!!!!!! Hugs..................

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    1. Thanks! The high speed time lapse was fun to watch. Maybe I’ll do another sometime, now that I know how it works. Maybe a nice feathered swag at my normal slow speed and shot in the time lapse would yield a good result. I have found that with enough practice, I can do the short backtrackings between lines without slowing down. But longer runs are best done slowly!

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  2. I think your quilting looks great. I'm going to try McTavishing next to a feather! I think it looks wonderful together! Thanks for you tutorials and videos! Fun to watch!!

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    1. Thanks Rosemary! You should take a look at some of the feather videos Karen has on Youtube. (Mine aren’t half bad either. Lol)

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  3. Fantastic Amy!! I will try more of this...have to make time for it. I so enjoyed the first try that I linked up to your post. I loved this video so much!! And the high speed version was a real laugh....I could just see me in panic mode!!!! lol

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    1. Thanks so much. I hope you get some time to stitch. If I had known how fast that video was going to go, I would have taken my sweet time!

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  4. your quilting is just so smooth and consistent - great work! I laughed out loud at the high speed version - could just feel the pressure building to get 'er done!

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    1. Oh, the kids and even the hubby thought that video was a real hoot! If only I actually could quilt that fast.

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  5. Love it! I'm taking a clue too from Karen that low contrasting thread is better on your ego lol!

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    1. Definitely! When I use such high contrasting threads for the videos, it’s hard for me to think it’s good enough to even post. But matching thread does wonders!

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  6. Amy, thank you so much for giving all this information for free. You are an inspiration and I've learned a lot from your posts and your videos.

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    1. You are quite welcome! It's fun to share my quilting adventures!

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  7. I really enjoy your videos it really helps me to follow your quilting path though there is no way I'll be doing it at the speed of your last video lol.

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    1. Goodness, I can’t quilt that fast either, but it was pretty entertaining. Maybe if I stitch slow and shoot in time lapse, I might be able to show bigger quilting areas, like borders and feathers. “They” say that folks on Youtube want short videos afterall…..

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  8. that was fun, are you channelling Scharon Schamber as well as Karen Mc T ?

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    1. It’s possible, but I think it has more to do with wishing I could get more done in a day!

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  9. You do such a great job of showing us how to do it and your quilting it wonderful.

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  10. Amy - thanks once again for yet another very instructive video and post. And thanks for the high speed video - it was a good laugh!

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    1. You're quite welcome! The speed quilting video still makes me laugh.

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