Tutorial-Swirling Stars

This is a great way to embellish any patriotic quilt, but it also looks great on summer quilts, sailboat quilts, boys quilts, military-inspired quilts….I’m sure you can find a spot on ANY quilt for this motif.  So let’s get started…

Draw three lines to serve as “rails”–just guidelines to keep things tidy.  In the sample below, the rails are one inch apart.  Stitch a spiral with a long tail.  In the sample below, the tails are two inches long.   (See the spiral tutorials HERE and HERE.)

From heavy paper or tag board, cut out a small star.  (Draw one, print one, or look for a stencil.)

I found this stencil at JoAnn Fabrics.

Use the stencil or the cutout to draw a star around each spiral.  If using a paper pattern, remove the center of the star for more accurate placement.

Place one point of the star nearly on the center rail and as close to the tail of the spiral as possible.

Once the stars are drawn around each spiral, begin stitching again.

The stars are completed in two more passes--the right side of the star and then the left side of the star.  I usually start from the bottom and work up for both passes.

There’s just one trick when stitching the stars–Do not cross the spiral or it’s tail! This keeps the star neat–not thready!

Begin and end each pass with a little spiral to hide your knots and to add a little more “swirl” to the stars.

Once you have completed the right side of the star, stitch the left side of the star.  Again, do not cross the spiral or the tail…

The stars are complete and they look great!

If you want to “Lori-ize” them  (I can never leave a motif unembellished…)–Add a row of echo quilting with a few more swirls on each side of the star…

There you have it–a Twirling Tuesday Tutorial–The Swirling Stars!

Feel free to Pin and re-blog this post with attribution to The Inbox Jaunt.  (All tutorials and photos are property of The Inbox Jaunt and are intended for personal use only!)

http://theinboxjaunt.com/2013/07/02/tuesday-tutorial-swirling-stars/