Stardust Quilt-along: Ribbon Candy

Hi everyone! I’m BERNINA Expert Amanda Murphy and, as part of the Stardust Quilt-along (and all things quilting of course), I thought I’d drop in to WeAllSew to give you quilting tips about quilting ribbon candy!

Stardust Quilt-along Schedule

Stardust Quilt-along: Preview

Stardust Quilt-along: Part I 

Stardust Quilt-along: Ribbon Candy

Stardust Quilt-along: Piecing Tips and Tricks

I’ve prepared a little video for you to watch detailing the process.

When we look at ribbon candy, our eyes play tricks on us. We see curves . . . LOTS of curves, but in reality the shapes that comprise ribbon candy are really simple. They consist of half-circles connected with diagonal lines—that is it!

So quilt a half a circle at the bottom of the quilting area, and then think about quilting a line at a slight diagonal up to the top, where you’ll quilt another half circle.  Then quilt a line at a slight diagonal back down to the bottom, so that you ALMOST touch the preceding design you quilted there.  And continue . . .  Think about quilting around the half of a dime or nickel, or quarter, to keep your size consistent.

How to quilt ribbon candy tutorial

You can make the half circles touch or quilt them just a bit apart, as I did here. I prefer to leave them a little open because if I’m a little off it is less noticeable.

But when we start anticipating a really curvy line, instead of traveling in a more straight line on a diagonal, this happens.

Ribbon Candy tutorial

So the key is simplifying the shapes in your head . . . think half-a-circle DOWN half-a-circle UP and so on, until you fill the border.

Ribbon Candy tutorial

I hope everyone is getting excited and gathering their fabric for Stardust. If you missed the first post you can find it here. I’ll be back here on October 2nd, showing you how to pinwheel seams for a really flat finish! Even if you don’t plan to quilt Stardust, I hope these tutorials help you in your own piecing!

Stardust Quilt-along Preview

Happy quilting!

Amanda

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