I'm a big Fan......

of fan quilting!

As you all know, I designed and manufactured a large fan stencil because I couldn't find one on the market that was the large size I wanted.  I made my own for this quilt.
I was asked by my friend, Sheila, to do a tutorial on how to mark a quilt with this stencil.

Let's pretend this cardboard is a wonderful quilt top.
 I line up the stencil with the bottom and right side.
 I mark the first section, then the second section.
 Here is how it should look.
Then I move on to the third fan, lining up the first section of the stencil with the already marked whole fan.
 And viola'
See how the stencil now dips into the previous fans?  You'll want to take care to end your marking lines where the fan below is.  I highly recommend that you mark the bottom while you are noticing.  It is very easy to forget and mark past the previous fan - Sheila ;)
 Once that fan is marked, move the stencil over and add the next fan.
Keep moving along right to left and bottom to top.  Of course you can mark them any way you wish, but this is a good basic fan placement design.

Here is how it looks when you are finished.
I used different sharpie markers to make this tutorial.  I did the big stitch on my Hex Vex quilt using different colored pearl cotton for each fan.

I machine quilted the design on this quilt that I made for Susan McD.
I quilted all the fans, then I went back and did another blade in each area by eye-balling it.  Perfectly - imperfect.
Here is a photo that I found of an old quilt.  The fans are colliding in the middle after being started on opposite sides of the quilt.  I would like to do one this way!
I offer my stencil at my Etsy shop, see button on the right sidebar.  Do you think this was helpful?   I think I'll make a page tab at the top for easy reference.

I'll be back next week to announce the block swap colors, size, etc.  Here is a very big hint!

Happy Friday!