In this one-hour course Karen McTavish teaches the "McTavishing" quilting technique she created. McTavishing is a free-motion background fill quilting technique that features free-flowing lines and shapes. It adds motion and texture to quilts. McTavishing is an alternative to stippling.

You can add McTavishing to any quilt or garment, from wholecloth to contemporary art quilts. The technique works with a longarm or domestic machine, or even with hand quilting.

Much of this course material was originally published as a companion DVD to the “Mastering the Art of McTavishing, 2nd Edition,” a print book published in 2014 in collaboration with On-Word Bound Books. That book, which sold 89,000 copies, is out of print and unavailable.

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about mctavishing
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Influenced by her experience with continuous line drawing, Karen McTavish created the McTavishing technique inspired by the flowing, organic line style in the drawings of Art Nouveau artist Alphonse Mucha. The effect was electric on the quilting community and in judged competition.

“I enjoy the freedom of the meandering lines and the ebb and flow of McTavishing,” says Karen. “The technique gives me the ability to travel all over the quilt without stopping and tying off. I enjoy backtracking and it feels good to cheat a little, quilting without stops and sneaking around the quilt to get to the next open space that needs quilting.”

Even if you are new to this type of hand-guided free-motion quilting, this course is a great place to start. You'll see how to improvise as you work, and how to develop your own approach and adaptations.
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what you learn
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The course teaches the free-motion McTavishing quilting technique on longarm and domestic machines.

You start by drawing on paper. You see how to fill a square block with McTavishing and how to draw “scroll McTavishing” in a triangle.

Karen demonstrates how to perform McTavishing on a longarm machine. You see Karen's approach for adding curved registration lines and background fill.

Joined by domestic quilter Dawn Cavanaugh, Karen shows how to perform McTavishing on a domestic machine. You see how to make in-the-moment decisions as you work.

You see a demonstration of filling an appliqué block with McTavishing.

You see a demonstration of McTavishing on a modern quilt.

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related footage
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See also the “slow train series: mctavishing” video. This unnarrated video is an extended close-up look as Karen applies McTavishing to traditional, appliqué, and modern quilt blocks. You can see the rhythm of the work and study Karen’s approach.

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video contents
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Drawing practice
* Drawing McTavishing in a blank block
* Drawing scroll McTavishing in an on-point triangle

Basic McTavishing

With Dawn Cavanaugh, McTavishing on a sit-down (domestic) machine

McTavishing an appliqué block

McTavishing a modern quilt

Plus a bonus unnarrated video that gives you an extended opportunity to watch close-up work of Karen McTavish performing mctavishing on the longarm

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notes about the video
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Much of this material was originally published as a companion DVD to the “Mastering the Art of McTavishing, 2nd Edition,” a print book published in 2014. That the book is out of print and unavailable.

The video says you can look in the book to find information about Susan DuLaney’s website. No book accompanies this video. The current place to find Susan’s patterns is by searching for “Susan DuLaney Design” on Etsy.com.

The video refers to the Bobbin Central website. You can now find those products at www.habanddash.com.

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more courses by karen mctavish
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Shop our courses and learn more about Karen at mctavish quilting studio (https://www.mctavishquilting.com).

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acknowledgements
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We extend appreciation and acknowledgement to all the quilters and others who gave permission to use their work in this project:

Dawn Cavanaugh (https://dawncavanaugh.com/)

Original footage and production: David Devere & Sara Duke
Additional video production & sound: Kathy McTavish (https://www.mctavish.io/)
Educational design & captioning: Valerie Stoehr
Opening sound by free dissonance (Mags David, voice & Kathy McTavish, cello)
Opening image by Wolfskull Creative (http://www.wolfskullcreative.com/)