What do you do when you can't draw?

September 26, 2019 2 Comments

I recently received this question from a lady doing Free-Motion Mastery in a Month:

"What do you do when you can't draw?
My hand shakes and my lines are all squiggly, never nice and smooth.
Is there anything I can do?"

It was a really good question, so I'm sharing here the suggestions I gave her for getting smooth lines when you draw.

Draw on the FMM30 Tracing Sheets

Practice the pattern first on the Tracing Sheet using the dry-erase marker, then go to the sketchbook and draw with the pencil. Having a guide to help learn the pattern can help you relax.

Use your full hand or your arm

Make drawing motions from the wrist or the elbow (for large lines). Take a look at pages 126-127 of the Free-Motion Mastery in a Month book, as well as the image above, to get a look at what I'm talking about.

Move faster

Drawing and quilting are like riding a bike: move too slow and you wobble. Try to move a bit faster in a smooth, flowing motion and you will see your lines smooth out.

Happy Quilting! ~ RaNae :)

2 Responses

Jan Hair

December 12, 2019

Thank you. I have that issue also and appreciate the suggestion.

Ann

October 02, 2019

Thank you so much, I’m of to try it out now.