If you haven’t played with motifs yet, they are small, single color elements that can be repeated along a line or to fill an object with a pattern. Think of the decorative stitches on any sewing machine and you’ll have a good idea.
The motifs in the in Crazy Quilt library are mostly triple stitched to get a bolder look reminiscent of embroidery floss and are therefore intended for line objects. This doesn’t mean you can’t use them as fills but it will run up your stitch count excessively.
Although I’ve included all the motifs I used in this heart, you may want to create some of your own. Be forewarned, you can become quite addicted to creating motifs!
Some guidelines for making motifs:
• Motifs for fills or runs should be one color for maximum efficiency.
• Turn off auto trims on objects in the motif. They can be added to the line or fill object.
• Motifs can be composed of multiple objects. When later applied to an object, you’ll only see one object in the Resequence docker. When added individually via the Motif Stamp tool, it’s inserted the way it was created.
• Before you go crazy making motifs, make a couple and test them. Watch them in the stitch player and then sew them out.
• To rename or delete individual motifs or categories go to Software Settings Menu > Manage Motifs.
• Keep the names short and develop some sort of key. In the included library, “CQ” is for crazy quilt, “F” for feather, and “Flo” for floral.
Good sources of ideas for motif stitches can be found built in to most any sewing machine. Pinterest is also a great resource if you search “crazy quilt” and “blackwork.” I’ve been making motifs since 1993, so I have quite a stash of them; they just aren’t all “Hatched” yet.