Line Quilting

Quilting is the sewing that holds the quilt top, batting and backing together.

There are a thousand ways to quilt, and millions of different patterns or motifs that can be used.  This post contains affiliate links which means that if you shop through the link, it doesn’t cost you any extra but that I may earn a commission.

Learning to free motion quilt (squiggles and things) is one of my goals this year, but what I am teaching in this post, is quilting in a straight line, which can be done on a machine at home.  If you can sew a straight line (or, as you can see, even a mostly straight line) you can quilt a quilt of any size at home.

Following the seams of the quilt blocks, stitching so that the thread “disappears” into the seams, is called Stitch in the Ditch, and while not exciting, it is functional.  It doesn’t add any dimension to the quilt, but it does keep all the pieces in place.

Some quilters start on the right hand side, because they don’t want anything rolled up in the throat of their machine (the open space to the right of the needle) that isn’t completed.

I choose to start in the middle and work to the right, because that gets the bulkiest roll of fabric through the throat first, and each subsequent line is easier, because less is rolled up in the throat.

I roll the right side of my quilt, and start at the top, sewing parallel to the roll.  This quilt didn’t have a border, so I was able to sew edge to edge.  I set my machine to the longest stitch length possible, start at the top, and sew all the way down to the bottom.

Then I trim the thread, unroll the right hand side to the next seam, and repeat.

I work from the center all the way to the right, unrolling as I go.

Then I rotate the quilt 180*, roll up the unquilted side (although it is still on my right) and repeat, until all the seams on that side are quilted too.

Then, I rotate the quilt 90*, roll up the right side, and quilt each seam, so that the quilt is quilted on both the vertical and horizontal lines.  Keep an eye on the back of the quilt, all lines up to this point have been parallel to each other, but now you are going to be crossing over previous seams.  This is the most likely place you will run into puckering, leaving a little fold of fabric right as you cross a seam.

Taking your time during the basting process, making sure that it’s tacked down thoroughly, and that all wrinkles are smoothed out is going to be the most effective solution to the puckering problem.  Prevent it before it happens, rather than trying to fix it after.

Quilts are handmade, so they are going to have more puckers than something that is mass produced on a machine.  It’s part of their charm.  But I’ve found spray basting to be the most effective way to avoid them all together.

Because this quilt was so big and had so many little pieces, I also quilted diagonally, from corner to corner, but only on the diagonals that were made of 16 patch blocks, not the diagonals that were made of triangle blocks.  I didn’t want the quilting to take away from the pattern the blocks made, so I only did every other diagonal.

Quilting on the diagonal is a little harder than in the ditch, because you aren’t following a line, so it’s a little harder to make sure your line is straight.  I can’t draw a straight line to save my life.  If you can, diagonal quilting isn’t any harder than stitch in the ditch.  If, on the other hand, you are like me, there are a couple of tips to help.

My little squares making up the 16 patch were only 2 inches finished size. I could see from one corner to the next quite easily, so eye-balling a straight line wasn’t too hard.

They also make fabric pens and fabric chalk, and you can use the rotary ruler to draw a perfectly straight line.  Then, sew along the line, and after you are done, it will wash right out.

Now, you are ready for binding and then your quilt will be done!

I’ve already written a binding tutorial, but of course I have to redo it so the photos match the rest of the big blue quilt on the basics page.

Here is the original tutorial.

Here is part one of the new tutorial, making the binding.

Here is part two of the new tutorial, attaching the binding to the quilt.