Choosing a Machine Quilting Design: 9 Tips to Inspire You
“How should I quilt this?” It is the question most quilters have asked. And when it comes to choosing a machine quilting design, there is no one right answer. If you asked ten quilters to make the same quilt and quilt it any way they chose, would any two quilt it the same way? What would each quilter choose? And what can we learn from seeing the same quilt finished different ways? Look at this humble 16-patch block as we delve into tips for choosing a machine quilting design.
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Our Top 9 Tips for Choosing a Machine Quilting Design
1
The quilter who stitched in the ditch around the edge of each block could say, “The quilting is not the most important part of this quilt. I just wanted to hold the three layers together.” That is a perfect story for any quilt to tell because any finished quilt is ABSOLUTELY PERFECT!
Pro Tip: If you want to stitch in the ditch along the edges of your blocks, use a walking foot.
2
This adventurous quilter followed her bliss, “I put on my walking foot, chose a fun decorative thread, and followed a tutorial about how to machine quilt a spiral on my quilt. It’s now my favorite design!”
Pro Tip: A left-side seam guide for your walking foot makes this spiral a breeze!
3
Attempting to weave extra texture into their machine quilting, this quilter explains, “I was trying to give the appearance of different color warp and weft threads in the quilting, so I chose two different colors of thread and ‘wove’ them together while I stitched the long lines. I wanted to play with my machine’s decorative stitches, so I used a serpentine stitch.”
Pro Tip: If you plan on switching thread colors between stitching, choose a neutral bobbin color so you only have to change the top thread.
4
Getting the job done, this quilter describes, “I didn’t have much time to machine quilt this quilt, so I chose to free-motion stitch swirls over the entire quilt. I didn’t start and stop at each block; the design simply flowed over the quilt. It was fast and pretty easy.”
Pro Tip: When machine quilting all over a quilt on your home sewing machine, divide it into long vertical sections. Stitch the middle section first and then work your way toward each edge.
5
An adventurous quilter experiments with a new pattern, “I’m pretty comfortable with free-motion quilting and wanted to try something different. I looked at the designs in the printed fabric and attempted to make a free-motion quilting design that looked like one of the flowers. I stitched that design over the entire quilt and was pretty good at it by the time I finished the quilt!”
Pro Tip: Practice really does help. If you are timid about trying a new design, practice on a charity quilt or a quilt with lots of busy fabrics where the quilting won’t show.
6
The quilter who made this happy quilt might mention, “I used wool batting in this quilt because I knew the loft would help the quilting to show up well on the light-colored yellow fabrics. I decided to stitch continuous curve from edge to edge of each pieced square to allow the ‘quilted versus unquilted’ contrast to shine through!”
Pro Tip: When stitching continuous curve, pause at every point. It makes the corners of the design POP!
7
A timid machine quilter might apologize, “I’m not very good at free-motion quilting, but I can follow stencils fairly well. I found a pretty stencil, marked it on my quilt, stitched each flower and free-motion quilted between them.”
Pro Tip: When following a stencil, don’t look at the needle; look ahead and stitch toward a future spot. Stencils are a great way to train yourself for free-motion quilting.
8
A beginner free-motion quilter might proudly boast, “I have trouble moving all around the quilt in a meander design, but free-motion quilting designs stitched in lines are much easier for me! I used the seam lines as guides and stitched line after line of snowflakes/stars on my quilt. It’s finished and I LOVE IT!”
Pro Tip: If you don’t have seam lines to guide your quilting into columns, use chalk or a marker to draw them in.
9
“I’ve seen so many demonstrations on how to use rulers when machine quilting,” this quilter could say. “I thought orange peel would be a fun design to try on this quilt since I can stitch a quarter-circle in each block. It was slower than free-motion quilting and it’s not perfect, but I’ll definitely do this again!”
Pro Tip: When using rulers, make sure you have the proper ruler foot for your machine as well as the right height rulers for your machine. Then use a lot of ruler grip on the ruler so that you can use it to push the quilt.
10
Finally, remember: if you want your quilting to stand out, use light fabric, a batting with some loft, and a slightly darker shade of thread. Your quilting will POP!
Did you notice how different each block looked when it was quilted differently? And that they all looked great? These ten ideas were just some of the “right ways” to quilt the block. The only wrong way to quilt this would to have bled on the quilt whilst quilting. Don’t do that. For more tips on choosing a machine quilting design and finishing your quilts, check out our Quilt Finishing Technique & Resource Library. And be sure to share your creations with us on Facebook and Instagram!
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