Quilt in Segments for Smoother Machine Quilting

Share on FacebookPin on PinterestTweet about this on TwitterEmail this to someonePrint this page

It All Starts with Making a Quilting Plan!

Whether you’re planning to do walking foot, free motion quilting, or both, it will go more smoothly if you make a quilting plan before you begin. Not only do you need to decide what the quilting pattern will be, but it also helps a great deal to map out how you’ll move across the quilt.

In an excellent article, Christa Watson explains in detail several ways to create a plan to “divide and conquer” while quilting your quilt. Her process involves breaking the quilting into sections.

Quilt in Segments for Smoother Machine Quilting

According to Christa, if you’ve basted well you can quilt from one edge to the other instead of starting in the middle. Once you get to the center, rotate the quilt 180 degrees so you have less bulk as you continue to the other edge.

Quilt in Segments for Smoother Machine Quilting

Depending on the quilting design, Christa may go over each section several times.

Remember, for each pass across the quilt (ditch, echo, background, blocks) I’m working from the right side of the quilt towards the middle, rotating the quilt, and then working from the middle to the other side of the quilt. I only concentrate on one section of the quilt at a time, and reposition my hands whenever I feel like I’m reaching. By breaking down each step of the quilting plan, the whole process seems much less overwhelming.

You’ll find a lot of great tips and quilting design ideas in Christa’s article for Diary of a Quilter (link below).

Click here for the “How to Plan Your Machine Quilting” article.

 

PLEASE NOTE: Quilting Digest has featured many patterns from vendors participating in the Craftsy Marketplace, most of which have been deleted by Craftsy. It's going to take awhile for us to hunt down new sources for those patterns. In the meantime there are many links to patterns on our site that no longer work. We apologize if this article contains one or more of those links and appreciate your patience while we straighten things out. Thank you!




PLEASE NOTE: Quilting Digest does not sell or otherwise provide patterns directly. We showcase patterns and projects from various vendors, bloggers and other sources. Please make a note of where you access a pattern (the link in the yellow box toward the end of each Quilting Digest article). That way you can contact Support for that source if you have downloading problems or other issues. Thank you!

 

Add a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *