4 Ways to Achieve Straight Lines When Quilting
And One Way to Get Even Spacing Without Marking Every Line!
Straight line machine quilting with the walking foot is a popular method for finishing a quilt. It’s a simple approach that just about any quilter can master and produces pleasing results (see “The Walking Foot is a Quilter’s Best Friend” for tips).
But what’s the best way to mark straight lines for quilting? There are many marking tools out there and it can be a bit overwhelming knowing what to choose.
In the end you’ll need to decide what works best for you, but we found some guidelines to get you started. In the following article, Emily Dennis reviews four ways to mark your quilts (actually, three ways and one without marking).
Some quilters prefer to skip the marking and use their walking foot as a guide. That should work great, right? It can, but beware of “veering”.
In the following video Jacquie Gering discusses her experience and how being off by just a little bit can cause problems when you get to the edges of the quilt.
It can be a challenge to keep the foot in exactly the same spot through the entire length of a line of quilting. Many quilters have a tendency to veer to the right or left. Over the width of a large quilt this can add up so that lines of quilting at the edges are noticeably off.
Jacquie’s solution is to use tape at intervals to guide your eye and allow you to make corrections. This will prevent noticeable veering that adds up to problems. She demonstrates her process in the following video.
Image Source: the photo at the top of the page is from machinequilter.
