Straight Line Quilting

Quilting Thoughts

Groundwork

1. Experiment with Stitch Length. On a piece of scrap fabric try out some longer stitch lengths. I used 3.5 on my machine and loved the look.

2. Try out a few different colors on your hotpad, or quilt. Stitch some samples using those colors and it will give you some new ideas to consider. It's your choice.

3. Square and trim your hotpad top to 10½".

4. Stack your quilt sandwich. The top layer will be your finished work, the center will consist of batting (and possibly Insul-Brite if you're creating a hotpad), and the bottom layer will be your backing (right side facing down).

5. Pin your quilt sandwich lightly so the fabric won't shift.

6. Check the front and back for puckers or folds that shouldn't be there.

Stitching it out

1. Decide what kinds of lines you want. Do you want consistently spaced lines across the top? or a pattern?

2. If you mark the sewing lines, you can use an air soluble pen if you like. I did not use a marker but used the spacing provided by an extra wide walking foot and just walked my way across. At the start of each new row I would check to see if my lines were roughly the right distance apart.

3. Start sewing at one corner, directly across the middle to the other corner. I tried to hit all of the points that were in between on this pattern.

4. Work your way across the hot pad from the center out until you get to the outer corner. Turn your hotpad so you are positioned to quilt from the center out going in the opposite direction. Finish your straight lines.

5. Quilting always results in shrinkage. Don't be alarmed if your square is not perfectly square at this point.

6. If you have a 10½" square ruler, do your best to center it on the square and carefully trim off any extra material. There will be small slivers of batting and backing to trim.

7. You are ready to sew your binding on.