DebJ

I was wondering what is the strangest thing you have ever used to help lay down a line to guide you in quilting the first line in an area?

Tartan

A lot of quilters use masking or painter’s tape to do straight quilting lines. I have been intrigued by the new Frog tape that comes with wave and chevrons but looking at the price, decided I didn’t need it that badly.😂 I’ve used a variety of dishes as templates to draw a chalk lines on a top but now I just use my ruler foot and curved ruler.

petthefabric

With a ruler, I chalk in ~4 lines ~ 4-6 inches apart. About 4 is all I can stitch before the chalk is gone. Having this far apart stableizes the fabrics so they don't shift as much inbetween. Then I stitch the 1/2 line, etc.

Rebecca_S

When I needed several really big circles I traced around a wok lid, a cookie sheet and a hula hoop.

Onebyone

Maybe not weird but different. I bought a four foot and six foot straight edge 2 in wide rules from Lowe's. They are metal and will lay flat on the quilt top. I can mark down both sides and have my starting lines exactly right and straight.

DebJ

The reason I ask this question is I had wanted a somewhat gently waved line to start. So I took a USB cable and laid out what I had in mind pinning in place as I went. I had no intent of all the lines being the same just wanted a jumping-off place to start stitching.

Clueless Quilter

I have the same metal rulers from Lowe's and use them all the time for quilting. I especially love them for measuring vertically and horizontally across my quilt tops in order to figure out what size the borders should be. Just lay the ruler across the quilt, align the end up with the edge of the quilt and it says in place. On a large quilt you can even put them end to end in order to get the correct measurement. Just need to add the 72" and whatever is on the smaller ruler together.

gmcsewer

When I want a really straight line. I pull a thread. Was taught this in 4H years ago.

Carolyn71

That sounds like a great idea! I love Crayola washable markers. I can see using the USB to lay out the design and drawing a line next to it with the marker.

Mdegenhart

I bought a carpenter’s chalk line that I intend to use to “pop” long straight lines, but I have not done it yet.