Quilting using straight stitch
12-08-2014, 07:53 AM
#1
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Quilting using straight stitch
Hello everyone. I am quilting my second quilt ever myself and I am going to use a straight stitch pattern. I wanted to create boxes. Any tips on how to do this? I've only ever done continuous long lines. Thanks!!
12-08-2014, 08:33 AM
#3
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Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Southern California
Posts: 19,127
I am not sure what you are referring to. If you just want to quilt a simple square then just use any of your square templates to mark your quilt. Without a photo, it is hard to know what advice to give. I love the look of Cross hatching with are diagonal lines running in both directions.
12-08-2014, 08:46 AM
#4
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Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Tulsa, Ok
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I am actually quilting squares on a simple box in a box quilt right now with my walking foot. (I have not mastered the FMQ skill yet, so just quilt what I can with my walking foot). It is easy, but fairly tedious as it requires LOTS of turning of the entire quilt through the harp space on your sewing machine. I don't know of any other way to do it, perhaps someone else will have a better solution for us! It also requires lots of stops/starts, and since this is just a utility quilt, I am just doing a little backstitch on each start/stop to secure the threads, otherwise there would be LOTS of thread tails to bury by hand and I just don't have that much patience. Here is a photo of the one I am working on. I also am just doing it by sight, not bothering to mark the quilt to get exact spacing, so you will see lots of 'artistic' variances!
[ATTACH=CONFIG]501795[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=CONFIG]501795[/ATTACH]
12-08-2014, 08:50 AM
#5
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Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Corpus Christi, Tx.
Posts: 16,105
I am actually quilting squares on a simple box in a box quilt right now with my walking foot. (I have not mastered the FMQ skill yet, so just quilt what I can with my walking foot). It is easy, but fairly tedious as it requires LOTS of turning of the entire quilt through the harp space on your sewing machine. I don't know of any other way to do it, perhaps someone else will have a better solution for us! It also requires lots of stops/starts, and since this is just a utility quilt, I am just doing a little backstitch on each start/stop to secure the threads, otherwise there would be LOTS of thread tails to bury by hand and I just don't have that much patience. Here is a photo of the one I am working on. I also am just doing it by sight, not bothering to mark the quilt to get exact spacing, so you will see lots of 'artistic' variances!
[ATTACH=CONFIG]501795[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=CONFIG]501795[/ATTACH]
12-08-2014, 08:55 AM
#6
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Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Michigan
Posts: 11,276
OK. I'm going to assume that you are talking about quilting, not piecing, and that you are using a domestic sewing machine, and your last quilt you did straight lines with? without? a walking foot.
If you want to do squares, you have 2 options. If you use a foot, you are going to have to turn the quilt when you get to the corner of the squares. If it's a big quilt, you might have problems. You can FMQ, where you don't turn the quilt, but doing a straight line horizontally is pretty challenging. Also, if you don't figure out a continuous path for your squares, you are going to have to start and stop each box, either with a tie off on your machine or manually tying them. I know this sounds all negative, but it certainly can be done. I did my first quilt this way, it was a queen, I didn't have a tie off on my machine and it took hours to tie & bury all the ends. Turning the quilt in the machine to stitch the squares was also a trip, but I did get it done.
If you want to do squares, you have 2 options. If you use a foot, you are going to have to turn the quilt when you get to the corner of the squares. If it's a big quilt, you might have problems. You can FMQ, where you don't turn the quilt, but doing a straight line horizontally is pretty challenging. Also, if you don't figure out a continuous path for your squares, you are going to have to start and stop each box, either with a tie off on your machine or manually tying them. I know this sounds all negative, but it certainly can be done. I did my first quilt this way, it was a queen, I didn't have a tie off on my machine and it took hours to tie & bury all the ends. Turning the quilt in the machine to stitch the squares was also a trip, but I did get it done.
12-08-2014, 09:35 AM
#7
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Join Date: Jun 2014
Posts: 18
Sorry I wasn't clear. I am doing what Jeanne is doing with her quilt. I have a knot feature on my machine not a tie off feature - maybe the same thing? I think turning would be a huge challnege for me. I'm thinking I might just back stitch to secure the stitches then snip them. I read up to use micro stitches too. I'm going to play around in a sandwhich piece. Thanks for the advice everyone!
12-08-2014, 10:15 AM
#8
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Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Connecticut
Posts: 1,117
To not have to turn the quilt. I would mark each block with dots at the 4 corners in the area I will quilt. I would then do needle down needle up to pull my thread up every time I moved from block to block. I backstitch at every stop and start. I would work from the top or the center down, depending on the size of the quilt. I would do this to the right then the left.. I would turn the quilt and repeat the design. I also would use painters tape or a machine quilting ruler to follow straight lines. I have quilted with both and found it much easier to follow. Have fun. Good luck. Luann
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