All over quilting is a machine quilting style where a single design is stitched edge to edge across the entire quilt, ignoring the piecing and applique underneath.
It is the fastest and most beginner-friendly way to finish a quilt, and it works on any machine — a home sewing machine, a sit-down longarm, or a longarm mounted on a quilting frame. Below you'll find 21 of my favorite all over quilting designs, each with a free video tutorial you can watch right here on this page.
Click any video to play it without leaving the page. Many of these designs are quilted with free motion, a few are quilted with easy walking foot quilting. All of these videos were filmed between 2009 and 2025 on a wide range of home machines and longarms. Enjoy and please share this page with your quilting friends!
Stippling on a Hoop Frame
Stippling is the classic all over design — a meandering line that never crosses itself, and it's the design I tell every beginner to start with because it hides wobbles and covers a quilt fast. In this video I'm quilting my very first quilt on a Q-Zone Hoop frame, so you can see just how forgiving stippling is while you're learning to run a machine on a frame.
Paisley
Paisley is an all over design of clustering teardrop shapes and it's one of the most versatile designs you can learn. In this Ultimate Quilting Tutorial I stitch it on both a regular sewing machine and a longarm on a frame so you can see how the same design works on either setup.
Checkerboard
Checkerboard is a simple straight-line design you can quilt quickly using the Checkerboard Paper Stencil — you stitch right through the paper and your quilt at the same time. This short video shows the design on both a home sewing machine and a longarm on a frame, and it's so simple I let the machines do the talking with no narration.
Super Spiral
Super Spiral fills your quilt with big, satisfying swirls that work beautifully as an all over design. In this tutorial I quilt it with a walking foot on my home machine, then switch to a longarm on a frame halfway through, so you can see how the same spiral translates from one machine setup to the other.
Butterfly Wings
Butterfly Wings is a beginner-friendly all over design of soft, overlapping wing shapes that add pretty movement to any quilt. I stitch it here on two setups — a home machine stationary in a sewing table and a longarm on a frame — so you can follow along on whichever machine you own.
Grapevine
Grapevine is an easy all over design that combines wandering stippling lines with little clusters of pebbles, and it's a favorite of mine for beginners because it's fast and forgiving. This tutorial shows it quilted on a regular sewing machine and a longarm on a frame.
Flame Fist
Flame Fist is a fun spiral-swirl design that stitches up as edge-to-edge texture across the whole quilt. In this quick video I quilt it on an Evolution Hoop frame over the Daisy Loops fabric quilt panel so you can see how it flows as a continuous all over pattern.
Speedy Spiral
Speedy Spiral is exactly what it sounds like — a simple, fast spiral you can use to finish a quilt in record time. I quilted an entire gift quilt with this design in about an hour on my Grace 21 longarm machine, which makes it perfect for when you need a quilt done today.
Super Wobble
Super Wobble is a beginner walking foot design of gently waving lines, so you get lovely all over texture with the wonderful ability to control your stitch length right on the machine. If you're nervous about dropping your feed dogs, this is a great place to start, and I walk you through it step-by-step.
Matrix
Matrix is basically a curvy grid and it's a great choice for walking foot quilting because you can use the edge of the foot or a guide bar to space the lines. It's a beginner-friendly pattern that proves walking foot quilting can look striking too.
Undulation
Undulation is a free-form design of flowing, wave-like lines that I created to fill open space with soft movement. In this video I quilt it inside a Tree of Life quilt block, but the same design works beautifully stitched edge to edge across a whole quilt.
Super Star
Super Star is a walking foot design that works like a spiral, but you begin with a star? You've gotta watch this video to see how this design works starting in the center of your quilt and expands to cover the whole quilt with a massive Super Star.
Circuit Board
Circuit Board is a cute, boxy all over design of connected lines and right angles that looks great over any patchwork quilt. This is one of my original Free Motion Quilting Project designs, so it's a quick watch to see how this design works on a home sewing machine.
Ocean Currents
Ocean Currents is a flowing foundational design that fills a quilt with soft, watery movement. It comes from my Dancing Butterfly Quilt Along, and it's a lovely all over choice when you want gentle texture that never competes with your piecing.
Spiral Ornaments
Spiral Ornaments is a pretty design of spiraled shapes that's easy to quilt as an all over pattern or tuck into sashing. It has a soft holiday feel, and in this video you'll see how to quilt Spiral Ornaments into wider sashing using a regular sewing machine set in a sewing table.
Star Flower Stipple
Star Flower Stipple blends classic stippling with little star-flower shapes, so you get the speed of stippling with a bit of bling. I quilt it here on a home machine and a longarm on a small hoop frame so you can see two takes of this festive design.
Dew Drops
Dew Drops is a fun, easy all over design of spiraling tear drop shapes, and in this video I quilt it in a decorative stitches sampler quilt on my home sewing machine. Dew Drops is a great choice to stitch over quilt blocks or your entire quilt because of the way the lines flow out to fill your quilt.
All Over Quilting a Baby Quilt (Start to Finish)
This video is a start-to-finish quilting walkthrough rather than a single design — I show you how to all over quilt an entire baby quilt on a home machine set in a table. It's the perfect first project for seeing the mechanics of all over quilting from the first stitch to the last.
Stippling
Stippling is the single most popular machine quilting design, and this is my definitive how-to: how to quilt a meandering line that curves and turns without ever crossing itself. I quilt it on a home machine and a longarm on a frame, and it's the first design I'd send any new quilter to learn.
Heart Paisley
Heart Paisley is a sweet variation on classic paisley that tucks little heart shapes into the rolling rows, and it's one of my favorite love-themed all over designs. I quilt it on both a stationary home machine and a longarm on a frame so you can follow on either.
Swirling Petals
Swirling Petals is one of my all-time favorite all over designs — flowing swirls that open into soft petal shapes for gorgeous, rolling texture. It's a quick video on a regular sewing machine, but this design covers a quilt beautifully and is well worth adding to your all over repertoire.
More about all over quilting designs
All over quilting designs are generally quicker and easier to machine quilt than any other style. Most of these designs are stitched with free motion quilting, and a few can be quilted with a walking foot, but every one of them requires less planning and less fuss than custom quilting.
Why is all over quilting so fast and easy? Because it completely ignores your quilt top. The whole idea of an all over design is to stitch over your patchwork, applique, quilt panel or decorative fabrics on the quilt top as if they aren't there. That's exactly why this style is perfect for scrappy quilts with no clear design, busy quilts made from busy printed fabric, and any baby quilt, throw, or bed quilt that needed to be finished yesterday.
There is one honest downside, and it becomes obvious the first time you stitch straight over a beautiful star block or a perfectly appliqued rose. If you've taken the time to piece or applique something special, an all over design won't accent it — and quilt show judges will notice. When you want to win a ribbon, that's the moment to reach for custom quilting instead. For everything else, all over quilting secures your layers so the quilt can be used, washed, and loved for years.
All over quilting: frequently asked questions
What is all over quilting?
All over quilting is a machine quilting style where one design is stitched edge to edge across the whole quilt, without following the piecing or applique underneath. Because the design ignores the quilt top, it stitches quickly and hides small mistakes, which makes it the best starting point for beginning quilters.
What machines can I use for all over quilting?
You can quilt an all over design on any machine — a home sewing machine, a sit-down longarm such as the Grace 19SD, or a longarm mounted on a quilting frame. The videos on this page were filmed across all of these machines so you can watch each design stitched on a setup similar to your own.
What quilts are best for all over quilting?
All over quilting works best on scrappy quilts with no clear pieced design, busy quilts made from busy printed fabrics, and any baby quilt, throw, or bed quilt you simply need to finish fast. When no one will notice a complex quilting design anyway, an all over design secures the layers beautifully with far less time and planning.
Can I quilt a king-size quilt with an all over design?
Yes. You can quilt a king with an all over design on a home machine as long as your table supports the weight of the quilt, though the easiest way to handle a large quilt is on a quilting frame so you're not wrestling the bulk under the needle. Good frame choices for a home machine include the Cutie Breeze, Q-Zone Hoop, and Q-Zone Queen. See all quilting frames here.
Is all over quilting good for beginners?
All over quilting is the ideal place for beginners to start. Stitch one of the designs from this page over an entire quilt. Even if your stitches are not perfect. Even if your stitch length fluctuates. By the time you finish your first quilt, you will know that design like the back of your hand AND be able to quilt it anywhere, any size and on any quilt in the future.
Do I need a big room to quilt this way?
No. All over quilting can be done in a small space on a home machine set into a sewing table, and even a sit-down longarm fits into a compact sewing room. I quilt on both a home machine and a sit down longarm machine in my own apartment sewing room, so I promise it can be done.
Not sure where to start?
Picking your first design — or figuring out which machine and setup fits your space — is exactly what I love helping quilters with. Tell me about your sewing room and the quilts you dream of making, and I'll help you choose the design and the setup that will actually get your quilts finished.
Leah Day has been teaching machine quilting online since 2009 and is an authorized Grace Company dealer. She quilts on both home machines and longarms in her own studio and has shared more than 2,000 free quilting videos to help quilters finish quilts they can use and love.
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