One of the easiest ways to quilt the sashing or border spaces on your quilts is to fill the area with evenly spaced straight lines. I used walking foot quilting to fill in the first border of my Heart Medallion Checkerboard with straight lines. Learn how to quilt along with me in this new beginner quilting tutorial:
Quilting straight lines really is the easiest quilting design you can choose for your quilts. I used the edge of my walking foot as a guide to evenly space the lines 1/2-inch apart. The walking foot made this much easier to quilt evenly and straight because the foot and the machine's feed dogs fed the quilt forward evenly.
To make sure the lines remained evenly spaced, I stitched in the ditch on both sides of the sashing area, then quilted 1/2-inch inside, then lined up my foot in the center of the 1 inch space remaining and quilted right through the middle. It's easy for the lines to veer off and the more lines you quilt, the more likely this will be to happen.
I also quilted straight lines in the border too, but I wasn't as careful about quilting evenly and didn't mark any guidelines before getting started. Unfortunately my straight lines in the corner ended up getting a bit off and once the quilt was squared for the binding, this became evident:
However, I still love this quilt and this weird corner isn't a deal breaker for me! I'm certainly not going to rip out these lines of quilting in order to quilt it square with the binding. In fact, this border makes me smile - that's what you get for not marking the design and quilting it more evenly Leah!
But Straight Lines, Really?
Many quilters begin quilting simple designs like straight lines, but eventually feel that this type of quilting is too basic or beginner for them to continue using in their quilts.
To me, straight lines are very much like Stippling - an important design to keep in your quilting toolbox. Designs like this are utilitarian, but also essential for adding simple texture to your quilts so the other designs, fabrics, and motifs can stand out.
So even though straight lines are simple and easy to quilt, they're still a very important design to use on your quilts. Another way to look at it as a neutral clothes in your closet. You can't wear flaming bright colors from head to toe or you'll look like a clown.
The same goes for quilting: you can quilt intense designs all over your quilts, but the end result may end up looking messy and garish. By using straight lines to break up different designs or areas of the quilt, you simplify the quilt and draw attention to those special details.
Speaking of special details, the border I quilted on the Heart Medallion Checkerboard Quilt is one of my favorites of all time! Learn how to quilt Heart Paisley in the last tutorial in this series:
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3. Quilting Straight Lines |
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Click Here to learn how to make the Heart Medallion Checkerboard Quilt.
If you enjoyed this series, consider taking a quilting class with me! We have created many online quilting workshops to guide you through all the steps to creating beautiful quilts. You will love taking a quilt workshop because you get to see each step of the quilting process with great instructions!
