Tips for Quilting Your Quilt

Once you have completed piecing your quilt top, you have to finish the project by actually quilting it.  Lots of quilters use the ditch technique or outline quilting. Many times they long to try something new but just are not sure where to start. The secret is just simply getting up the nerve to try something new.

It can be scary. After investing a good amount of time in piecing the quilt top, you certainly don't want to ruin your hard work when quilting it. If you are interested in learning something new and trying a different quilting technique, try these ideas.

1.  If your quilt will be a wall hanging or a quilt that will not have to be laundered often, consider using metallic thread (or glow in the dark thread, if appropriate). Sometimes the addition of one unique element is all a project needs to add some excitement back into your quilting.

2. Instead of quilting, tie your quilt. Tying helps secure the three layers just like your quilting stitches do.

3. Switch things up a little. If you are a hand quilter, try quilting by machine. If you typically machine quilt, give hand quilting a try.

4. Be inspired by coloring books. Children's coloring books are a great source of quilting ideas. Find a simple flower, house, tree, heart -- whatever -- and transfer it onto your project as an outline for quilting. Repeat the same design all over your quilt or select different motifs to quilt on it. Of course you should look for designs that complement your quilt top.

5. Experiment with free form quilting. Lower the feed dogs on your machine, use the appropriate sewing foot, and just let the quilt meander under your needle. Add a loop here and there when you feel like you're ready to try.

6. Hoop sections of your quilt sandwich and use an embroidery machine to quilt it. This is a fun way to effortlessly add a swirl or any other design element to specific areas of your quilt.

7. Try cross hatch quilting. Sew all the diagonal lines from one direction first, then cross them from the other angle.

8. Mix it up a little. Use hand quilting in one area of your quilt, then machine quilting in another. By doing this, you will get to use one of the methods you are more familiar with which makes trying something new a little less scary.

9. Quilt as you normally would, but add something special to one element throughout your quilt. If, for instance, you are quilting a log cabin design, use your typical quilt method, but go back and add a little design element to the center of each log cabin. One might have a swirl, another a rose, another a star, etc. Or, quilt the same element in each using a different thread color.

10. Quilt with an experienced friend. If you want to try machine quilting, ask a machine quilting friend if you can look over her shoulder for a while. If you want to try hand quilting, get together with some friends for an old fashioned quilting bee. Sometimes the biggest help in trying a new quilting technique is a little moral support from other quilters.

Remember, as scary as it is to try a new quilt method, there's not much you could do to your quilt top that couldn't be undone.  Expand your quilting horizons by picking a technique and giving it a try.

© 2011-, Penny Halgren. This article courtesy of http://www.How-To-Quilt.com. You may freely reprint this article on your website or in your newsletter provided this courtesy notice and the author name and URL remain intact.