When you have appliqué or other ornate designs on a quilt top it can be difficult to decide what kind of quilting to do around the designs so as to not take away from them. Heather Thomas shows you how to do wavy cross hatch quilting around an appliqué shape.
Quilting
Heather explains that to do wavy cross hatch quilting you simply prepare your quilt top as you would any other quilt project by layering your quilt top with batting and backing fabric and then pinning or basting your layers in place. She then explains why doing a wavy cross hatch can be easier and quicker to do than a straight cross hatch because you do not need to worry about your lines being perfectly straight or evenly spaced. Because you do not need to worry about these kinds of things, this is a type of quilting that can be done with no markings needed before you start stitching.
Heather shows how she determines where to start the wavy cross hatch quilting and then demonstrates stitching. She explains how she works around the appliqué shapes or other designs by either following along the edge of the design or doing echo stitching, meaning she is stitching roughly ¼” away from the edge of the design. As she is stitching she also explains how she determines how far apart to space the cross hatch lines and gives tips on how to keep things looking even and smooth.
Heather also teaches you how to work around a design by stopping on one side and then continuing on the other to make the cross hatch quilting appear as if it is continuing behind the appliqué shape. This type of quilting is great to do in the background as a way to highlight ornately pieced shapes or other applique techniques.
Thank you that technique is exactly what I needed right now.
If these blocks are part of a quilt do you stitch in the ditch between your blocks to travel to the next line?
Hi Kathleen. Thanks for asking – this is a really good question. When I stitch this type of crosshatch in blocks that are a part of my quilts, I do use the ditch as the travel “road”. I also try to use a fine thread so that I don’t have thread build up in the ditch. Crosshatch, whether wavy in nature or the classic straight lines adds so much great texture to the backdrop of an appliqued piece – I love using it.
Colleen
National Quilters Circle
Loved this tutorial. I have several quilt tops I need to quilt and have been putting them off because I was uncertain how I wanted to quilt them. The wavy cross hatch will be perfect. The short tutorial was easy to follow with great but simple results. No rulers needed! No marking fabric in advance! Thank you. -jane
A very useful tutorial ! Thank you very much .
Looks like you are sewing right over pins…..what kind of pins are these????
Hello Elizabeth,
These are extra fine silk pins.
Cheers,
Ashley
National Quilters Circle Video Membership
I am new to quilting, thank you for the tutorial. I saw you left pins in while quilting do you use a certain type of pins?
Enjoyed this Heather, but I was wondering why you stitched over the pins? Shouldn’t they be removed? Thanks.
Are your feed dogs up?
Hello Carolyn,
Free motion quilting is generally done with the feed dogs down to make it easier to move the fabric.
Cheers,
Ashley NQC Video Membership
You scared me by stitching over the pins. Do you always do that ?
Hello Tomi,
Stitching over pins comes down to personal preference. If you plan to stitch over pins I would recommend using the same small pins that Heather does- which are silk pins with no glass head or ‘bead’ on them. They are very fine and on the off chance that you do hit one with a needle it will bend rather than break.
Cheers,
Ashley NQC Video Membership
DO you Sew over pins?