Quilt As You Go - A Synergistic Approach to Quiltmaking

 Breaking a large project into smaller parts can add to the enjoyment of the quilting process. In this issue, we explore chunking a quilt into manageable sections to produce a more complex result than if it were tackled as a whole.

Quilt As You Go

“You did all that quilting on a domestic sewing machine?” is a question I’m often asked about large-sized quilts.  It is hard to imagine stuffing a queen-sized quilt through the limited throat space of the average home sewing machine but the process becomes much easier to tackle when you incorporate “quilt as you go” techniques.

About five years ago, I researched quilt as you go techniques and combined the tips together into a process I now follow.  I’m sharing the process here in case you find it helpful too!

Long vertical sections can still be heavy to move through the sewing machine, even if they are narrow.  Consider breaking the quilt on horizontal lines, too, so you are quilting a square section instead of a long rectangle.

The Steps for Quilt-As-You-Go

Layer the top, batting and backing for each section as you normally would (with extra batting and backing margins.

Plan for a ¼ inch seam allowance and avoid quilting to within an inch of the seam allowance.

Using quilt as you go techniques allows you to break a large quilt into smaller parts so the fun part – free motion quilting or other styles of quilting! – is easier to do.  The satisfaction of seeing your quilt designs emerge while expending less energy to move the quilt through makes it worth the extra steps of doing quilt as you go!