How To Quilt Perfectly Straight Lines Every Single Time

Great Tips On Quilting Using Painters Tape.

Have you noticed you have a tendency to veer off while sewing no matter how hard you try to stay aligned to the measuring guide on the sewing machine. No matter how you try, some lines veer to the left, and then some to the right. As you quilt if you veer even less than a 16th of an inch, over 32 inches means you would have veered over at least an inch! By the time you do the last line, there’s no quilt left!

 

Lucky for us, someone has figured out an easy way to quilt perfect straight lines, and anyone can do this and get it right first time. There’s something called a base line, and a registration line. Start quilting at the base line in the center of the quilt and move out.

The trick is to quilt towards the registration line. The spacing between the base line tape and the registration tape can be four to six, or sometimes 8 inches, and you can spot right away if you’re a tiny bit off. Once you’ve covered the four, six or eight inch area, re -position the base line tape and use it as the next registration line.

Use a ruler to establish a base line, and put some tape down. Your lines can be as wide or as narrow as you want. Painters tape is great because it never leaves that gooey residue. You will also need a walking foot so that fabric feeds evenly and does not drag, or pucker. Perhaps you’ve never gotten into straight line quilting. Whether you’re an experienced quilter or just starting, see these tips and tricks from other quilters here.

This video clip taken from Jacquie Gering’s online class, Creative Quilting with your Walking Foot, explains exactly how to place the baseline tape, and then move on to the registration tape, getting perfect straight line quilting every time.

Feature Image Jacquie Gering’s online class Creative Quilting with your Walking Foot Video snippet.