Straight Line Quilting

Straight line quilting stands out as a go-to design choice for its timeless elegance, precision, and boundless creative possibilities. As the name suggests, it involves stitching straight lines to create visually striking patterns and textures. While seemingly simple, the art lies in the precision and planning required to execute these lines flawlessly. And quilting straight lines free-motion on a longarm machine is one of the most challenging things to do. So what’s a quilter to do?

Look for the helpers

Remember Mr Roger’s Neighborhood? Every kid wanted to be Mr Roger’s neighbor. This gentle, thoughtful children’s show hosted by Fred Rogers was full of great lessons. Not only for kids! One of the best pieces of advice Mr Rogers offered was to “look for the helpers” when you are in a situation you can’t handle on your own. Quilting perfectly straight lines on a longarm is one of those situations. You need a helper. So let’s talk about the helpers we have at our disposal.

Channel Locks

You may already be familiar with using channel locks to baste the plumb line across your backing and batting. This gives you a nice straight line to line up your quilt top when you are getting started. There are 3 kinds of channel locks available.

1. Channel lock clamps

These are an accessory that clamp to the wheels of either the machine or the carriage so that the machine can be moved in a perfect horizontal or vertical line. You can see them in action in this YouTube video. They are inexpensive and perfect if you only do straight line quilting occasionally. I consider them an essential to be able to create that plumb line.

2. Electromagnetic Channel Locks

Electromagnetic Channel locks integrate into the machine using a control box and magnets that lock onto thin plates of steel running the length of the frame and also the carriage. This enables us to stitch perfectly straight horizontal and vertical lines by flipping a switch on the control box. You can position the control box right on your handle bar. There is a version for most Handi Quilter movable longarm machines. You can find a video about these here.

They are a good choice if you do lots of straight line quilting. Quicker and easier than the channel lock clamps.

3. Pro-Stitcher

The Pro-Stitcher features built in channel locks that can be activated either vertical or horizontal at the touch of a button.

Not only that, using the Move feature on Pro-Stitcher gives you the ability to stitch perfect 45 degree angled lines. Touching one of the 8 directional arrows of Move causes the machine to move and stitch in that direction.

But, as they say on TV, That’s NOT ALL! You can use the Mark feature on Pro-Stitcher to define a straight line at ANY angle you desire and have Pro-Stitcher stitch that line for you.

In my book, Pro-Stitcher is the ULTIMATE straight line helper of all. And it can do so much more than straight lines. So head on over to prostitcher.com to see all the features of this fabulous tool.

There is another helper that lets you make straight lines wherever you wish.

Rulers

Learning to do ruler work is definitely time well spent. It is a quick and easy way to stitch straight lines wherever you need them. There are a variety of Handi Quilter rulers that offer straight line capability. Here are just a few:

Be sure to read The Beginner’s Guide to Ruler Quilting to get you started. Next week we’ll explore some piano key designs that will make your quilts sing!

Quilt Every Day!

by Mary Beth Krapil