The Humble Line

(Day 4 of a 31 Day Series)
One of the simplest way to quilt a quilt is with straight lines. The walking foot is a great tool for quilting row after row of straight lines. From stitching in the ditch (SID) to beautiful grids, the humble line can take on different looks. One of the keys to quilting is the spacing or density of the quilting motifs. Small dense designs can bring a completely different texture to the quilt than a large light density design. Evenly spaced designs feel more formal and elegant than randomly spaced designs which feel more whimsical and relaxed.
You have my permission to play around with any of the designs I share with you in the 31 Day series.
Try spacing them out at different intervals: |   |   |   |   |   vs.  |  |  |  |  | 
Try doubling or tripling a grouping:  ||     ||     ||   vs.   | | |    | | |   | | |
Don’t forget to try randomized spacing for a completely different look.
I went ahead and created this simple quilt in EQ6. I will be using it through out the 31 Day series to show you how different a quilt can look depending on the quilt designs chosen.

I came up with 6 easy straight line designs, but there are so many other ways that you can combine straight lines that the possibilities are endless. I didn’t really cover grids, we’ll talk about those another day.
A. SID – stich in the ditch
B. Columns
C. Corner Stone
D. Randomly Spaced Columns
E. L’s
F. Plaid
- A. SID – stich in the ditch:Stitching in the ditch refers to stitching along the block lines formed by seams. When done properly SID is not visible. The threads hide right in the shadow of the seams. Some quilters actually pull on their quilt top as they are sewing exposing the seam line and stitching right on the seam line. I take a different approach so that I don’t stretch or distort my quilt top. You know how you end up with a bump or drop after pressing your seams to one side? If you run your fingers along your quilt top you will see what I mean, depending on what direction you are headed you will either hit a bump or a drop at each seam. I make it a point to SID a hair width away from the “drop” side, right before you are about to go over the bump. The “bump” side tends to almost magically shift over and cover the threads, especially once the quilt is laundered.
SID is usually where most new quilters start. It’s a relatively safe design that won’t detract from a quilt top. It’s simple and elegant. It allows the design and fabrics to do all the talking.

B. ColumnsThis design looks great on most any quilt. It doesn’t matter if the columns are 1” apart or 4” apart. Keep in mind that quilting 1” wide columns on a queen size quilt is going to get old pretty quickly! Try this design in rows going horizontal.

C. Corner StoneThis design is achieved by quilting a line on each side of the block seam line. Allowing the stitching lines to cross where blocks meet creates a small square. This is a very simple design that looks great on most any quilt and looks a little more complicated than SID. However I find it much easier to accomplish because you don’t have to worry about the seams being in your way.

D. Randomly Spaced ColumnsYou can achieve a more whimsical look to a quilt if you randomly space the quilting lines.

E. L’sTry quilting an “L” by following sides of your block and then echoing it over and over until you fill the block. Don’t for get that you can play around with line spacing.

F. PlaidThis design is so fun and laid back. For a more whimsical approach try random groups of 3’s and 2’s on throughout your quilt. This design will look more relaxed if you avoid spacing your lines down the middle of your blocks.

Feel free to add pictures to the Petit Design Co. Flickr group if you try out any of these designs.
Tomorrow I’ll show you the “L” design and talk about starting, stopping, and turning corners.
~ Norma