Who doesn’t love the look of a long armed quilt?
The beauty of computerized quilting designs is how symmetrical and proportional the designs are. They are predesigned to be perfectly spaced and scaled which takes away a lot of the errors that can happen by hand.
The thing that can be a bummer about long armed quilts is that you have to own a long arm or pay for someone to long arm your quilt for you.
So lately I’ve been asking myself, “How do I get that perfectly uniform long arm look, by hand?” I’m a problem solver after all and this is definitely in my realm of problem solving capabilities.
The answer was simple, but the execution took a little brain power. Templates for free motion quilting that I can use on my domestic sewing machine!
To get the computerized pantograph look I was going for (without a computerized long arm) I’d have to create my own templates. I went out and made a few and after all that work putting them together, I figured there’s no reason to keep them to myself so I’m sharing them with you, for FREE!
Today I’m going over how to use these templates and how they can be a great alternative when you want a little flair to your quilting without committing more time than you realistically have.
Advantages to using templates for free motion quilting
Using templates for free motion quilting is a great way to mark out a design before you stitch them.
These can be great if you know you like a specific design but just aren’t confident with making (or keeping) the shapes consistent free-hand.
My favorite part about quilting templates is that I don’t have to get nit picky with the size and scale of whatever I’m working on. The template has everything perfectly laid out for me and all I have to do is trace a line with my machine.
Related:
7 Hack to Make Free Motion Quilting Easier
FMQ, What is it and how to get started
7 Free Motion Quilting Myths
When managing a quilt in a sewing machine is tough enough, I like to try and limit what I have to multitask, taking out “knowing what the shape looks like” is one of the easiest things to do to simplify the process. All I have to do is follow a line, wherever it goes.
Types of templates for free motion quilting
There are two different types of templates out there.
Ones for featured motifs like a border designs and feather motifs, and then there are others designed for a repeating all over design across the entire quilt.
Most templates you find in Joann’s or Etsy are the featured motif style. They aren’t meant to act as an all-over quilting design which means you’ll need multiple in order to complete your quilt depending on the area you are working on.
Templates for free motion quilting that are designed for an all over effect only require a single template. Since it ignore the piecing and gives you an all over texture, you don’t need to decide what will go in the borders, or how to quilt those flying geese.
Quilt right over all of it just like you would with straight line quilting, except now you can try something different and start playing around with your free motion quilting foot without the complexity of multiple smaller custom quilting designs.
And the best part is that these templates often have a larger scale design than typical straight line quilting meaning you’ll do less passes across the quilt, get the quilting done sooner, and get to try something new at the same time.
Win win!
Tools to mark your templates
In order to make these templates easy to download and print off, they were made as tracing templates.
To trace them out I highly recommend using either an air soluble ink (this one is my go-to) or tailor’s chalk.
It is possible to use a Hera marker however I find Hera markers harder to use because of how many turns there are.
Related:
How to Mark A Quilt, 6 Right Ways and 1 Wrong Way
If you decide on dissolving ink pens, be sure to keep a couple on hand. I found that a brand new water soluble pen ran out about 1/3 of the way through my quilt, while the air soluble side had no problems making it through the whole quilt.
Whatever your marking weapon of choice may be, grab it and keep it handy, we’ll be using it a lot today.
Choosing presser feet
The beauty of these templates is that you have flexibility.
4 out of the 5 templates can be completed using either a walking foot OR a free motion foot.
While the free motion foot will definitely be the “less fussy” way to get the job done, the quilt from the pictures was quilted using just a walking foot. While there is definitely a lot more quilt adjustment going on, its very doable with minimal frustration.
I will say though, if you have never tried free motion quilting and are looking for the perfect way to dip your toes in, this is a great way to do it.
Your line is already marked out, all you have to do is follow it. You don’t need to know how to make a perfect swirl, or know what design should go in which patch of your blocks.
Using your free motion foot to quilt these templates is a great way to get used to the free motion aspect of FMQ without having to stress about the design itself.
Whatever your presser foot preference, these templates for free motion quilting will be great motifs to have on hand whenever you need a quick and easy option.
How to make your templates for free motion quilting
You can go about making these templates two different ways.
You can either go the route of disposable templates by simply cutting out the image from stock computer paper, or you can trace the image onto template material, and cut it out before getting to work marking out your design.
The important thing to remember when transferring these designs onto template material is that the interior reference lines and lettered points will also need to be transferred.
To do this, place your template on top of the printed version of the template. Trace all of the lines using your ruler, and then draw in the interior lines. Only cut around the outside of the template, do not cut along the interior lines.
Once you have your template cut out you’ll be good to get quilting!
How to use templates for free motion quilting
To get started you’ll need your marking tool, so keep your air soluble pen or tailor’s chalk nearby.
Find a starting point
Pantograph patterns scroll across the quilt horizontally and work in rows going down the quilt.
To find a starting point we’ll want to decide which way the pattern will run. The long way or the short way across the quilt. Whichever orientation you decide on, lay the quilts top edge flat on the table.
This process is going to be a lot like squaring your quilt, to make sure the pattern stays square on your quilt without tilting off an angle, we want to use and interior seam to work off of.
One that runs the same direction as your design and ideally the full length of the quilt if possible. So find a seam of blocks, or a border line to line your template up with, its okay if this is not exactly at the edge of your quilt, we can go back and fill in later.
Trace the quilting template
Every template is a little different in how the pattern repeats so take a second to understand yours before getting much further.
Continue tracing yours across the edge of the quilt until you have one full row.
Start the next line
Whether yours interlocks like mine above, or just gets repeated offset from the first row, the easiest way to start the next line is by centering the template between the open areas of the previous row and back filling to the edges.
Starting half off the edge of the quilt can cause your template to tilt and make your pantograph look a bit wonky where you had to correct the angle of your line.
By starting in the middle of the row instead of at the edge, you can make sure that your row stays straight compared to the previous one allowing you to get that beautiful computerized accuracy in your spacing.
Work across your quilt just like the first line, taking care to keep the design spaced consistently with the previous row as much as possible.
Start Quilting!
Once you’ve gotten a few lines down, bring it on over to the sewing machine and get started!
Often times you’ll find that it can become a little tedious to do a ton of tracing at one time so it’s nice to get a few rows done, and change it up by sewing the rows you’ve already completed before moving on.
You’ll also find that the easiest way to sew the design is in the same path that you traced it, moving in rows across the quilt in a single line. If your design requires a slightly different path to travel for whatever reason, it should be included in the instructions for use.
Tips for success
Don’t trace out the whole quilt at one time
Particularly if you are using an air soluble pen.
This type of template requires manual tracing which can be tedious to do all in one go.
By the time you get done tracing the pantograph across the entire quilt, you’ll likely be looking for a break.
Depending on the break, you may not get back to actually quilt it until the following day which can often lead to the air soluble pen dissolving away erasing all your hard work.
Instead work across the quilt in chunks. Do three or four lines, quilt the lines and move on. That way you don’t end up wasting all that time, effort, and air soluble ink.
Not to mention crying when it all disappears the next day.
Don’t ask me how I know 😛
Change your marking tools depending on your fabric color
Some tools work better than others depending on the application and fabric choices. If you are working with darker fabrics, opt for a chalk pencil instead of soluble ink.
Using a template is meant to make your life easier, but if you end up squinting so hard to see your marked line that you give yourself a headache it won’t make much of a difference.
Instead keep both marking tools around and switch out based on the project or even area of the quilt you are working on.
The project will stay simple and you’ll cruise through the quilting in no time!
Quilting Pantographs on Your Home Machine
I don’t know about you, sometimes I just want a simple quilting design that’s a bit fancier than straight line quilting.
I love pantographs because they are the ultimate solution, a design that kept me entertained with each quilt I quilted but didn’t take a month (or three) to finish.
The best part is it’s even faster than straight line quilting since the quilted lines are spaced out much further than traditional straight lines quilting.
If you also like the idea of using quilting pantographs to quilt your quilts but don’t have access to a computerized long arm, be sure to sign up below to get my free pantograph template designed for use on a domestic sewing machine.
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