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 computerized long arm or pay for someone to long arm your quilt for you.

At the time, I was working on a few quilts that were a simple plaid quilt top and I just thought it would be overkill to custom quilt. I needed something quicker and more minimalist than a custom job, but I just wasn’t in the mood for another straight line quilting.

A pantograph seemed like the perfect solution, but how do I get that perfectly uniform long arm look, by hand?

This is definitely seemed comfortably in my realm of problem solving capabilities and eventually I landed on using pantograph stencils that can be used with my domestic sewing machine!

I must say, I’m officially in love with the technique so much so that I’m not sure I’ll ever custom quilt anything again.

Today I’m doing a Step-By-Step tutorial on how to use a pantograph stencil for those times when custom quilting just doesn’t make sense for your project while giving yourself more of a challenge than straight line quilting.

What is a Quilting Stencil?

A quilting stencil is very similar to a stencil you’d use on a painting project.

It’s a reusable piece of template plastic with a design cut out of it that is used to transfer a design on to something. The quilting version is a line design that gets marked on your quilt and then you’ll “stitch on the line” to recreate the design in your machine quilting.

While the majority of quilting stencils are geared towards free motion quilting, there are plenty out there that can absolutely be completed using a walking foot as well.

There are two huge benefits to using pantograph stencils in your machine quilting:
 

1. You’ve automated “mastering a design”. I heard someone once refer to using stencils as a GPS map across the quilt and it’s a perfect analogy. You don’t need to know how to perfectly angle that line, or the exact curvature of that feather, its already drawn out for you and you can trust it’ll be consistent every time.

1. You’ve drastically cut down the amount of time it takes to finish the machine quilting. Stencils often have a larger scale design, which means a lower density of quilting than typical straight line quilting. You’ll do less passes across the quilt and get the quilting done faster.

They are a perfect tool for recreating that “could have been done by a computer” look on your home machine. So today we’ll be focusing on the pantograph repeating design style of stencil but others exist for featured motifs that are just as useful.

Materials You’ll Need

To use this design on your current project, you’ll need to grab the following materials.

• Quilt sandwich that is prepared for machine quilting
• Sewing machine set up with your presser foot of choice and chosen thread color
• Fabric safe marking tools (I prefer an air or water soluble pen)
• Quilting Stencil

You can download and print the exact stencil I’m using in this tutorial here for free, it can be stitched using either a walking foot or a free motion quilting foot so no matter your experience level, it’s a great stencil to keep on hand.

Step-by-Step Tutorial: How to Use a Quilting Stencil

To get started you’ll need your marking tool, so keep your fabric marking pen or tailor’s chalk nearby.

Step 1: Find a starting point

Pantograph patterns scroll across the quilt 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 on a table that will make it easy to trace across that direction.

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 an 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.

My best tip for hand tracing pantographs is to start your first row across the center line of the quilt. This process is very similar to a 1/4″ seam where things being off can multiply across the quilt quickly. By starting in the center, you minimize how many rows are potentially affected and have a fresh start for the second half of the quilt.

Step 2: 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.

For the stencil in this tutorial, we’ll trace the outside of the stencil but aren’t going to trace the horizontal line between squares 1 and 2,

Once we’ve got the outline, make a reference mark at points B and C.

Next, remove the stencil from the quilt and draw in the interior line to complete the first trace of the stencil.

The squared fishbone stencil i’m using in this tutorial is a printable stencil, so it has an extra step in it to finish the progress the design.

The next step for this template is to rotate it upside down and match it up with the reference marks you made earlier.

The lower portion of the already traced line should match up perfectly with either points A and B, or points A and C depending on which direction you shifted the stencil.

Once you’ve got it in place just trace the stencil like the first time.

Connect the interior lines, make your reference mark, and rinse and repeat!

Continue tracing yours rotating the stencil each time, across the quilt until you have one full row.

Step 3: 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 starting with a full stencil on the quilt 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. 

In our case, theres going to be an open space between two adjacent squares. Do your best to center the stencil so there’s and equal amount of space around both squares 1 and 2.

The already traced line from the previous row should come to a point that meets the horizontal line of the template.

Trace your stencil just like the previous row, centering your top squares between the open spaces of the previous row.

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.

Try your best to keep the row running as straight as possible to avoid having to finagle with getting things to match up. While no one will notice in a finished quilt, it will just make it easier for you to get through the quilt.

Step 4: Start Stitching

How you go about starting stitching is up to you, if you’ve used an air soluble pen, only trace as many lines as you can reasonably stitch in the same sitting otherwise it’ll disappear on you and you’ll have to redo it.

Lately I’ve appreciated using water soluble pens and taking the time to mark out all of the rows first before sewing so I don’t have to stop to trace out another line if I’m still in the mood to keep stitching.

You’ll also find that the easiest way to sew the design is in the same path that you traced it. For this template, you’d trace over the path shown by the yarn above, 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.

If you like the pantograph design I used in the tutorial, don’t forget that its free to download! Grab your copy here.

Troubleshooting Common Stencil Issues

Because nothing ever goes quite as you expect in a crafting project, here are a few of the common problems quilters tend to run into when they start using stencils and how to address them.

Design Doesn’t Align

This is the most likely issue you’ll run into. No matter how well the stencil is designed, you  are likely to experience this issue if your stencil tilts up and down as you mark it.

To pre-emptively avoid this issue, for every line you trace out try to find a seam line somewhere within the template to help you keep the design running as level as possible across the quilt.

I’ve even found that starting my first traced line across the very center of the quilt and working in both directions helps.

If one line starts to get off kilter, it’ll only propagate and become more skewed the further down in lines you go. By starting in the center, you’ll be able to minimize the amount of rows it can affect and reset for the other half of the quilt.

If you’re already tracing and seeing the issue, determine what is the most obvious point that would indicate something is messed up. (with this stencil it’ll be the top and bottom square not being centered between rows)

Focus on centering the square and just bridge the space between the templates by extending the line between squares. Slowly over multiple rows try adjusting things to sneak the design back into a straight line.

This is a problem that is annoying to deal with but is one of those situations that is more often than not indiscernible to anyone that isn’t you. Especially after a good wash, so don’t be discouraged if you are struggling with this one. Power through it and you’ll be good.

Faint Markings

Whether your pen is running out of ink, or you used a fabric that eats ink (like flannel), or your pen color is just too similar in color to the shade of fabric you’re using, this issue typically requires a bit of creativity.

If your pen is just running out of ink, I hate to say it, but you’ll either have to grab another pen, or switch marking tools to whatever else you have on hand.

If your air soluble pen is disappearing faster than you can stitch it, consider tracing less before stitching it. Depending on the color fabric you’re using it on, it’ll disappear at different rates. Base your timeline on how fast it disappears on your darkest fabrics. If you’re still having issues consider switching to a different marking tool.

Maybe the type of fabric you used isn’t conducive to using ink for marking (lookin’ at you flannels…). In these situations, you will likely need to get creative and don’t be afraid to switch up marking tools if necessary. Its very rare, but worst case scenario, you can even create paper versions to use as rulers instead for the worst of the worst fabrics.

Stitching Path is Unclear

If you aren’t sure how the design is supposed to be stitched without breaking your thread, there’s a few steps you can take.

1. Try drawing it out a few times to see if you can figure it out. Sometimes it will require stitching over itself, but try to avoid breaking thread whenever possible.
2. If you bought the stencil online, see if the website has a section for instructions for use.
3. If all else fails, reach out to the manufacturer for help!

Getting Started with Pantograph Quilting Stencils

Pantograph stencils are a great easy way to add some excitement into your machine quilting plans without having to stress out about a custom quilting design for every quilt.

Or maybe you’re just tired of straight line quilting and want something new, but you aren’t quite comfortable dipping your toes into free motion quilting on a real project just yet.

Quilting stencils are available for both walking foot and free motion quilting so even if you prefer to stick to one foot over another, this is a technique you can still take advantage of.

The Squared Fishbone stencil I used in this tutorial is great for use with either a walking foot or a free motion foot, so grab your free downloadable copy here and give it a try on your next project!