December is one of the most popular times to pick up a quilt for the year.

The weather is officially cold enough that you don’t want to spend any more time outside than absolutely necessary, and the sewing machine starts calling.

Whether you’re a sewing and coffee or sewing and wine kind of quilter, there’s something cozy about it all.

And in December, there are so many themed fabrics that lend to the various themes of the holiday season that it’s near impossible to try and resist.

So what happens when it hits new years and that themed quilt top is done and the excitement of the season is over? The fun piecing part is over and you’re staring down the barrel at machine quilting it. Ugh.

The theme is no longer fun because the hustle and bustle of the holiday season is over, and all we see is more work to do.

Before it gets sent to the WIP pile for the next year, be sure to check out these fun winter quilting stencils for perfect pantographs using your domestic machine. The designs are now available in the Etsy store that are a perfect solution for a quick finish of that holiday quilt.

Using Pantographs on Your Home Machine

If you’ve hung around the blog here before, you’ll know I’m all about pantographs on my domestic home machine.

I got bored with the typical straight line quilting on my quilts (or the close cousin, wavy line quilting) and wanted something a little more mentally stimulating and technically challenging.

But coming up with a custom free motion design for every quilt was just not feasible. Some quilts I just didn’t have the time or mental capacity, or the quilt pattern simply didn’t call for the effort.

Then pantographs entered my life, and it was the perfect solution. Endless designs to keep me entertained without having to sit down and decide what goes where. And I could do it all with my home sewing machine, no computerized long arm required.

Not to mention most designed ended up being less dense in stitching than standard straight line quilting so the machine quilting finished faster.

If you’ve never tried this machine quilting method before, be sure to check out my full tutorial on using pantograph stencils here.

5 Winter Quilting Stencils For Your Next Quilts

The five stencils in this list are all designed to be simple enough for you to stitch on your domestic machine, and still give you that versatility to keep you entertained with your machine quilting. Enjoy!

The Knit Stitch

A knitted texture machine quilting design just gives me all the cozy vibes we love about the winter season.

Grab me a coffee, a candle, the cat, and some hallmark movies, and the scene is set.

This pantograph is great for any winter themed quilt even if it isn’t necessarily holiday themed, and with a very standard shape to it, you’ll get in the flow of machine quilting this one and not realize you’ve quilted 1/8th of the quilt in one sitting without blinking.

Grab this Stencil on Etsy here.

The Ornament

Likely the quickest to quilt up on this list is the ornament.

Loosely named for the oblong shape of the design, commonly seen in glass ornaments, this one is an easy upgrade from the standard wavy line quilting and can even be quilted with your walking foot.

The scale of this design is very large so the density is low which means super quick to get through. And if you happen to be using wool batting for this one it will puff up so nicely showing off the design.

Grab this stencil on Etsy here.

The Forest

When you have strong themed fabrics in your quilt, it only makes sense to match it with a matching themed pantograph.

I’m not personally a huge theme person so what I love about The Forest is that its themed but not necessarily screaming it.

The lines of stitching are spaced out and don’t have a lot of back and forth within the design so while this one is definitely for the free motion quilters out there, each line of quilting is quick and easy to get through for bite sized machine quilting sessions.

Grab this stencil on Etsy here.

The Wind

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This is my take on the design I picture illustrators use for kids books when they write about the winter season to show wind.

Curly designs and sparkles.

This one is pretty straight forward as far as the motions go filling in the space with fun elongated swirls, but the looping motions are so much fun that you just find yourself getting into it and crushing out the machine quilting.

This one is a good one for starting out with free motion quilting as it really only uses a standard swirl motion over and over again. You’ll get used to moving the quilt in every direction without having to worry about multiple shapes.

This one is great for adding a little magical whimsy to your holiday quilt.

The Storm

I’m from New England, when i think winter quilting stencils, I couldn’t not include a snowflake.

This one is definitely for the quilter who is comfortable with free motion quilting, or comfortable with a trial by fire scenario, as the snowflake adds a certain level of complexity to the design, however completely manageable.

This one will definitely keep you entertained in your machine quilting, and give your quilt a snow fall texture that will just look so pretty against the blues, reds, and greens, often found in holiday quilts.

Just Starting Out with Pantographs?

The winter quilting stencils in this list are definitely free motion quilting heavy designs, however you don’t necessarily have to give up your walking foot to take advantage of this machine quilting method.

If this is your first time stumbling across pantographs on a domestic machine and aren’t sure if its for you just yet, be sure to grab our free Squared Fishbone stencil to try out a pantograph, no risk, first.

The Squared Fishbone is a simple design that’s walking foot friendly and a great easy design for anyone just starting out with this machine quilting method.

Pantographs are a great option that don’t actually require a long arm to stitch so be careful trying one out, you may never want to go back!

Good Luck!