DIY.. How To Quilt In Straight Lines

Have you heard about Carolyn Friedlander? She just launched her new fabric line called Achitextures.

The swatch image below is from her website. I love the modern, organic and clean feel to her designs.

I have been wanting to make pillows for my toddler’s room and the Carolyn Friedlander line is a perfect blend of modern and colorful, while still reading cute and kid friendly.

I promised my husband the pillows would be small, rectangular and be very “boy” friendly. I bought a bunch of her fat quarters from a local quilting store and got to work.  With the architectural feel to the Achitextures line, I thought it would be perfect to quilt the pillow front and back in even lines. I like the feeling of organic meet structure on a pillow.

So here is my super easy approach to straight line quilting. This is great for small items like a tote bag, pillow or runner where you want a center line and very even lines throughout.  You can also check out my earlier blog post on how to quilt in a diamond pattern. 

Materials Needed:

1. Fabric
2. Fusible batting
3. Clover chaco pen – chalk fabric marking pen
4. Creative grids rectangle ruler – quilting ruler
5. Sewing materials – pins, thread, needles and sewing machine
6. Iron and Ironing board

Alright, let’s get sewing:

Cut your fusible to the size of your fabric/ fat quarters. Iron the fusible batting to the back of your fabric.  Make sure to not pull the iron across the fabric, but pick it up and place in the next spot. This ensures you adhere the batting in a flat method and there is no pulling or ripples

Once you have the fusible ironed to your fabric, fold your fabric in half and finger press. This will leave a line that indicates the center of your fabric

Mark the center line with your chalk marker

Decide the width of your quilting pattern.  I chose to use 1″ increments and in straight lines. Starting from the center line, measure out 1″ on each side and mark with the chalk marker. Continue with the same 1″ increment and mark the entire fabric

Now place your fabric into sewing machine. Starting at the centre and at the top of the fabric, follow the chalk line, stitch the entire length and off the fabric. Follow each chalk line and stitch/quilt the entire fabric. You will have little strings like the image below

That’s it!  Super easy right? Why not try something different and sew the lines uneven and in a random scheme – some close together and some far apart.. I think you’ll love the look of this as well.

Happy sewing!