Machine Quilting- Grid Orange Peel Design
I have been quilting my own quilts for a long time and am constantly looking for new ways to mix things up! Sometimes, I see a quilt top and know exactly how I plan to finish it. Other times, it takes weeks of staring at the top before a design comes to mind. And then there's times where I'm on a deadline and really need to get a quilt quilted but still don't know where to start. When that happens, I do one step at a time and keep adding things until it feels finished.
In the case of this Fresh Farmhouse Quilt, I decided to start with a basic crosshatch quilting. Corner to corner on the diagonal of the 12" blocks. I knew that it wouldn't be enough quilting for me to call it done at that point, but it gave me a good foundation for thinking about my next step in the design. From there, I pulled out one of my curved templates and began marking curves on both sides of the crosshatch lines at the junctions of the stitching.
Here you can see the finished quilt vs the mock-up design!
Getting Started:
To begin, I started with a large crosshatch corner to corner on my quilt. I quilt all lines going one direction and then all lines going the opposite. Because I'm working corner to corner, I don't bother marking my straight lines and simply follow the blocks as a guide with my walking foot. You could however use a hera marker or disappearing ink pen to mark with a ruler.
You can see how my crosshatch lines come together corner to corner, making an X in the center of each block. This is a great foundational way to start most block-based quilt patterns.
Once my grid was complete, it was time to trace my lines. For this, I simply used a paper template to overlap and trace with my hera marker. You can see here how the template meets corner to corner on the lattice quilting. This is the completed back of the quilt. Notice how the straight crosshatch line goes down the middle and two curved lines are drawn on either side. This is repeated across the whole quilt. You can download paper curve templates from my website under the "Freebies" section which will work for quilt blocks sized 12", 8" and 6" square.
After drawing one line, I'll move up and across the next forming a long S curve of traced lines down the straight line of the quilt. On the diagram, you can see how those lines join together to form the first curved path you'll follow with your walking foot.
Follow this as a guide until you have all curves marked going one direction across the quilt.
Now with your walking foot, follow that line, quilting edge to edge and snaking the quilt back and forth through your machine. Make sure that your walking foot crosses at the same points where your straight line crosshatch quilting meet. Once you've done one row of curves, you'll mark the second half to complete those curves into the orange peel shape.
Now half of your orange peels are done and you're 2/3 of the way through your quilt! Time to mark your curves going the opposite direction to complete the full effect. Again, mark going one direction across the quilt, working along those straight diagonal lines. Quilt your first half of S curves, then mark and quilt the other half of curves.
Ta da! Here's what the finished quilting design should look like once all your straight lines and curves are complete.
Tips for quilting:
1. Use quilting gloves. They make a huge difference!! You can get gloves from most quilting stores, but I just use grippy gardening gloves from any hardware store. These ones are in my opinion, better than the fancy quilt specific gloves that I've purchased in the past and way cheaper.
2. Go slow. I know this seems obvious, but you'll have way more control as you sew if you take your time. And your stitches will be prettier too.
3. Use a walking foot. This is a biggie! The even feed on your walking foot will make all the difference and help to give you that control.
4. adjust your hands often. Avoid drag my adjusting your hands and fluffing/shifting your quilt often. About every 2 curves, I'll adjust and keep sewing to avoid pulling as you quilt.
5. Use the needle down position if you have it. If you don't, remember to put your needle down before adjusting your hands/quilt.
My quilting preferences:
- I sew on a Juki 2010TLQ. It's a great machine that does straight stitch only and has a needle down position. However, I learned to sew and quilted many quilts on my very basic Singer Tradition sewing machine. So, no matter what machine you have, this design is totally doable!!
- I always use a walking foot and wear my gardening gloves when quilting.
- I prefer to stitch with 30 wt cotton thread. Currently, I'm liking connecting threads silver colored thread.
- I quilt with a stitch length of about 2.5. I prefer a slightly tighter quilting stitch, though I know some people use up to a 3.5 length.
- I also quilt on a clean table that allows me to shift my quilt as needed without knocking things over and without catching on anything. You'll notice my quilt top is really spread out when I quilt so it has room to move with me as I go.
I also choose to pin baste, so I keep a small tin on top of my machine to put my pins in as I work. Because I'm stopping every so often to adjust my quilt and eliminate any pulling/shifting, it's easy to remove pins at this stage and keep on sewing!
Finished Quilt
And most importantly, here's some photos of the finished quilt design! Although I marked with templates, my orange peels are definitely not perfect. Keep in mind this is a handmade item, so it's ok if things are not as identical as they might be on a pantograph design from a longarm. This is pretty darn fancy custom quilting on your domestic machine and you should be super proud of that!!
Purchase the pattern!
Would you like to make your own gorgeous Fresh Farmhouse Quilt? The pattern is available for purchase as a PDF download on my website! The pattern comes with directions to make this quilt in 5 sizes: baby, small throw, large throw, twin and bed. The quilt in this tutorial is the small throw size. This pattern is listed as confident beginner because it includes flying geese and half square triangle blocks. I think the blocks sew up super fast, so you'll want to make this pattern again and again!
Purchase a quilt kit!
This quilt is available as a kit in all 5 sizes from the amazing Kendra at Piece Fabric Co. You can find the bundle on her website and receive a coupon for half off the PDF pattern in my shop when you purchase a kit. Hooray!
Purchase a quilt kit here!
I'd love to see the beautiful quilts that you make! Thanks for stopping by. If you have questions about this tutorial, or want to share your quilts using this idea, please share below in the comments.
Happy Sewing!
- Erin
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