Perfect stitch-in-the-ditch quilting with the PFAFF performance icon

Patchwork is just one layer of the quilting sandwich. In yesterday’s post, we assembled the center of the Spring Runner by sewing the on-point rows together. The PFAFF performance icon has great features to make sewing patchwork precise and effortless. It also makes finishing your projects easy, too! Today we’ll add some borders to the runner and start preparing to quilt it using quilt rulers.

Add the border

The Spring Table Runner is already a nice size, but the addition of borders provides more room for a beautiful quilting design. Sew the short border strips to each short end of the runner, pressing the seams towards the border fabric. Next, sew the long borders to each remaining side, again pressing the seams to the border fabric. The runner should measure 17½” x 43″.

Background fabric borders complete the Spring Table Runner top

Quilting with rulers

I wanted to try something new with this table runner – quilting rulers. I’ve been looking forward to using the Inspira Ruler Foot Template Set. I feel pretty confident using the PFAFF performance icon now, and I’ve even tried free motion quilting with it. Testing out quilting rulers was the next logical step.

The Inspira Ruler Foot Template Set includes three quilting rulers and an 8″ crosshair ruler to mark registration lines on the quilt top. This helps to line up the guide marks on the rulers as you move them while quilting.

Inspira Ruler Foot Template Set

I used the crosshair ruler to mark out lines on the center focus fabric. The ruler includes a dot right in the center to indicate where the needle starts when using the rulers.

8″ Crosshair Ruler on center fabric.

I marked lines on the center square and both nine patches in preparation for quilting.

Closeup of needle dot in center of 8″ Crosshair Ruler.

Prepare quilt sandwich

It’s time to secure the layers together for quilting. Lay the backing fabric out, right side down, on a flat surface. Place the batting on top and center the table runner top, right side up, on top of the two layers. Pin through all three layers to secure them while quilting. I pinned every 2″, starting in the middle of each block and moving to the outer edges. I didn’t pin through the seams of the blocks because I knew I would stitch in the ditch around them. I also placed pins around the outside edge of the table runner to keep the layers together at the edge as I moved the runner under the needle.

Stitch in the Ditch

I wanted to secure the layers together with some quilting before I used the quilt rulers. I changed to the Clear Stitch-in-the-Ditch Foot for IDT System. I love this foot! The center metal guide helps you do perfect stitch-in-the-ditch quilting every time. I used it to stitch in the ditch around each of the nine patch blocks and the focus fabric center block.

Clear Stitch-in-the-Ditch foot for IDT System

Ruler Foot

Now it’s time to switch the presser foot to the Free Motion Ruler Foot. Don’t panic – the diagram printed on the packaging shows you how easy it is to do this!

It’s easy to attach the Free Motion Ruler Foot.

Free Motion Ruler Foot

I activated the free-motion ruler foot by choosing it in the Free Motion menu, and noticed an image of a stitch plate appeared on the Multi-touch screen. I touched the image to see what it was all about.

Recommendations popup on the Multi-touch screen

I had changed the needle plate earlier, and but it’s recommended to use Straight Stitch Needle Plate with the free-motion ruler foot. I really like how this machine comes with two needle plates, and it’s easy to store the second plate in the base of the accessory tray when not in use. It’s easy to change the needle plate, too, which means I’m more likely to do it – and that means my stitching will look it’s best too.

The PFAFF performance icon has helped me successfully get this far in my runner project! The Clear Stitch-in-the-Ditch Foot for IDT System gave me perfect stitch-in-the-ditch quilting on my table runner, and I’m excited to try out the Inspira Ruler Foot Template Set to add some beautiful quilting to my Spring Table Runner. Be sure to join me tomorrow to see how it turns out.

This is part 3 of 5 in this series

Go back to part 2: How the PFAFF performance icon helps sewing on-point quilt blocks

Go to part 4: Beautiful ruler work made easy

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