Quilting your modern place mats

Let’s find out how you can start quilting your modern place mats! You now have 4 little quilt tops to practice on! Layer the place mat top, batting and backing and you’re ready to quilt.

As I mentioned in my blog post on August 31, 2015, there are many quilting designs being used in modern quilts: straight line quilting, echo quilting and graphic designs to name just a few.

I decided to quilt each of my place mats in a different design. Here’s what I came up with for place mat #1.

I used a variegated thread and quilted with lines ½” apart. There are many beautiful variegated threads available now in different weights. Look in your thread collection and see what you have!

And here’s my little quilt (place mat #1) all quilted.

3 Tips for straight-line quilting

1. Always use a walking or even-feed foot.

2. Draw lines with a ruler using a fabric marking tool – chalk marker, washout marker etc. It’s a good idea to test your marker on scrap fabric to make sure it can be removed.

3. Use the quilting guide bar that comes with most machines. It’s probably tucked away with all those extra gadgets that you have never used! The little bar is attached to your walking or even-feed foot. You sew while tracing the previous quilting line with the quilting guide bar.

Here’s a great little video you can watch to show you how to use the quilting guide bar.

I decided to use a different quilting design on each place mat. They’re all straight lines, but you can use wavy lines or free motion designs if you wish.

Now you can start quilting your modern place mats and use the new techniques you learned. Come back tomorrow to see how to bind and finish your modern place mat set!