Simple free-motion quilt designs for a Halloween Double T table runner

What a treat this week has been sewing with the PFAFF performance icon. In yesterday’s post, we used the performance icon to sew the blocks together and make the runner top. Hopefully, you’re happy with your fabric choices, and the double Ts in the blocks are making you smile. Today we’re quilting the runner to emphasize the T in the blocks which is another chance to enjoy the features of the PFAFF performance icon.

Free-motion quilting the centers

In yesterday’s post, we started quilting the table runner layers together using the Stitch-in-the-Ditch Foot around the outside of the T fabrics. It’s time to change to the light blue thread to do some free-motion quilting in the light centers, or the candy! I used the Open Toe Free-Motion Foot to sew a spiral in the center of the blocks. This foot attaches through the hole in the presser foot ankle and is tightened in place with the little screw already attached to the machine. I tried to use the quilting to make the centers look like wrapped candy and the light blue thread blends in nicely with my fabric.

You can use the Open Toe Free-Motion Foot for outline stitching as well which isn’t something I really tried before this runner. I used the same foot to stitch inside each of the light blue triangles. Once I went around the triangle I then free-motion-quilted three little loops or elongated circles inside the triangle before moving to the next one.

I kept going with this foot to stitch ¼” inside of the blueprint fabric. Then I added a second outline stitch of a T inside the blueprint fabrics to emphasize the T shape. It was while I was doing this stitching that I started to get the groove of matching the speed of my hands to the speed of the machine. I realized that I could sew straight lines with this foot too – maybe I’m becoming a free-motion quilter!

Once I finished the blue center T block, I decided to continue with the light blue thread in the orange T blocks as well. The thread provided a minimum of contrast against the light orange and blended just as well into the orange print as the blue. I quilted the orange blocks in the same order as the blue, starting with the center then outlining the T fabric. In the orange ones, I decided to just do the one row of stitching in the T fabric as I was concerned I wouldn’t be able to keep my second row of stitches looking consistent throughout the three blocks.

There was plenty of space to the right of the needle for rolling up the runner to get a smooth area for quilting on the runner. There’s a lot of height under the arm too, which makes it effortless to maneuver the runner around while quilting.

Background quilting

With the three blocks quilted I switched to black thread to do the stitching in the background fabric. There isn’t much of it, but I wanted the quilting to again help emphasize the T shapes. I started with my go-to straight-line stitching and switched to the  ¼ inch Quilting Foot for IDT System. The guide marks on this foot are spaced at ¼” intervals to help with turning corners and maintaining consistent topstitching.

I quilted with black thread simple lines ¼” apart in background small triangles where the blocks join on the runner.

Adding a decorative stitch

The straight lines of black stitching are doing the job of emphasizing the T shape in the blocks. This runner was designed to be displayed during the Halloween season so I decided to add a row of stitches that reflected the season. There are so many decorative stitches built into the PFAFF performance icon that it’s easy to find one for almost any occasion! There’s a stitch chart you can look at to come up with ideas too if you want to be inspired by the stitches.

The large Multi-Touch Screen makes it easy to see what the stitch will look like on the runner. I picked stitch 6.2.6 because it was a web with a tiny spider – the big spider is a bit too big for me :). You can see in the photo below that the Stitch Edit icon is highlighted in green – that’s because I went into the machine settings and changed the unit from millimeters to inches so I could find out how wide the stitch was for placing it on the runner. The numbers on the screen are in inches.

The recommendations in the top left of the Multi-Touch screen will tell you what foot is recommended for the selected stitch. The large Maxi foot 8 is used when stitching out wide stitches. Notice it is closed at the back edge which means it won’t connect to the IDT System; it makes sense because these large stitches move the needle side to side as well as forward.

An additional three rows of straight-line stitching were added to the other side of the decorative stitching.

You can see in the photo below that I also stitched straight lines in the black squares that formed where the Double T blocks meet. There’s not much I didn’t quilt on this runner!

Binding

The runner was bound with the background fabric for it to blend in and not detract from the blocks or quilting. I didn’t take pictures of this process as this post was getting long – but I used the same method of sewing the binding to the back then the front by machine when I made my Spring runner. Check out the final post of that week to see some photos and how I did it: Echo quilting makes the Spring Runner complete.

Now I have another seasonal quilted table runner ready to enjoy! I have a lot of fun sewing with the PFAFF performance icon and have gained so much confidence in my free-motion quilting using this machine.

This is part 5 of 5 in this series

Go back to part 4: Easy piecing a Double T table runner with precision