10 Tips for Quilting on Your Domestic Machine

Do you ever feel intimidated quilting on your home sewing machine? It doesn't have to be! In this post guest contributor Delia from A Stitch is a Stitch Quilt Co shares 10 best tips for machine quilting you can use on any home sewing machine. Tips include: basting and cleaning your machine to picking the right thread weight, using a walking foot, wearing quilting gloves, and dialing in stitch length. She also covers different stitch options, where to start on each quilt, and smart marking tools for even spacing to help you get the best results. Whether you're a beginner quilter or ready to level up your walking foot quilting, these practical, confidence-boosting techniques will help you finish more quilts!

Hi! I'm Delia from A Stitch is a Stitch Quilt Co. and I am so excited to be here today sharing some of my best tips for domestic machine quilting. I am a quilt pattern designer, writer, and technical editor. I have quilted almost all of my quilts at home on my domestic machine (a Janome Horizon 8200QCP) and it's become one of my favorite parts of the quilting process.

I know it can be intimidating, but I'm here to set you up with the tools and knowledge you need for success. Whether you've never quilted a quilt before or you have some experience under your belt, I hope these tips will help up your game and give you the confidence to try something new!

10 Tips for Machine Quilting at Home

1. BASTE WELL

First, you want to make sure that your quilt is well basted. If your quilt sandwich is loose, or your backing isn't smooth, you're likely to get puckers. Take the extra time to do a good job and it will save you a huge headache later. I prefer to pin baste and you can find a tutorial on how to do that here.

2. CLEAN YOUR MACHINE
Before you begin quilting, clean your machine of any lint, especially the feed dogs, and install a new needle. Amy has more details about How to Clean a Sewing Machine here. Here, you are taking care to eliminate issues before they arise.

3. USE A WALKING FOOT OR DUAL FEED FOOT
This is probably the #1 thing that will make a difference in your quilting. These unique feet have feed dogs that move the top layer of fabric. They work with the lower feed dogs of your machine so that all the layers of your quilt sandwich feed through the machine evenly.

4. CHOOSE A THREAD WEIGHT
Thread weight depends on your preference. I usually quilt with Aurifil 50 wt. thread, but if you want the thread to be more visible, try a 40 wt. I use the same weight in the top and bobbin.

Neutral color threads like beige and gray blend in with many tops, but feel free to be adventurous and play with different thread colors!

5. USE QUILTING GLOVES
These were a game changer for me! Quilting gloves have textured grips on the fingers which allow you to more easily move the quilt through the machine. Once you quilt with these, you'll wonder how you ever got along without them!

6. INCREASE YOUR STITCH LENGTH
Typically for piecing, I use a stitch length of 1.8 mm-2.0 mm. For quilting, I increase that to 3.5 mm, though anything between 3.0 mm-4.0 mm would work too. A longer stitch length looks more polished and helps avoid puckering.

7. START IN THE MIDDLE
When you're ready to begin quilting, start in the center of your quilt. Roll up half of the quilt so it will fit through the throat of the machine and stitch your first line down the center. Continue to quilt, working outward. As you go, you'll unroll the quilt bit by bit until you've quilted all the way to the edge.

Then you will flip the quilt around 180°, roll up the unquilted side and quilt from center out, same as before, to complete the other half.

It helps to have a good amount of space on your desk or table to the left of your machine on which to rest the quilt. My sewing desk is small, so I bring my machine to the kitchen table to quilt.

8. STITCH SLOWLY
It can be tempting to go full speed, but slow and steady wins the race. Take your time and pause frequently to adjust the quilt. The larger the quilt, the heavier it will be, and more frequent adjustments will help keep the quilting accurate and smooth.

9. TRY YOUR DECORATIVE STITCHES
If your machine has built-in decorative stitches, don't be afraid to give them a try! Look for one that is a larger design and has a longer stitch length. One of my favorite stitches for quilting is the serpentine stitch. I set it at 3.5 mm and it makes a pretty, wavy stitch that is very forgiving.

10. USE A GUIDE BAR AND MARKING TOOLS
A guide bar is a bar that fits into the walking foot or dual feed foot and is used to quilt lines equal distances apart without marking all the lines on your quilt. You'll mark and sew one line. Then, set the guide bar at the desired distance from your needle. As you sew, keep the guide bar along that original stitched line. In the photo below, my guide bar is 1" to the left of my needle, so all my stitch lines will be 1" apart.

If you feel more comfortable marking your lines, I highly recommend using a hera marker or a fine tip chalk. Although Frixion pens are heat erasable, I don't recommend them for this. They can leave marks on the fabric even after they are initially erased.

BONUS TIP: If you're new to machine quilting and want to try a simple quilting design, some easy beginner (but also classic!) designs are: straight parallel lines, crosshatch, gentle wavy lines, and diagonal lines. If you're looking for something a little more challenging, I highly recommend the books Walk and Walk 2.0 by Jacquie Gering. They are full of designs ranging from simple to complex-looking, and all achievable with a walking foot.

The quilts in this post are my newly released pattern called Sweet Serenade. For a detailed tutorial on the quilting design you see in the photo above, check out this blog post!

I hope these tips have been helpful and that they've inspired you to try some of them on your next quilt! If you do, tag me on Instagram @a_stitch_is_a_stitch. I'd love to celebrate with you! 

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