Walking Foot Quilting: Let’s Quilt Crazy Lines
We’re going crazy with some super beginner lines as we explore walking foot quilting.
Today we’re quilting a super funky easy walking foot quilting design called Crazy Lines. Learn how to quilt it in this new video quilting tutorial:
Click Here to find Explore Walking Foot Quilting with Leah Day and start quilting along with us!
Each Friday we’re quilting a quilt new design with walking foot quilting, and at the end of this quilt along in June we’ll take 20 of the squares and connect them together to make the Marvelous Mosaic quilt! Click Here to find the first post with Walking Foot Basics to get you started.
Quilting Crazy Lines is a free-form version of straight lines we learned last week. For this design, I marked each line one at a time using 1/4-inch painters tape. I wanted the lines to be completely irregular and angled in all different directions so I didn’t use the edges of my walking foot as a guide.
Instead at the end of each line, I’d pull up the tape and reposition it to create a new line at a new angle. I like the thinner tape for this job and I found I could reposition the tape a few times before it stopped sticking to the fabric.
Fiddling with the tape at the end of each line did take more time to quilt this block. If you’d prefer to move faster through your quilt block, you could mark the lines with a fabric marking pencil and long ruler instead.
What do you think of Crazy Lines? Do you like this texture or prefer the effect of evenly spaced straight lines instead? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Let’s go quilt,
Leah Day
Really cool Leah! Like how easy that was. ????
I like ist very much and i want to try it to my First Quilt. Ingrid
Yes, indeed – a cool idea. thanks Leah !
Leah, I have a question concerning fabric marking pencils, pens, chalks, etc. I recently attended a two day Handi Quilter class on free motion quilting. The class got into a lively debate on the different types of products out there to mark quilt tops with, pros and cons, etc. One woman said that cold would bring back markings and when I asked about Frixion Pens I got several eye rolls with the comments that no matter what you use….under certain circumstances it's "gonna come back". Scary. What say you?
I'm sorry that quilter got that reaction. It's a very good question and one many quilters aren't taking seriously. Frixion pens are permanent and will remain in the fabric even after washing, and yes, will reappear when the quilt gets cold. That might not be a worry for most quilters, but if you send a quilt to show it will end up in a box in a cold delivery truck for quite some time and that could definitely bring the marks back. Even if show quilting isn't a concern, we like to take quilts on trips, so it would end up in a cold car, etc. The marks are meant to be the mystery of a quilt and erase completely once they're no longer needed.
For this reason I believe in using marking pens that either erase or wash out completely. You can find the two I recommend right here: https://leahday.com/collections/quilting-kits/products/mark-your-quilt-kit
Some people don't like the water soluble pen I recommend because if you spray water on the top of the quilt, the lines will erase, but when the quilt dries it will make a weird blue mark where it dries. That's not how you erase those marks! To erase them, you must submerge the quilt completely in water to completely remove the chemical. I hope that makes sense!
Sorry I forgot to add that it might be a good idea to do a test sample on a small quilt sandwich before I mark an entire quilt! Isn't it funny how so many of us are so all fired in a big hurry that we don't take time to do the little things that we've had the pleasure of learning throughout our quilting paths in life in online videos, online or real time quilting classes, instruction books and such. Like making a quilt sandwich and trying out different threads, different needle sizes, different stitch length and widths, different quilting designs, different battings, and now different marking styles…before we go all gung ho and start on the entire quilt? Guilty as charged your honor.
I think crazy lines is perfect for me! I won't need to worry so much about absolutely perfectly aligned and precise width lines with this quilting design! I can be a bit more free to be…..me.
Yes it makes perfect sense. My mother embroidered a quilt top and she marked her sashings and cornerstones with the purple capped "air" pen (the kind where you make a mark and after it's sat out for some time it magically disappears) and all of the marks came back. She switched to the blue capped pen that is supposed to disappear with water and she dabbed the top with a cloth dipped in water and….some of the marks came back. I think also it has a lot to do with the fabric itself, whether or not it's been treated, washed, starched, how long the marks were on the quilt top (a cousin marked a quilt top, got sick and put it away and came back years later and the marks were permanent). I think I'll stick with chalk if I have to mark curves and painters tape or low tack tape for straight lines when I need them and leave the pens to the artists. I'm learning to use rulers so with a basic line or curve to start with I just use the lines on the ruler as my "marker". But then again…I should never say never. Right? Happy quilting Leah! Love the videos and you are such a great teacher. I really learn so much from you and can't wait to put those lessons to work.
LOL! That's the whole idea with this design! Enjoy!
Thanks for sharing