Zippling and Simple Ruler Quilting on a Longarm

by LeahDay · Published November 8, 2019 · Updated November 8, 2019

We’re quilting our last Patchwork Daisy today for the Friendship Quilt Along! I’m quilting on the Grace Qnique 21 to quilt zigzag Zippling and simple ruler quilting designs. Learn how to flow around your block to minimize your thread breaks in this quilting tutorial:

Click here to find our last Friendship Sampler Quilt Pattern. This pattern includes both the Patchwork Daisy block and the Hidden Hearts block patterns so you can finish your queen or king sized Friendship Quilts!

Click Here to learn more about the Grace 21. This is the longarm I’m using in this tutorial rolling around on the Continuum frame! I really love this longarm because I’m able to quilt so much space with each pass over my quilts.

I’ve attached the quilt blocks to my frame using Red Snappers which makes it so much faster and easier to attach the backing fabric to the frame. No more pinning!

Free Motion Quilting Zigzag Zippling

The first thing I tackled on this Patchwork Daisy quilt block was quilting the background with Zippling. I intentionally started on one side of the block so I could quilt clockwise over half of the background space. It pays to spend a bit of time at the beginning of any quilt to trace and plan your quilting path. This helped me minimize thread breaks so the block was quilted faster.

Quilting Zippling is very simple because the rule is simple: stitch a zigzag line that doesn’t cross itself.

Wait. Doesn’t that sound familiar?

Yep! Zippling is very similar to the most popular free motion quilting design of all time, Stippling. That design has this rule: stitch a wiggly line that doesn’t cross itself.

The key is to keep the motion in your mind and to be thinking ahead as you quilt over your block. Notice how I first quilted away from the center of the block, filling in the space in a nice solid row before stitching up around the top edge of the block.

It’s perfectly fine to stop when you’re quilting and trace your finger over the quilt to plan your path. This is useful for both longarm quilting and home machine quilting! You can mark some guidelines on your quilt if needed too. This might seem time consuming, but it will actually save you time if it stops you from leaving spaces open in the background that you will have to quilt back into later.

Simple Ruler Quilting Designs on a Longarm

I also played with quilting Zippling using my Ditcher Ruler. But really the point of a free motion design like Zippling is to be slightly imperfect and freeform. Using a ruler for this design will definitely slow you down and create a very different look to the design too.

Once I filled in the background, I switched to my Super Slide ruler and quilted corner-to-corner curves around the Patchwork Daisy petals. Corner-to-corner curves is an excellent choice for almost any style of quilt! It secures the quilt block, it’s faster than stitching in the ditch, and the curves nicely soften the sharp edges of the piecing. Win, win, win!

The center of the Patchwork Daisy is a 2-inch square and that was the perfect opportunity to play with a Circle Ruler. I carefully quilted one side of the circle with one side of the ruler, then rotated it to show how the other edge worked. Honestly, I think this would have been more accurate if I’d stuck with the same side of the ruler for both.

Click Here to find the Ditcher and Circle ruler in a new kit along with a Feather ruler too!

Next week we’ll be piecing and then quilting the thirteenth and final block, which is needed if you’re making a queen or king size quilt.

Let’s go quilt,

Leah Day