Rule your quilt – tips and tricks for quilting with rulers

Machine quilting with rulers can add spice and variety to your quilt tops. The best news is that it isn’t hard to do! In this blog post we’re sharing four articles that help you develop and refine your ruler skills.

Adding spice with scallop and arc machine quilting templates

Machine quilting with templates can add spice and variety to your quilt tops. Typically, rulers that have a specific shape to them are called templates and rulers that are a more fundamental geometric shape are simply called rulers in the machine quilting world. No matter what you call them, they are a great way to kick your skills up a notch and add some zing to your quilting! Learn more about scallop and arc machine quilting templates.

Many folks don’t think of using a template for all over, edge-to-edge quilting so we hope you enjoy seeing how beautiful and easy it can be. ⇓Visit the student bundle page (includes downloads).

Round and Round with Circle Designs

There is something about curves and circles in quilting that makes my heart sing. The eye is drawn to the symmetry and medallion quilts are especially well suited to quilted circle motifs. Medallions typically have borders framing out the center block giving a wonderful place to play with machine quilting rulers. From interlocking circles, and overlapping half circles, you’ll love the variety of designs you can get from a set of circle rulers. Learn more about circle designs.

Play with circle rulers and discover how many wonderful designs you can create! ⇓Visit the student bundle page (includes downloads).

Branching off from traditional crosshatching

Crosshatching is a traditional design found in the earliest hand quilted masterpieces of yesteryear. If you think crosshatching is limited to a straight grid or a diagonal grid then you will love the variety of designs we will cover in this article! Click here to learn more about traditional crosshatching.

Also, don’t miss some of the other variations that can be stitched from a basic crosshatch that you’ll find on the student bundle page (includes downloads).

Building borders with simple arcs

The simple arc ruler is used to make arch designs that are incredibly flexible while also being simple to stitch. Unlike many other designs, the quilted arch looks very different depending on the height of your border and width of the motif. The humble arch can also be repeated and overlapped to create complex looking border designs that are impressive on everything from very traditional quilts to modern masterpieces. When deciding what to quilt in your next border, grab an arc ruler and make some arches! Click here to learn more about circle designs. 

It’s amazing how many designs can be executed with just one simple arc ruler. Simple variations in just the height and width can make it look different each time. If you haven’t played with an arc ruler, we highly recommend it! ⇓Visit the student bundle page (includes downloads)