There are several different ways of marking up your quilt top ready for quilting. Using masking tape is a really easy method to use if you plan to quilt in straight lines. Masking tape (or decorator’s tape) is low-tack, which means that it will adhere lightly to your quilt top and will not leave a residue when it is removed.
I used this method to quilt a simple trellis design on the small quilts I made recently for a local Special Care Baby Unit (more about these quilts here).
Working from one corner of the quilt, I placed strips of tape running from the corner of a block diagonally across to the other side, as seen in the below.
I repeated the process in parallel rows across the quilt – all in the same direction.
Using a walking foot, I quilted just to the right of the tape, as shown below. After completing each line of quilting, I carefully lifted off the tape and stuck the end of it on the edge of the work table for re-use.
When all the quilting lines going downwards from left to right were complete, I re-used the tape to mark out quilting lines in the opposite direction (going upwards from left to right) as shown in the photo below.
Here is the finished quilt, quilted and bound.
I was able to re-use the tape over and over again, completing five small quilts altogether.
When using this method on a large quilt, I divide the tape into sections with a small gap in between, so as not to get entangled in long stretches of tape!
Try some free-machine embroidery with this summery Journal Cover pattern available here
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Amanda Jane Textiles 