An Easy Way To Hand Sew Or Quilt Straight Lines
Ever wondered how to quilt or sew perfect straight lines, without marking your fabric?
It's super easy and I'm going to show you how I do it.
What Do You Need?
You'll need a roll of low-tack painters/masking tape
minimum length 12"/30 cm clear plastic ruler
quilt sandwich or fabric
needle and thread
1: Use a known straight seam of your quilt or sewing project and place a ruler 1/4" or 1/8" (or whatever distance you want the stitched line to be from the straight line).
This is really important - don't start out quilting a really straight line that's going off at an angle before you even put the needle in the fabric.
2: Tear off a strip of the masking tape that's the same length or slightly longer than the line you want to sew.
3: Place the masking tape right up against the ruler - right along the edge, no gap, if the ruler moves and/or the masking tape isn't straight, replace the ruler to the correct spot, lift the masking tape and reposition - not necessarily in that order.
4: Take away the ruler.
5: Stitch along the masking tape - stitch right up to the edge,
6: When you're done, lift the tape.
The tape can be reused around 4 times, maybe more but you won't have such a good straight line after that as you buckle the masking tape edge each time you sew against it.
Note: low tack painter's/masking tape works great on cotton and doesn't leave sticky residue. Please take care using on delicate fabrics and fabrics with a surface finish - be sure to test it out first.
If you're loving my Dresden Plate Table Topper / Wall Hanging and want to make your own, here's a link to my tute.
An Easy Way To Hand Sew Or Quilt Straight Lines
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THANK YOU. As a new quilter I read this just when I am stitchng my first quilt. I have shared a link to this post on my blog this morning.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great tip, Chris. Your dresdens are so pretty and your stitches are perfectly consistent.
ReplyDeleteI like red and teal together. I like that this has a dual purpose. Thanks for linking up with TGIFF hosted @ Anja Quilts.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for sharing! Such a great tip!
ReplyDeleteI use this method on the sewing machine. I've never thought of it for hand quilting.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the reminder! I used to use masking tape all the time. I even had 1/4 inch wide tape that I loved. I didn't use it for my most recent project and really regret my wonky lines.
ReplyDeleteGreat tip, Chris! I've just started dabbling with some hand stitching, and I wish I'd known about this for the last project I did.
ReplyDeleteGreat tutorial Chrissie, I haven't hand quilted for a long time but used to do it this way.
ReplyDeleteI use tape for so many things in quilting, so useful! Great tutorial, and a gorgeous Dresden!
ReplyDelete