What does it mean to start quilting in the middle and work your way out?
I get this question a LOT – so I made a video showing the answers.
That’s right – answers. Plural.
Because the answers are different depending on whether you’re quilting by hand or by machine!
See?
Here are all my posts about layering and basting your quilt, and the final round of quilting.
- How to Layer and Baste a Quilt Sandwich
- How to Machine Quilt
- My Favorite Tip for Machine Quilting without Swearing
- How to Quilt a Big Quilt on a Standard Sewing Machine
- What Does It Mean to Start Quilting in the Middle and Work Your Way Out?
- How to Quilt Perfectly Parallel Lines
- Tips for Quilting a Cuddle Fleece Back
- Quilting with Decorative Stitching
Here are all my posts about hand quilting and Big Stitch quilting. I don’t use these techniques with fusible applique or Quilt As You Go, but I LOVE using Big Stitch Quilting with my cheater fabric.
- How to Tie a Knot
- Hand Quilting Basics – traditional hand quilting
- Hand Quilting without Marking
- Big Stitch Quilting
- How to Quilt All the Way to the Edge
Finished with this topic?
Return to the Let’s Make a Quilt main Table of Contents.
Move on to the lessons about binding and finishing your quilt.
Happy quilting!
Thank you so much! I am getting ready to start machine quilting my first quilt and was wondering about this exact thing. I plan on doing the vertical lines that you demonstrated. Perfect timing. Thanks!
I was thinking the same thing. For someone who is new to quilting they would have been confused by “the center,” but you very well explained it at the end.
Thank you!
I am ready to quilt my woodland critters quilt. It is twin sized, it’s all pinned and ready to go but it is not in the standard grid layout because I’ve added some half blocks in it. This is my first time making one of these. So my question is when quilting and I come to a place where the grid is ‘interrupted’ by one of the half blocks, I’m assuming I’ll need to turn the whole quilt 90 degrees to quilt along for 6 or so inches until I can turn it 90 degrees again to keep going down the row. This seems like it would be a big pain to have to keep turning it 90 degrees until I make it all the way from top to bottom. Any tips/suggestions?
I recommend hopping over the places where the grid is interrupted, rather than turning the whole quilt. I show how to do that in this post. https://www.shinyhappyworld.com/2018/07/how-to-quilt-a-quilt-with-a-broken-grid-layout-video-tutorial.html