This week I’m sharing my Quilt as Desired article which was originally published in the winter 2014 issue of Quilting Quarterly magazine from the National Quilting Association. I’ve changed the original formatting to better fit the blog format. You can purchase a PDF pattern for Mini Churn Dash from my Craftsy store.
Mini Churn Dash along with the pattern originally published in the magazine.
Click here to purchase Mini Churn Dash pattern for just $4.95.
“Making a mini quilt is a great way to explore a new design style. It’s also a fun excuse to give machine quilting a try. The time and material investment are minimal, and it’s easy enough to quilt a mini on nearly any sewing machine you can think of.
“However, there are a couple of things to keep in mind when quilting a mini: (1) the quilting should not overwhelm the piecing design and (2) the scale of the quilting should be in proportion to the rest of the quilt.
“When making my Mini Churn Dash I knew I wanted to apply the two principles listed above, as well as include an element of modern machine quilting to the piece. Straight-line quilting has been an extremely popular way to add texture to full sized quilts, and I hoped this quilting design would look great on a modern mini. As with any quilt I make, I first drew up a practice sketch to audition my design:
“I quilted the parallel lines in an asymmetrical pattern, using tape as a guide to vary the width of the spacing between quilting lines, anywhere from 1/8” to 1/2” apart. I used a shorter than normal stitch length to keep the quilting in scale with the quilt.
I quilted additional straight lines using the edge of my even-feed (walking) foot as a guide, changing the needle position to vary the width of the spacing. I kept quilting until it felt “finished”. I used a thin cotton thread in a light grey color that seemed to blend in to the background rather than play a starring role.
“You can quilt asymmetrical lines using other designs such as wavy lines, or decorative stitches on your sewing machine. So the next time you are stumped when quilting a modern mini, just think of what kinds of textures you can create, starting with a simple line!
Click here to read the other machine quilting articles I’ve written.
Christa Quilts 
That’s interesting Christa. I didn’t know about using a smaller stitch length when quilting a mini to keep the proportions.
Christa, I read this article on Instagram and really got a lot out of it! I’m going to put this into my archives for future reference. Due to your wonderful books and blogs I’ve began to feel more comfortable doing machine quilting and can’t wait to work on my next piece.