Longarming a Quilt on the Diagonal
Traditionally, longarm quilters load a quilt straight onto their machine to quilt a pantograph or custom longarm a quilt. But sometimes a quilt just calls to be quilted on the diagonal. When loaded straight onto a longarm machine, matching quilting lines as the quilt is advanced can be tricky. Typically, a quilt is quilted on the diagonal when you want to quilt straight or semi-straight lines or a grid, and when the quilt is exceptionally large or made with heavy fabrics, that can be difficult on a domestic machine, and when a longarm comes in handy. In today’s blog, I’m going to share with you how I load a quilt onto a longarm to quilt it on the diagonal without needing to match quilting lines.
Before we dive in, a quick word of caution – this method does yield some waste in terms of extra backing fabric and batting. You’ll see as we move through this that it is necessary, though, in order to keep the backing and top square and aligned.
Tip: This method works best for square or almost square quilts. Rectangular quilts are a bit more difficult to align, but possible.
Setting Up Your Quilt
To begin, you want to measure the diagonal of your quilt and piece (if needed) a quilt backing that is 10” wider (5” on each side) than your longest diagonal. Your batting should also be just about the same size or slightly smaller than the backing and placed on top of the backing once the backing is loaded onto the machine. The batting should be square with the backing, not the top. Once loaded, mark the center of your batting for a square quilt. If you plan to rotate your quilt 90*, make sure you mark the center about 5” down from the top so that you have enough room on the side once rotated. For rectangular quilts, you’ll want to drape your quilt over the backing and batting to find the center of the quilt. Once you’ve found your center, use a ruler to mark 90* from the center point you’ve marked (if your quilt has 90* corners, that is) and draw some registration lines on the batting for reference.
Because your quilt top will be on the diagonal, you’ll need to float your quilt top on top of the backing and batting. If you’re someone used to attaching your top to the bar, this will be an adjustment for you, but well worth it. Place your quilt top aligned with the marks you just drew on the batting. Pin or baste your quilt top to the backing and batting, aligned with the marks you just drew above. I usually baste, but because I was working with some stretchy denim with this quilt, I opted to pin to give me more flexibility as I progressed.
Now you’re ready to begin quilting!
Quilting Your Quilt on the Diagonal
Tip: This method works best when you’re free-motion quilting (or using channel locks) and not using an all-over computerized pantograph, given that a significant portion of the backing and batting won’t have a quilt on top of it. But, if you want to use a pantograph, a great idea would be to put some extra fabric in the portions of the backing/batting that don’t have a quilt top on it and use those extra pieces to make quilted zipper bags, placemats, or other fun accessories.
As you advance the quilt on the frame, do not trim the extra batting off the quilt. Keep it there to make sure the quilt advances equally. If you are trying to use leftover batting and don’t have enough batting to cover the entire backing, consider using additional scraps of batting to cover the backing completely to ensure the quilt advances evenly.
Tip: If you find your quilt isn’t advancing evenly because you don’t have enough batting in the excess areas, you might need to pin or use magnets to jimmy-rig the backing and keep things tight enough to quilt your quilt.
If you plan to rotate your quilt 90* and reload it onto the longarm to quilt the opposite direction once you’ve done a pass at quilting, you will want to square up the backing again to ensure nothing stretched while on the frame to ensure your quilting lines up. I find that sometimes you will need to fudge the backing a bit when rotating to keep things taught, but it’s well worth it for a great quilt. It’s that simple!
Once you’re done quilting, you can use the excess batting and backing to make all sorts of smaller projects, such as place mats, microwave bowl koozies (just make sure you use cotton batting so it doesn’t melt for these), zipper pouches, mini quilts, and so much more.
