Amanda Murphy - Rulerwork Quilting Idea Book: 59 Outline Designs to Fill with Free-Motion Quilting, Tips for Longarm and Domestic Machines

Amanda Murphy is a quilt and fabric designer whose style bridges the modern and traditional. She is a BERNINA Quilting and Longarm Spokesperson, popular teacher, fabric designer for Contempo Studio / Benartex, embroidery designer for OESD, quilt motif designer, and pattern designer. She has authored several books with C&T Publishing, including her best-selling books Modern Holiday and The Free-Motion Quilting Idea Book. Amanda enjoys every part of the quilting process, from choosing fabrics to integrating piecing and appliqu techniques to the quilting itself. The best part of her job is seeing people use her fabrics, books, and patterns to create their own works of art! Website (Be sure to check out Amandas blog and shop links!) Facebook / (Follow Amandas quilting journey and ask quilting questions in her Facebook group. To join, go to Facebook and search for Quilting with Amanda Murphy.) Pinterest /amdfabrics Instagram Twitter If you love quilting, sewing, fiber arts & morejoin our email list for updates, special offers and discounts, author news, and the latest links to great freebies and giveaways! (Dont worry, we wont share your info with anyone.) http://www.ctpub.com/client/client_pages/newsletterB2C.cfm Quilting rulers help you quilt smooth lines and execute uniform designs.

They can elevate your quilts from attractive to amazing! But rulers have other benefits as well. When you quilt with rulers on a domestic sewing machine, you lower the feed dogs. (For basic domestic rulerwork instructions, see Quilting with Rulers on a Domestic Machine.) The movement of your hands determines the stitching direction. And because you can stitch in any direction, there is no need to rotate your quilt under the machine! Seriously, if that fact alone isnt enough for you to go out and buy a ruler foot, I dont know what is! Stitching-in-the-ditch on the BERNINA Rulerwork Panel by Amanda Murphy with the BERNINA Adjustable Ruler Foot #72 Breaking down the quilting areas with rulerwork also makes the entire quilting process less formidable. I plan my quilting with this in mind. For instance, I might do all my rulerwork the first week, then concentrate on medium free-motion fills the second and third weeks, and finish up with any stippling or small fills at the end of the process.

Adding rulerwork to your quilting toolbox vastly expands your design vocabulary. Many motifs that rulerwork makes easier are difficult to free-motion quilt, like straight lines and perfect circles. The circles on this wholecloth quilt by Amanda Murphy are easily executed with rulers. Free-motion is icing on the cake. The good news is that your free-motion quilting does not have to be complex to make your rulerwork sing! Detail of Sewing Garden by Amanda Murphy, which features rulerwork filled with a lot of free-motion quilting, creating secondary designs. Do you have a sewing friend who hates free-motion quilting? Chances are that they might like rulerwork (a lot of piecers do).

One day theyll decide to fill in part of those rulerwork triangles or diamonds with a little dense quilting to make other areas pop, and guess what they will be free-motion quilting!RULER FOOT To do rulerwork, the first thing youll need is a ruler foot. Ruler feet have a high profile, allowing you to glide the foot along to ruler to quilt a smooth shape. The edge of the foot is always away from the needle, resulting in a uniform line. BERNINA recently debuted the Adjustable Ruler Foot #72, which has added fabulous features including the ability to raise and lower the foot to accommodate different batting thicknesses. If you do not own a BERNINA, Westalee Design makes ruler feet for many different machines. BERNINA Adjustable Ruler Foot #72 THREAD There are many great threads out there but my favorite is Aurifil Cotton 50-weight. BERNINA Adjustable Ruler Foot #72 THREAD There are many great threads out there but my favorite is Aurifil Cotton 50-weight.

I generally match my top and bottom threads, and it doesnt bother me at all if the thread doesnt match the backing of my quilt. The exception to this matching preference is when I use Aurifil Monofilament Invisible Thread in the top, which pairs perfectly with Aurifil Cotton 50-weight in the bobbin. There are also many wonderful polyester threads on the market specifically for quilting, so feel free to experiment. I also love Kimono Silk thread (by Superior Threads) for extra-special projects! My Aurifil Piecing and Quilting Collection includes monofilament and a wide assortment of 50-weight cotton threads. RULERSFor more information about what kind of rulers to buy, see the individual shape sections in The Designs. In this context, quilting ruler is a bit of a misnomer because we dont really use these to measure anything.

For this reason, they are also sometimes called quilting templates. Im usually more focused on the depth of the curve on the rulers edge than the measurement of a ruler when choosing a tool to execute a design. A basic set of rulers is an important purchase. Rulers come in many shapes and sizes. By far the shapes that I use most in my personal work are the basics: straight lines, circles, ovals, and petals. BERNINA Ruler Work Kit for Sit-Down Machines BERNINA Ruler Work Kit for Frame Models Make sure to buy rulers that are the appropriate height for the foot you have purchased.