Quilting with machine embroidery is an easy way to finish off the top of a quilt or be creative with quilt blocks. With the popularity of personal embroidery machines increasing, many quilters find it cost-effective to quilt their own projects instead of sending them to a professional. Also, for those who quilt by hand, this process can get the job done in a fraction of the time.

Quilting With Machine Embroidery Basics

While quilting with machine embroidery may sound cumbersome, it doesn't have to be if you follow the instructions and have the correct embroidery supplies. This style of machine quilting falls into two categories:

Machine guided: This technique, which uses your machine's feed dogs, is for straight and slightly curved lines. It is used with a walking foot and sews about 12 stitches per inch.

Free motion: This type of quilting, where the feed dogs are dropped or covered up, normally doesn't follow straight lines. You can use different feet with it, but a darning foot works well. This foot jumps up and down with the needle, allowing you to easily move the fabric.

Supplies and Accessories

Quilting and embroidery supplies and accessories vary depending on your machine and the type of quilt you want to design. Some of the basic tools needed are:

Sewing or embroidery machine

Embroidery patterns

Needles

Thread

Bobbins

Gloves or grippers

Embroidery hoops (if they don't come with your machine)

Spray adhesive

Darning foot and other embroidery machine feet

Quilting stencils

Designs Available Online

There are many helpful Web sites where you can buy or download for free many different printed quilting and embroidery designs. For example:

Embroidery Online offers a wide choice of delicate and beautiful quilting designs for purchase.

Erica's Embroidery Designs has both simple and complex designs.

Splinters and Threads has some basic patterns for sports, feathers, and other miscellaneous designs.

Golden Threads motto is, "Designs that make every embroidery quilt a work of art," and the ones listed on the Web site show just that. Everything from complete quilting packages to miniature designs is offered.

Advantages and Disadvantages

Some will find quilting with machine embroidery a breeze, while others won't like it all.

Pros

There are many advantages to embroidering a quilt in this fashion:

It cuts back on time it would take to hand-embroider the item.

It can be cost-effective because doing the microfiber printed quilting at home is cheaper than having a professional do it.

Learning a new craft may be hard work, but it is fun.

Cons

While every quilting technique has an upside, it also can have a downside:

Quilting with machine embroidery does not work with every style of quilt, like jacquard quilt.

Making a mistake can be costly, especially if the machine snags, rips or puckers the fabric.

If you are a novice quilter, a professional can embroider your quilt quicker and more efficiently.

Tips for Quilting With Machine Embroidery

If you are using a basic sewing machine, the easiest way to get the design onto your quilt is to trace it onto tissue or other lightweight paper. Pin the paper to the quilt and sew on the lines. Tear the paper away when you are done.

Add a folding or cart table next to your sewing table to help support the heavy quilt.

Practice on scraps pieces of fabric before quilting your final product.

If you are a beginner, take a digital printed quilting class from your local craft store or community college.

Michael Miller Fabrics will begin printing the majority of its quilting cottons digitally in 2019. The shift from screen printing to digital printing is one that Michael Steiner, the co-owner and company president, has been contemplating for a while. “We’ve been printing a small percentage of our quilting fabric digitally for three years now,” Steiner said in a phone call from the Michael Miller warehouse earlier this week. “And all of our plush fabric is printed digitally. Digital printing is not the only path forward, but it’s definitely a path that offers more flexibility for us.”

Until now manufacturers of premium quilting cottons, the kind of fabric sold through independent quilt shops which sell patchwork printed quilt, ultrasonic quilt, winter quilt, etc., have been printed with flat-bed screen printers through mills in Korea and Japan. Screens are engraved for each color in the design, then ink is pushed through a frame screen onto the fabric, like a stencil. The quality and colorfastness of the prints are high, but there are limitations. A screen can only hold about two dozen colors and the repeat can only be 24 inches wide, the size of the screen printing bed. The process creates dye and water waste. There’s about an eight-month turnaround time from the time the designs are submitted to the time the fabric is in the warehouse. And the mills require an 800-1,000 yard minimum order for each colorway. There are also no high capacity flatbed screen printers for textiles left in the US.