How to quilt the Moroccan Dreams Pantograph

quiltingoctopus

1 week ago

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How to quilt the Moroccan Dreams Pantograph

MOROCCAN DREAMS PANTOGRAPH

Have you ever eaten Moroccan food? OMG it’s delicious. Do you love that slightly edgy bohemian look? Fancy yourself draped over giant floor cushions with opulent carpets for walls? Then you’ve probably seen this pantograph design on something, but maybe not stitched on a quilt.

This pattern was such fun to make! I really wanted it to have NO overstitching, and that means an extended width pantograph. Have you used them before?

I feel like a high proportion of my designs are Extended Width (I’m LOATHE to call the EW, though it would be so much easier to type 😂).

My extended width panto looks weird... Why?

Moroccan Dreams stitches all the way across and back, returning to the start point, so 2 passes are needed to complete one 10” high row.

If you’re a left to right only longarm quilter, this pattern has that option.

It’s a wide pattern at 140” x 10”, which is normal for an extended width pattern from me. The downside is that patterns with those specs are so hard to see in your pattern catalogue!! This is it in my CS7 Statler software… with the big icons turned on… wearing my glasses.

It’s easy to overlook a great design when it renders like this, so get into the habit of moving these designs onto your layout screen proper, where you can try them in your project at a better size.

Quilting the Moroccan Dreams Panto

Each square in this design measures 5” if placed the size it comes.

At 140” wide, you can afford to quilt it denser even on a big quilt. Use your software to reduce the size and trim off any overhanging pattern area.

HINT: If your quilt top has a lot of repeating squares, size the pattern so that the stitched squares are a different size to the squares on your quilt top. Any piecing “wonk” will be a lot less visible.

When rolling your quilt and relocating the pattern, line everything up carefully. If your machine can “relocate to 2 points”, do it. Combine your best techniques with careful sandwich tension, lower loft batting, and anything else you’d normally do to avoid shrinkage and relocate accurately.

If you have great tips or pictures about lining up rows precisely, offer your wisdom here… the first time I’ve tried to add comments to my posts so help me test it by leaving one!