Matchstick Quilting, Satin Stitch and Cross Stitch

Let’s talk about tight quilting and straight-line machine quilting. You’ve probably heard of the term matchstick quilting which is used to describe very close-together, parallel, straight-lines, hundreds of them across the quilt top. This method of machine quilting is clean and modern and when done well … it looks amazing. It can be as tight as ⅛” or as loose as ½” (or wider) for larger quilts. Dense quilting gives your quilt beautiful texture.

A word of caution here: densely quilted quilts are quite stiff and sit very squarely on the wall. As most of my pieces are art quilts, this technique suits my work well as it allows me to add layers on top of the quilting. I would not use dense quilting for a bed quilt.

Carla A. Canonico

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