Almost every month I travel and teach free-motion quilting to quilters at guilds and quilt shops. I truly love it and I hope that everyone who takes a class from me enjoys it as well! But, inevitably, there comes a time in every class where I have to break the bad news…..to get better at machine quilting, you have to practice.
I know, I know. It’s not exactly what you (or anyone for that matter) wants to hear. I so wish that I had that one tip, trick or even funny joke that would instantly make you a great machine quilter….But, unfortunately, I don’t.
But before you leave my website in frustration…..there is hope! While you do have to practice, I have the absolute best way to practice machine quilting. It’s a technique from my soon to be released book, “Free-motion Meandering” a beginner’s guide to machine quilting.
I developed this practice technique from teaching more machine quilting classes than I can count. It makes learning machine quilting manageable and helps prepare you for working on actual quilt. The bottom line is that if you practice productively, you will get better at machine quilting faster.
(On a side note, this technique works whether you are drawing the quilting design or actually quilting on a quilt sandwich.)
How to Practice Machine Quilting
1. Define a practice area.
Define a practice area by quilting (or drawing) a square. It doesn’t have to be any particular size or even a square. You just need clear boundaries to fill in with quilting.

Photo courtesy of C&T Publishing
It could be a whole piece of paper, an area that you have marked on a quilt or even an actual quilt block. (You get bonus points for practicing on an actual quilt.)
2. Commit to Filling in the Whole Area
Pick out a quilting design and commit to filling in the whole area without stopping or ripping out quilting (or erasing any drawn lines).
But that’s not all….here comes the hardest part of all….you can’t judge your quilting while you’re doing it. (I told you it would be difficult!) That also means you can’t say negative things to yourself. (It’s amazing that we will say things to ourselves that we wouldn’t allow any one else to say!!)
3. Ready…Set….Quilt!
This is where the fun happens! Start quilting (or drawing) a design in the area, trying to fill it in as much as possible. The design you use doesn’t matter. It could be something that you have been wanting to master or perhaps a design you plan on using on your next quilt. If you can’t decide, you could always quilt, “Angela is Awesome” over and over again. Just kidding!

Photo Courtesy of C&T Publishing
4. Assess Your Quilting
Once finished, look over your sample and decide on one thing you want to improve during your next practice session. It could be anything, including, but not limited to:
- Quilting smoother lines
- Keeping the stitch length consistent
- Avoiding getting stuck
- Not cursing as much while quilting (Hey, it doesn’t matter what your goal is!)
If you are a perfectionist, it may be difficult limiting yourself to only one thing. But it’s very, very important to only focus on one aspect of your quilting to improve. Setting just one goal gives you the ability to see improvement. When it comes to machine quilting, achieving small goals can help prevent you from giving up!
5. Repeat
Now that you have a goal in mind, repeat the steps and practice until you are ready to start working on a different goal. It isn’t really about how long you practice, it’s about consistency. Try doing quilting 5 minutes a day….or 20 minutes a week…whatever you think is manageable for you!
What if you make a quilting “mistake”?
Here’s the kicker, what happens if you make a mistake. Well, I would argue that it’s not “if” you make a mistake, it’s what you do “when” you make a mistake!
Filling in a defined area teaches so much more than just learning a particular quilting design. You’ll learn how to maneuver around an area as well as how to deal with corners. But most importantly, it will help you see what the overall quilting texture will look like.
When your face is just a couple of inches away from the quilt, it can be so easy to spot all your mistakes. But when the whole area is filled, you’ll see that the overall texture can hide any imperfections.
For instance, if I make a mistake (as I prefer to call it, “an unintentional customization”) it’s going to be very obvious…..such as this “oops” I quilted on this sample.
But after filling in the whole area, you’ll notice that it starts to blend in with rest of the quilting.
The moral of this story is, if you make a mistake…..just keep quilting until you can’t see it anymore. (don’t you wish that was the case with other things in life?!?)
Free-motion Meandering
I already mentioned that this is in my newest book, “Free-motion Meandering”, but I have to tell you that I couldn’t be more proud of it! This book is the product of all the classes I have taught. It not only shows you several versatile meandering designs including swirls, leaves and even improv quilting.
It also includes frequently asked questions as well as how to troubleshoot common mistakes.
The book will be released in the next week or two, but you can preorder a signed copy now.
Thanks so much for your support! Happy Quilting!
awesome I would love a copy of your book when it is released I am a longarm quilter I love quilting for others and now it is my fulltime job. I an an amputee and find I can cope with this passion so well. My previous job was managing large hospitals but the joy of seeing a quilt finished is far more joyful.
I live in NZ and have provided my details Please let me know when your book is available.
Jan Hansen
hi Angela,
I work on a normal sewing machine doing FMQ. Having been learning doing this for over a year now. and still learning every day. I have one of your books and have found it very useful for my FMQ for different projects when I am doing .
Thank you for all the You tube videos you have recently put up it has been greatly beneficial.
You are my inspiration. I’m learning FMQ and FMQ my first quilt. I’ve ordered two of your books. My teacher recommended that I watch you on YouTube. Watching you quilt made me feel “I can do that” and yes there are mistakes and far from perfect stitching but all do blend in. I love your The Midnight Quilt Show.
I’m trying to decide how to quilt my 3rd (ever) quilt. I have never done FMQ and I want to start although not with a whole quilt, but thanks to Kay’s comments and your instruction I am going to give your ideas here a try and check out what you have on YouTube. I would like to add that so far, I have not been able to attend a 101 type class due to scheduling conflicts and I have learned so much from various YouTube channels. Many thanks to you and others for using all mediums to get information out.
Angela,
I’ve been quilting since 1974 and was my therapy for years … still is. I’m love quilting. I had a quilt shop in the 90s, but gave it up for a full time job. I can’t say it was a mistake,but wish I could have kept quilting then. Now that I’m committed to retire on my next birthday I have been busy building my business again. My loving husband refinished our basement so I can have a studio and he made the decision to buy a Bernina Q24 because I have wanted a long arm for 30 years. I have been following you for about two years now and love your you tube videos. All of them. You are so good at teaching and you make it fun while giving everyone that confidence to get quilting. Thank you for being such a great inspiration even for an old quilter like me! Kay Wilson, the Sewing Toad
I have the book. It is really great. I have been able to learn swirls by your step by step method. I am a great fan and have all your books. However, something clicked in this one. Thanks for all you do for us quilters. Anna
I absolutely love this book! All of the designs are fun and there aren’t too many of them. I’m terrible at them now, but I’ll keep practicing!
Hello QIMT,
I attended the El Camino Quilt meeting yesterday because I so desperately wanted to hear you speak. You are my machine quilting “Idol” and I was so excited to get to hear and see your trunk show. In my haste, I took my grand daughter which turned out to be a big mistake. I want to apologize to you, the El Camino Quilt guild members and to Lilli, my 2 yr old grand daughter. This will NOT happen again.
Thank you for a wonderful trunk show and presentation – even if I had to hear it from the hallway, LOL.
Hello! I came into your shop and bought your new book! It’s great! You make it sound fun vs me just “thinking” about it and not doing it.:) Anyways, it wasn’t signed so I was wondering since I purchased there, can I still get it signed?
Thanks,
Crystal Celeste
I notice you don’t pin baste your quilt on midnight quilting. Are you spray basting or just winging it?
She uses fusible batting
Taking a class with our guild in Oceanside, CA., November 10 with you. I can hardly wait to get inspired and try, “again”, to get this free motion quilting mastered….well…at least give it a whirl.
See you in sunny California in November.
Surprised to find out you are located in Liberty. Not far from my home.
I am doing a Craftsy class and I love it. Hope to stop by one day soon.
Wahoo! Someone once said, failure is not trying. Well thanks to your quilting videos I decided to go for it. My modern quilt guild had a crayon mini challenge. I came up with my design. I made the blocks. I trimmed and ironed them several times…how shall I quilt this? Well the day came and I was glueing the binding down. I had procrastinated for so long. I didn’t win the prizes offered; but I won a happy heart! I felt so good that I got in and did it. I came home and stitched down my glued on binding. Wow, it was so easy to sew with the glue holding it in place. Yeah! I did it.
I preordered my copy about a week ago. Will it be a signed copy? Oh I really hope it is! So excited to get your new book and learn. Going to start with the steps right here in this post. Thanks for all that you so willingly give to us, Angela. The Midnight Quilt Show is one of my favorites. You are hilarious!
I just started watching you on YouTube. I really enjoy watching you. You make quilting so much fun. I have watched so of it over and over again. I feel like I can do a lot of quilting now. Eight years ago I had my first quilting class. They had me do a log cabin queen size quilt. Then they stopped having classes. That really blow my mind. It was hard for me. But I am ready now to sew it together. Thank you so much for your inspiration. Brenda in North Carolina
Yep, awesome!
Angela, you’re just awesome. I hope someday to quilt as well as you! Also, I am stealing your line about “unintentional customization.” 🙂 what a great, positive spin. Thanks for being you.
Just got my copy of your new book today (but in my hurry to leave work, I forgot it on my printer). Oh well, that’s okay, because I really needed to get busy clearing my spare bedroom, because my new HQ Avante on a Little Foot frame is being delivered next Friday. (Picture me jumping up and down while clapping). So I can’t wait to start practicing designs from your new book on my new Avante!!!
I used your technique on a blocky quilt with several fabrics and I made each fabric a different design from your craftsy classes. It was great to limit the space and maneuver around like you said. I got a third place ribbon in my local fair 🙂
Angela IS AWESOME!
I agree. You are awesome and great advice and wisdom
Looking forward to the new book and as always thank you for reminding me to forgive mistakes and just move on. I hope you get to enjoy the Quilt Festival!
Thanks for all the advice. I’ve taken tons of classes but do not practice any of it. I am going to set up my quilting machine and try quilting in the boxes. I CAN do that!
Thanks for giving a few lessons–love the oops illustration!–and my first good laugh of the day! Can’t wait for your book to arrive!
I absolutely need your book! on my Christmas list!
This is all really useful advice. I will be looking for this book in England. x
Looking forward to buying my first free motion quilting book!
Can you recommend another one of your books to go with this one, for a beginner in fmq?
Well … good thing your book is arriving in my house tomorrow! I’m so excited to read it.
I am looking forward to getting your new book. Please don’t stop making videos…I find seeing something done is so helpful. Thanks for so much inspiration!
I also wanted to say that your “oops” example is awesome and shows perfectly how it can be hidden in plain sight! Love that example.