If you’ve been following my blog at all you know I’m big into tools that are simple, easy to find, and cheap, and today’s tip is no exception!
Have you ever thought of using masking tape to mark straight lines?
It’s a really easy way to mark long, straight lines that’s easily removable when you’re all done! You can use either regular masking tape or the blue painter’s tape. Both will work but I happen to prefer using the regular tape. I just find it sticks better. The blue doesn’t stick well enough for my liking, especially when I am rolling and squishing the quilt through the arm of my machine.
Just don’t leave the tape on for too long. I usually tape just before sewing and immediately take it off so I don’t think I’ve ever left it on for longer than a half hour. In that short amount of time I’ve never had a problem with sticky residue.
I only mark one line at a time because that’s just easiest for me. I tend to use my previous line as a guideline for the next one. Doing it this way means you can keep reusing the same piece of tape over and over until it doesn’t stick anymore!
Because the tape is flexible, to ensure you get a straight line and not a curve I recommend using a long ruler as a guide for laying your tape on the quilt.
You want to make sure you don’t sew through the tape or it’ll get stuck under the stitching. An easy way to make sure you don’t is to run the edge of the foot along the tape line like I did here:
Or for this one I wanted to have the tape closer to the actual stitch line so I used the point on my foot where the metal curved:
When you’re doing straight lines, precision matters, and I love how this simple this easy method is to make perfect lines! Just check out how awesome this finished rainbow quilt looks after using this technique!
