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Massage Quilting: How to Tame a Wonky Block with Free Motion Quilting

HollyAnne Knight

The dreaded WONKY BLOCK. We've all made quilts where there is that one block that came out a little weird and needs a little extra love to look nice when finished. Let’s talk about how to use free motion quilting to coax it into lying flat and pretty during the quilting process!

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There’s two ways this happens, right? Either, we’re getting all our blocks made and realize that one came out a little large and squaring up would cut off points , so we decide just to ease it into the quilt as is… or, all looks well, but as we are quilting, there turns out to be just a little more fabric in those seams than we realized, and as we quilt, it massages out and all of a sudden the whole block seems huge. Either way, the result is the same: the block is wonky, and if we aren’t careful the whole quilt will go wonky as we quilt making trimming an absolute nightmare. So, what do we do about it?? Don’t worry, Rockstar, I’ve got you.

Video

Massage Quilting

Yep, you read that right. When I’ve got a wonky block, rather than being mad at it or thinking about keeping it in line (so violent sounding!), I massage it. Coax it. Cajole it. (this is kind of like the principle of sweet talking a finicky printer. Surely I’m not the only one who has had one of those??)

(Note: In the above video and in these photos, I’m working on a longarm. Follow the same steps on a domestic machine, and use your FMQ foot for the initial stitch in the ditch because it won’t drag the fabric as much. If you have a ruler foot and ruler, even better)

First step: the sooner you can identify a weird block, the better.

The hardest thing is when you don’t realize something funky is up until you’re part of the way through the block. To be honest, this is where a longarmer has a bit of an “advantage” because if something doesn’t lay flat, it will show up on the frame pretty quickly. If quilting on a domestic, pay attention during basting. Keep your quilt as square as possible and notice if there are any blocks that are a little wonky or have extra fabric.

For the block I’m using to demonstrate, I knew it was weird at the piecing because it was about 1/4-1/2” too big, but trimming would have cut off the points. I chose to ease it into the sashing of the quilt and planned to massage it during quilting to hide the extra fabric.

When you get to the weird block during your quilting, stitch in the ditch around the block to hold it square an in line with the rest of the quilt.

After stitching in the ditch, it is likely the center of the block will be puffy or wrinkly with extra fabric. That’s okay! We are going to use a dense quilting motif to “eat” that ease. Now, honesty moment: this technique is harder with looser/ all over designs, and you’re more likely to get pleats and puckers that way. It’s not impossible, but a denser motif will work better.

Next, secure any major areas of the block, especially if you plan to leave them unquilted. In other words, decide what part of. the block is going to “carry” the extra fabric and corral it there with more stitch in the ditch.

Densely quilt the areas with the extra fabric in order to massage it into the stitching. My favorite dense motifs include woodgrain (shown here), switchbacks, tight meanders, pebbles, and small swirls.

Continue quilting the rest of the block, alternating between stitch in the ditch and other motifs as fitting.

Ta da!

Closing Thoughts

I know I said “we’ve all been there” at the beginning of this post, but I want to reiterate that here: everyone has wonky blocks sometimes. Sometimes it makes sense to re-do the block, but a lot of times successfully finishing projects is about knowing how to finagle something funky into place. That’s what this is all about. Don’t be embarrassed or hard on yourself about something being a bit wonky— instead, use your Rockstar energy to make it work and enjoy the process!

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