Lateral Extended-Width Modern Quilting Design

Lateral is a new extended-width design that is somewhat small in scale (more on that later) and great for providing lots of background texture that won't get in the way of a quilt's patchwork.



If you are new to extended-width pantograph designs, I'd encourage you to visit this blog post that provides more information and help with set-up. These designs are different than traditional edge-to-edge designs and may require different configurations or settings with your software. This design, in particular, includes six whole rows of quilting with the stagger (or offset) between rows built into the design.

I started fiddling with this design by manipulating one long and narrow teardrop shape. After lots and lots of futzing, and once I had it arranged as shown throughout this post, I realized how much it looks like a Wishbone variation! That was not the plan, but it totally "works" for me and here's why:

• Lateral is named that way because it emphasizes side-to-side movement, which is an excellent option to play up lateral movement, horizontal elements, or row quilts.
• Unlike the Wishbone design, it does not rely on deeply nested rows to create the overall effect. In fact, a small amount of positive space is built in between the rows of the design, making the alignment a bit easier.
  
  
  
  

The Quilt

For me, this quilt is pret-ty spicy! 🌶️ I gravitate to cool colors in almost all areas of my life, except for when coming up with the Longarm League branding—go figure!

This pattern is called Vintage Knit (Strip-piecing Version) from Squats and Running Stitches. It was great to get out of my comfort zone and work on a quilt different from my typical makes. The sewing was easy, and the pressing directions were fabulous! Just like reading a knitting pattern, I still had to pay attention even though the sewing was simple. I kept myself organized, and the whole thing came together perfectly!

I was drawn to the mockup colors on the pattern itself, which are deliciously cool, but again—I wanted to challenge myself to explore another colorway, so I went bold and sunrise-y!

Thanks to Meg at Monograms for Makers for having all the Moda Bella solids I needed to make my vision come to life! On the back is a Heather Ross print (below), which I got from my friend Sarah, who was re-homing some yardage that she wasn't going to use. It's from Heather Ross's Malibu line, and this is the Palm Beach Palette.

The Quilting Particulars

This is where I tell you that I quilted the whole quilt and then ripped it all out because I was dissatisfied with the scale. I thought I was going to start liking it more when I was done (?), but that, dear reader, was a lie. I'm the problem, it's me. 🙋‍♀️ I should have stopped after the first pass. But hey, I got to listen to the audiobook of Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie which perfectly matched the amount of time I needed to pick the stitches out, so it wasn't the worst thing to happen. The audiobook is around 7 hours, but I sped it up and finished around the ~5 hour mark.

The photo below shows the scale I wasn't wild about. I slept on the decision and then started unpicking. I like the do-over approximately 37x better.



Now, you might like the larger scale better. And if you do, that's wonderful! You can increase the design's default size to make it less dense. I think it was all of the 2" patchwork squares that made me want to size down. After the "trial run," I edited the design so that the default size was smaller and so that the rows were situated closer together. I thought the interplay between rows added an extra oomph. Increasing the size/scale will also increase the gap amount, but not as much as what you see above.

Here's the link (again) to more information about extended-width designs. Within the blog post, we have links to video tutorials showing how to set up extended-width designs for all major software brands. 

You'll find a left-to-right version (called Lateral L to R) in the file formats bundled with your purchase. Use the L to R file if your machine won't travel right-to-left without thread breaks or poor tension. It'll be a bit more tedious to restart each stitching line at the left instead of letting it alternate without supervision, but if it'll prevent thread breaks, it's worth it.

There's a video of the stitch out at the top of the blog post.

The default width is 128" wide, which means you'll want to trim/clip away the excess, leaving only what's needed for the quilt you have mounted on your frame.

Here are the sizing specifications for how I set up this sample quilt size using my Intelliquilter (66" x 66" quilt size):

Row height: 5"
Gap: 0" 
Pattern height: 5" (measurement from top to bottom of the repeat)
Offset: none
Backtracking: none

Zooming in on the left edge of the pattern, you'll see a stitching line that dips below the last row. This is a reference point for aligning the first stitch of the next repeat right where the line ends. This will ensure consistent spacing between each row and repeat.

Here's a look at the included PDF:

If you use Lateral on a quilt, we'd love for you to use the hashtag #lateralpanto and tag @longarmleague on Instagram so we can see how you use it! You can also visit our full digital design shop to take a look at all our previous designs.

Interested in getting new digital pantograph designs like this one on the day they're released (and at a deep discount)? Sign up for our Digital Panto Club and get them delivered straight to your inbox on the first Wednesday of each new month.