Merge Edge-to-Edge Digital Pantograph Design

Merge was released to the membership in September 2020. Back then, I didn't have the time to write blog posts for all the new designs, so I still have some catching up to do with my early designs.

I created the Merge pantograph because I had no idea how to quilt the quilt shown below. Kamie Grangroth made that spectacular top! It is an original design of hers, which she called Merge.

Kamie is such an exciting artist and quilter! I love her use of color and design. Because of the vertical nature of the piecing, I was stumped as to which edge-to-edge design to use.

So, I took inspiration from the patchwork itself to echo some of the parallel and angled lines. 

Most longarm quilters can quilt a depth between 10-20" of space per pass, depending on the throat size of the machine, so it makes sense that most digital pantographs tend to be row-like rather than column-like.  

But not Merge!

Merge is a great design to use when you need some vertical action! I designed the linear columns to be at varying heights, so when quilted, the separation between rows is not obvious.

The Quilt

As you may have guessed, I didn't use a pattern for the small blue, white and gold you see throughout this blog post. It's made entirely of half-square triangles. 

When I made my sister and her husband a wedding quilt (one of the first pandemic projects I finished), I incorporated a darker gold fabric into the patchwork. 

But when I started laying out the blocks, it wasn't working for me. I loved the gold color and the print, just not juxtaposed with the other fabrics, so I took the HSTs using the dark gold fabric out of the blocks. Here's the finished quilt after I edited out the dark gold:

I loved how it turned out! The quilt above is a pattern I wrote for the Quilts and More magazine in 2016. A digital issue can be found here.

Skip forward a few years to when they were expecting their second baby, and I resurrected the HSTs from the wedding quilt and made a baby quilt for them. 

I think it was a good choice all around. I liked the wedding quilt more with the dark gold print removed, AND I thought the pops of gold added a lot to the baby quilt. 

The backing is a Robert Kaufman wide back that I'd pieced together and used on other projects. Luckily this quilt was small, so I didn't need too much of it.

The Quilting Particulars

Merge is very easy to set up and quilt. We include it as one of the fifteen designs that Rookie Season students get because it's so versatile.

Here are the sizing specifications for how I set up this sample quilt size using my Intelliquilter (36" x 44" quilt size):

Row height: 8"
Gap: -1.876" 
Pattern height: 9.876" (measurement from top to bottom of the repeat)
Offset: none
Backtracking: minimal

Keep in mind that this was the sizing for a baby quilt. If you are working on a larger quilt you can certainly size up. The sizing given in the PDF would be a good place to start.

Here's a look at the included PDF:

If you use Merge on a quilt, we'd love for you to use the hashtag #mergepanto and tag @longarmleague on Instagram so we can see how you use it! Since this design has been around for years, there are quite a few examples you can see by searching the Instagram tag.

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.