Kimberbell Clear Blue Tiles: Quilting on Your Embroidery Machine!
If you're a quilter looking for an easier way to take your projects to the finish line, Kimberbell's Clear Blue Tiles (CBT) system could be your new best friend! With its intuitive approach to marking and quilting, this system helps you achieve the look of continuous quilting patterns on any size of project, whether you're working on a wall hanging or a full-size bed quilt.
In this blog post, we’ll walk you through how to use the Kimberbell Clear Blue Tiles, giving you tips to make the most of this fantastic tool and achieve professional-looking quilting results! No longarm needed!
What are Kimberbell Clear Blue Tiles?
Kimberbell Clear Blue Tiles are a set of tiles that allow you to mark your quilting designs directly onto your fabric, aligning them perfectly for quilting in the hoop. The system includes different sizes of tiles, a placement guide, and a marking pen, making it a versatile and easy-to-use solution for continuous quilting.
Clear Blue Tiles are designed to work with your embroidery machine to create beautiful all-over or custom quilting patterns without the need to mark your fabric repeatedly or move it under a traditional quilting machine. Plus, the tiles come in a variety of shapes and sizes, allowing you to quilt blocks, borders, corners, and even larger sections.
What You’ll Need:
- Kimberbell Clear Blue Tiles Set
- Kimberbell quilting designs (Downloadable designs!)
- Embroidery machine
- Thread to match or complement your fabric
- Your project top, batting, and backing
Step-by-Step Guide to Using Kimberbell Clear Blue Tiles
1. Prepare Your Project
Before starting, make sure your project top, batting, and backing are basted together. This step is essential to prevent shifting while quilting.
2. Choose Your Design and Tile
Select the quilting design you want to use from Kimberbell's design files. Next, choose the appropriate Clear Blue Tile size based on the section of the quilt you’re quilting. There are tiles for blocks, borders, corners, and more.
3. Mark Your Fabric
Place the tile on the area of the quilt where you want to stitch a design. Using the provided marking pen (or your preferred temporary fabric marker), mark the center point and any registration marks as indicated by the tile. These marks help align your quilt with the embroidery design later on.
Repeat this process across the quilt top for continuous quilting, aligning the tiles as needed to maintain a cohesive design.
4. Hoop Your Project
Once your project is marked, hoop the section that you’ll be quilting first. We highly recommend using a magnetic hoop! It will make the experience so much better!
5. Load and Stitch the Design
Load your chosen quilting design onto your embroidery machine. Align the center point of the design with the center mark you made on your quilt using the Clear Blue Tile. This ensures that the embroidery design will stitch exactly where you want it.
Now, let your embroidery machine do its magic! Stitch out the design, and when it’s complete, remove the stabilizer and move on to the next section.
6. Continue Quilting
Move your hoop to the next section of your quilt and repeat the process, using the marks made with your Clear Blue Tiles to ensure perfect placement of your designs. Continue until the entire quilt top is quilted.
Why Use Kimberbell Clear Blue Tiles?
Kimberbell's Clear Blue Tiles system takes the guesswork out of quilting on your embroidery machine. Instead of rehooping multiple times or worrying about matching up continuous designs manually, the tiles ensure precision and reduce the chance of mistakes. Kimberbell's digitizing makes the quilting look like it's continuous throughout!
Whether you’re quilting blocks, borders, or larger sections, Kimberbell’s system helps you finish your projects faster and with more confidence! Watch some videos below on how easy it is to use Kimberbell's Clear Blue Tiles!
Have you used Kimberbell Clear Blue Tiles? Share your experiences or tips in the comments below! Happy quilting!