What size pantograph do I need?
A pantograph's size is two numbers: how wide one repeat is and how tall one row is. Your machine sets the largest row you can stitch, your batting sets how open the design can be, and your quilt size decides how many rows and repeats it takes. Here's how to pick both numbers, and a chart of rows and repeats for common quilt sizes.
The terms
- Repeat width: how far one copy of the design runs from left to right before the next copy starts. A 12 in repeat on a 60 in quilt is about five copies, joined into one line.
- Row height: how tall one row of the design is, from its highest point to its lowest. Many pattern sellers list this as the design's size.
- Row spacing: how far you advance the quilt from one row to the next. IntelliQuilter's IQPedia calls the stitched height the pattern height, which is "the amount of throat space you'll need", and the distance between rows the row gap.
- Nesting: a row spacing smaller than the row height, so the bumps of one row sit in the dips of the next.
- Overhang: how far each row runs past the edges of the quilt, so the design doesn't stop short at the binding.
Fit the row to your machine
The row has to fit in the space you can actually stitch, and that is less than the machine's throat. Handi Quilter, for example, lists the Moxie's throat at 15 in and the Amara's at 20 in. As you quilt, the finished part rolls onto the take-up bar and the roll gets thicker, so the usable height shrinks as you go. How much depends on your frame, so measure it: move the needle from the top of the space you can reach to the bottom and note the distance.
- Keep the row height a little under that measured space, so you have room to line up the next row.
- With nested rows you still stitch the full row height on every pass; only the advance between rows gets smaller.
- On a hand-guided longarm, the paper pantograph sits on the table at the back and you follow it with a laser or stylus. The whole row has to fit within the reach of the pointer as well as the throat.
Fit the density to your batting
Every batting has a maximum stitching distance: the largest gap it allows between lines of quilting before it shifts or bunches when washed. APQS's batting chart lists 10 in for Warm & Natural cotton and 4 in for Hobbs 80/20, so the same design can be fine on one and too open on the other. Check the number on your batting's package, then look at the biggest open area in your design at the size you plan to stitch. If it's larger than the batting allows, make the design smaller or the rows closer together.
Within that limit it's a matter of taste. Small repeats and short rows quilt denser and make a stiffer quilt; big ones stitch faster and stay softer. Most edge-to-edge designs repeat every 8 to 14 inches and stand 5 to 12 inches tall (more in how to design a pantograph).
Rows and repeats for common quilt sizes
These are PantoMaker's quilt size presets with a 12 in repeat and rows that touch (row spacing equal to row height). The numbers come from the same layout code as the designer, which runs every row 2 in past each edge of the quilt, so they include rows that start in that overrun.
| Quilt | Repeats per row | 6 in rows | 8 in rows | 10 in rows |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baby, 36 × 52 in | 4 | 10 | 8 | 6 |
| Throw, 60 × 72 in | 6 | 13 | 10 | 8 |
| Twin, 70 × 90 in | 7 | 16 | 12 | 10 |
| Full / Double, 85 × 108 in | 8 | 19 | 15 | 12 |
| Queen, 90 × 108 in | 8 | 19 | 15 | 12 |
| King, 108 × 108 in | 10 | 19 | 15 | 12 |
The row counts don't depend on the design, only on its height and spacing, so any pantograph at these sizes gives the same counts. Nesting adds rows: an 8 in design on the Throw at 7 in spacing takes 11 rows instead of 10, and at 6 in spacing it takes 13.
Work it out for any size
This page uses a fixed table instead of an interactive calculator, so here is the arithmetic. It's the same rule PantoMaker uses:
- Repeats per row = (quilt width + 2 × overhang) ÷ repeat width, rounded up.
Example: a 60 in wide quilt with a 2 in overhang and a 12 in repeat: 64 ÷ 12 = 5.3, so 6 repeats. - Rows = (quilt length + 2 × overhang) ÷ row spacing, rounded down, plus 1.
Example: a 72 in long quilt with 8 in spacing: 76 ÷ 8 = 9.5, so 9 + 1 = 10 rows.
Or let the designer do it: in PantoMaker, set the repeat width and row height under Size, then pick a preset or type your width and length under Your quilt, where the row spacing is too. The line under the preview shows the rows, the repeats per row and about how many yards of stitching it takes. The Quilts of Valor guide walks through it for a 60 × 80 quilt.
Scaling a pantograph
- Keep the proportions. To make a design shorter without squashing it, scale the repeat width by the same amount. A 12 × 8 in design at 75% is 9 × 6 in, and you get more repeats per row as well as more rows. If you change only the height, the design stretches or squashes. In PantoMaker, tick Keep proportions under Size and the row height follows the repeat width.
- Nest instead of shrinking. If the rows leave gaps but the design looks right, keep its size and set the row spacing a little smaller than the row height. Loop and feather designs usually nest well. Stitch a test row on scrap before you commit to a spacing.
- Shift or flip rows. Moving every other row half a repeat, or mirroring it, changes how the rows meet without changing the size. The whole-quilt preview shows the result.
Paper pantographs come in one size
A paper pantograph you buy is printed at one row height and one repeat width, so you pick the closest size and adjust the spacing. PantoMaker prints any size you set: you can print a paper pantograph on Letter or A4 sheets, or as one long page at a print shop. Computerized longarms scale the file in their own software; see longarm quilting file formats for which file your machine reads. The free pantographs download in every format plus a paper version, so you can try a size on your own quilt before you buy anything.
