Newbie
03-16-2012, 05:43 PM
#13
Super Member
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Houston TX
Posts: 1,993
Welcome from Houston TX. I love my Baby Lock but don't know how available they are to you. Also it really helps to get one from a good store that has someone who can service the machine annually. It also helps if they can give you a lesson on using the machine. Best of luck and Happy Birthday!
03-17-2012, 12:00 AM
#17
Power Poster
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Northern California mountains
Posts: 12,538
Welcome aboard. I think my Janome 6600 is marvelous, but most of my guild sisters think the same thing of their machines. If you intend to do free motion quilting (that's the curvy stuff), you will want to be able to drop the feed dogs.
Getting kitted up. Besides fabric and thread, you would do well to get a rotary cutter and mat, scissors and at least one good ruler. There are many opinions about rulers too. I use my June Taylor 1/2" division Shapecut for almost everything. Most of my guild sisters would say you need a 6x24" ruler. Be sure the printing on the ruler is not so thick that you can't see the fabric well through it. It is good to have a 1/4" foot and a "walking foot" (known by various names from various companies). If you are intending to hand quilt, you will still want the walking foot for adding binding. You need a good iron and ironing board. I like to have an embroidery/darning foot for free motion quilting. Free patterns are available in several web sites. IMHO, a quilting program is a wonderful thing, but it is not essential by any means. I like Quilt Pro. Get exxtra rotary blades and sewing machine needles, as you will wear them to dullness , even if you don't break them. Pins. There are lots of different opinions about pins too. I use both short quilters pins and the long ones with flower heads. Pins which are not designed for quilting leave larger holes and don't work at all well with batiks. Mostly, you will need lots of immagination and some courage. Understand that at least one person will tell you that quilters are all crazy because we take perfectly good fabric, cut it into little pieces, then sew it together again. If you worry about combining colors (I don't), down load a picture of a color wheel and learn to use it. Most of all, have fun.
There are lots of quilters' terms and abbreviations. There is a list available on this site. It might be helpful to download it into your word processor. Be sure to ask whenever you run into questions/problems.
Since you are on this site, you will have lots of free advice available from experienced quilters at almost any time of the day or night.
Getting kitted up. Besides fabric and thread, you would do well to get a rotary cutter and mat, scissors and at least one good ruler. There are many opinions about rulers too. I use my June Taylor 1/2" division Shapecut for almost everything. Most of my guild sisters would say you need a 6x24" ruler. Be sure the printing on the ruler is not so thick that you can't see the fabric well through it. It is good to have a 1/4" foot and a "walking foot" (known by various names from various companies). If you are intending to hand quilt, you will still want the walking foot for adding binding. You need a good iron and ironing board. I like to have an embroidery/darning foot for free motion quilting. Free patterns are available in several web sites. IMHO, a quilting program is a wonderful thing, but it is not essential by any means. I like Quilt Pro. Get exxtra rotary blades and sewing machine needles, as you will wear them to dullness , even if you don't break them. Pins. There are lots of different opinions about pins too. I use both short quilters pins and the long ones with flower heads. Pins which are not designed for quilting leave larger holes and don't work at all well with batiks. Mostly, you will need lots of immagination and some courage. Understand that at least one person will tell you that quilters are all crazy because we take perfectly good fabric, cut it into little pieces, then sew it together again. If you worry about combining colors (I don't), down load a picture of a color wheel and learn to use it. Most of all, have fun.
There are lots of quilters' terms and abbreviations. There is a list available on this site. It might be helpful to download it into your word processor. Be sure to ask whenever you run into questions/problems.
Since you are on this site, you will have lots of free advice available from experienced quilters at almost any time of the day or night.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
