I just bought a viking embroidery machine and I'm not sure how to use embroidery in my quilt. Do you piece the sandwich together and then embroider or do you only embroider the quilt top? I know I would need a stabilizer for the quilt top, but what about the quilt sandwich? Does anyone have suggestions on how to quilt it with embroidery? I am so anxious to finish this quilt and want to embroider butterflies. Any help would greatly be appreciated! :( :roll:

do some tests first on single layers of scrap fabric. before you commit to embroidering the quilt sandwich you'll want to know what it's going to look like on the back. some designs are a great subsitute for regular freemotion quilting. some are only pretty on the front.

this is my favorite site for machine embroidery designs especially created for quilting the sandwich. lots to choose from and the prices are rock bottom.

http://www.emblibrary.com/el/Browse....mbs=Emblibrary;Quilts&ShowTop=true

i do embroidery on my squares then put them together before i make the sandwich i don't like the way it looks on the back and also you don't want your quilt to have a rough spot on the back side.

i just got an em machine in jan and on my sec quilt. quilting all the layers. Don`t use poly batting as I learned on my first as its too slippery in the hoop.
I think the pretty designs with lots of colour as I understand from my lessons that you em them first before sandwich then you can put stippling around or just pick a quilting design like I did and do all 3 layers.
There is so much to learn I just had to jump in with both feet.
alot of test pieces.
Gale

Depends on how you want your quilt to look. I have a Viking Designer Diamond and a Designer SE (one sews while other is embroidering)....on some quilts, the embroidery is the design on the block, not the quilting. On others, it is the actual quilting. If I am using a design created for quilting, I put all 3 layers together, have good bobbin thread to match the fabric backing, and with the Do It All Quilter's hoop, I hoop all 3 layers (no stabilizer needed as you have the 2 layers of fabric and the batting) and let the machine do it's thing............I have never used stabilizer when quilting all 3 layers with a design intended for this purpose, and have never had any problems or issues...........the designs look great.........and a re far better than I could do free motion or by hand. Enjoy your new machine!!!

I love the hearts.

Have done it both ways. I guess it depends on how you want your quilts to look. Currently working on a quilt with em squares. If it is just lines I usually sandwich it but I don't like the looks of the back if the designs are filled in.

That's a great resource, Patrice. Thanks I bookmarked it. I've embroidered on my Janome 9000 the full sandwich many times. You have to make sure the design you pick is somewhat of an outline only so the back looks decent. One other hint is when you're doing the full quilt you need to make sure none of the quilt drags on the embroidery. Otherwise it will be off. Some people put the machine on the floor so the weight is distributed all around. I did o.k. spreading the quilt out on my table. But, I never did queens or Kings that way. I think the larger quilts would need to be done on a very large table or on the floor.

I love embroidery machines...they can be like mini long-arms.

I cut quilt blocks and embroider on the blocks then piece the quilt together. I use a stabilizer and 505 spray to adhere the fabric and stabilizer. I'm not sure its good for the machine to embroider through a finished quilt. (With batting) I think this would be too much weight on the embroidery arm. Have fun, there are so many embroidery designs available. Since they come on CD's they are inexpensive compared to when they first came out. And a large variety of embroidery threads too.

I haven't used mine much yet, but the embroidery I do is just on the top.