what is the largest quilt you've ever made?
 

I am working on a ginormous quilt, which I predict will end up being 124" square when complete. This is the largest I have ever done, breaking my old record by about 9" on width and length. I am going to quilt it on my DSM. It is made from upholstery fabrics, and will weigh a ton when it is finished. Oh, and it is for a paying customer.

I am still at the piecing stage...and I am already having nightmares about the layering and quilting!

Last night as I lay awake (at 3am, of course) I mulled the various approaches to quilting this behemoth: should I QAYG? Should I do it in sections then combine the pieces? Bite the bullet, do the whole thing as one piece and pray for increased upper body strength to infuse me?!?

I think I have decided to combine all the pieced squares (which will make a center of about 96" square), layer that on the backing with a generous allowance all around (l'm thinking about 30" on each side), quilt that, and then add the enormous border...

What say ye?

Alison-the-Unnerved

PS The quilting will be simple - mostly wavy diagonal lines, and SITD - so there won't be too much FMQ going on.

80 x 100 I believe is the largest so far. A quilt for my son and his wife.

your idea sounds great. i can't imagine doing the quilt in its entirety in one go. the largest i did was a king on my frame.

I've made several king size - 120x120". I'm working on one 106x106" now.

I think it might be easier for you to quilt the inner square then add the borders.

I made a king size on my dinky mechanical Brother and quilted it in the ditch. It was set on point so I started in the middle and worked out so there was minimal wrestling it.

I made a log cabin 97x112 for my 6 ft. 5in. Grandson. He loved it!

The largest size quilts I've done are Queen size. I wouldn't enjoy making any bigger.

I have quilted several king sized 120 x 120 on my DSM. ON all of them, I have quilted them prior to putting the borders on. A couple I split in sections & quilted that way. It just depends on the design. Good luck & show pictures.

Before I had a longarm I quilted all my large quilts in sections, using one of the various techniques in Marti Michell's book, Machine Quilting in Sections. She uses examples to help you decide which of the techniques to use for a particular quilt.

In 1988, I did a large king sized quilt. I used flannel for the batting, and tied it. That was before I knew anything about machine quilting and there was no time in my schedule for hand quilting. That quilt has been used a LOT!

Last night I (my DH and 3 friends) Sandwiched a batik quilt measuring 100 x 111. This is my biggest so far. I plan to FMQ on my Domestic sewing machine It will be a killer on the shoulders!!!!

Wow! Thats a job! Esp with upholstery fabrics!! Hope youll take pictures and show us how its going along the way!!

I've never gone larger than a queen-size. For yours -particularly coz it's upholstery fabric, I would suggest putting the whole top together and the entire backing but cutting the batting in thirds. Then you only sandwich the center part and roll the rest of the top and backing so you ONLY quilt the center piece. It is MUCH LESS bulk when you don't have to handle the rest of the batting. The side sections get added one at a time and then you can quilt that side section. Again, you will have to deal with only 1/3 of the quilt under the throat of your machine.

Yes! The shoulders! I'll definitely have to pace myself, and remember not keep my shoulders scrunched up. Good luck with yours - a giant batik quilt sounds lovely; pictures?

This is a very interesting idea...I think I will do this, although I think I'll still need to put the entire center section together because of the type of "pattern" I plan to do with the quilting (long diagonals, but curvy). I'd be afraid I wouldn't be able to match the ends effectively if I stopped and started them. But I like the idea of leaving off the borders from the top (my original plan) and leaving off the batting for those borders, and just have the backing be its full size right from the start. Now it'll be a piece of cake!! (Wishful thinking.)

I'll post pics during the wrestling - probably in a couple of weeks. Thanks for the advice!

Alison

Sounds like that is the way to go. It will be quite a task even then. I wonder if the person realizes how heavy it will be?

I think this is a great idea! I have a book that explains this, but haven't tried it yet..
Kif

Allison, You are brave. Good for you. The largest I have made is 90x95.

Or crazy!!

Alison

My largest is 96X108 for our queen size bed. I love the size. Neither my DH nor I can complain about someone hogging the covers. Plenty to go around. I hand quilted it.

I made a king size. The center has 9 20 x 20 inch blocks then large borders all around. I sashed & quilted the center blocks, quilted the borders separately then added them to the sides of the quilted center blocks. All on a domestic machine. I use it on my bed everyday.

I have done 120 x 120 on my Viking Sapphire 830 domestic, I meander and start at the outside and work in - it has worked for me on over 50+ big quilts. Good luck the extra 4 inches all the way around will seem like a lot but you can certainly do it!

120x120 !!!!

I have started making all my quilts at least a queen but mostly kings. Everyone I would give one to has big beds with big matresses so to use them for a spread they need to be big. I just finished a top that was king and they are certainly a lot of work. When I got the borders on I ached all over from handling it and moving it around.

122x122. Yes quilt the center and then add the borders. Remember quilting will add more weight so for usage you might not want to over quilt since you mentioned it was already heavy because of the fabric. Can't wait to see it.

Largest quilt I have made was 108 x 108, but didn't have to quilt it on a DSM. Sounds like a lot of hard work! Would love to see pics as you are progressing.

The largest I have made is 108x 108.

i would definitly recommend either quilt as you go- or quilt it in sections which you then join---something that large will be impossible to reach the center of on a domestic machine- few long-arms are even large enough to (comfortably) do one that large.
the largest quilt i ever made was my daughter's wedding quilt- it was 126" X 140"! i paid ALOT to have it long arm quilted (as in over $400)

I'm working on my largest right now but it is dinky compared to the other posts. Its only 72 x 84 but plenty big for me to machine quilt on my babylock.

First quilt I ever made 100 x 120 with over 2000 half square triangles. . .and I trimmed every one of those little devils!!

WOW!! 126" x 140" sounds like medieval-tapestry-sized!

I feel your pain - my first quilt was a 110" x 110" watercolor quilt of a live oak tree surrounded by azaleas...if I knew then what I know now I would never have made it! I can't remember the exact number of squares, but it was something like 3600...fortunately they were relatively large pieces (1.5" finished), and not like some of the postage stamp quilts you see, where they've used 1/2" squares!

Alison

84 x 96" could not make it any bigger as daughter wanted it made into a doona/quilt cover.

My largest (my first and only that size) was a Harley-Davidson T-shirt quilt for my son. It was a project from, well, I think you all know where.

I was asked if I would make another and the response was......"never". That one was for my younger son and it was a one of a kind....used 53 of this shirts, some of his wife's, his nieces' and even a H-D child's purse is one of the block.
That block can still be the holder of mementos since I left the flap open.

No more biggies for me.......love lap size or hangings.

My first "real" quilt was 120x120. It was Sunbonnet Sue and I embroidered every other square. I did it sitting with my embroider machine sitting on the floor. What a job that turned out to be! Since then, my largest has been about 90x90. I do a lot of QFKs quilts and love them because of their size :)

The largest quilt I ever made
 

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It was a king size bedspread. This was for a friend in 1985

The largest i've made is a king size, never again,i found it to be much to much for me to handle i enjoy making twin or lap size

120"x120" using the BQ (Big Quilt) Pattern. The big blocks are all fussy cut huge Hawaiian flowers or foliage. It is pieced, sandwiched and partially quilted. I'll finish quilting it in the next few weeks as it's a late Christmas present for my son and his partner.

This is the last one of this size I will ever make -- too hard to quilt on my home machine. I'm really into wall hangings or laptop quilts now.

110 X 110 california king

My largest was a king size quilt 110 x 110 that I quilted on my DSM, long before I even took a quilting class or even a machine quilting class. I don't think the second king-size quilt was much bigger, if at all.