Hi - I am new here and new to quilting. I took one class earlier this year and made a sampler quilt.
I am hoping that someone here can solve my dilemma. So here goes. I went to a quilting shop and fell in love with a quilt that was on display for upcoming classes - so I signed up. However, I discovered after I got started that working with chenille is rather challenging. Cotton is flat and easy -- chenille is lumpy and bumpy and a bit stretchy. The chenille is in 12 inch squares.
Anyway, I got the top finished and then I decided to safety pin the layers together and stitch in the ditch. But things are not going well!! The quilt is just a single bed size but I am getting bogged down with that "sausage" that you have to roll up when you are working on one end of the quilt. Then, if I go horizontally one way (across the short side) - I have this huge sausage and when I get to the end and try to turn - well I just about tear my hair out trying to pull the "sausage" back through the machine to go in the opposite direction.
That problem, combined with the face that when I sew on the chenille, it tends to bunch up ahead of me and creates a lump at the end of the 12 inch square - I am ready to tear my hair out!!
Is this just a problem that you have to cope with when you are trying to stitch in the ditch on a regular sewing machine - or is there an easier way to do it?
I really appreciate any help more experienced quilters can give me.