Originally Posted by
MartiMorga
Very Interesting, as a new quilter and not experienced at all in hand quilting. Is this to mark your quilt for hand quilting or machine or both? When you lay it on your quilt do you just pin or do you use something else to keep it in place? You have my curiousity. Thanks for all this great info.
It is for both hand and machine quilting...usually I just lay it where I want it and start sewing, but if it is a larger pattern and I'm afraid it will slip, then I will pin it, but it's usually not a problem to just lay it on the quilt and your first stitches will anchor it. The only thing I would caution someone about would be to choose your pattern carefully...if it has a lot of crossing lines and tiny spaces, you will find yourself picking the bits out with tweezers! Larger, open patterns generally work best with this method as the paper tears off cleanly and easily. I sometimes will use the newsprint to give me the large outline, tear it off, then go back and just "wing" the finer areas, I am not artistic, but if I have the outlines done, then it's not too bad to go in and finish the finer areas.
Get a practice sandwhich and try it with copy paper, just to see...it will tear off, but not as easily as newsprint, but you can get an idea of how it goes. Shorten your stitch length, too.
You can find hundreds of free quilting motifs with a google image search. I like the coloring pages for themed quilts..just google image "free coloring pages", then add what you're looking for, like flag, bird, etc...the possibilities are endless! Give it a whirl! Good luck!