Originally Posted by
Dutchgirl
I am making my first quilt (I have been following the 2012 BOM class on Craftsy). I still have half of the blocks to make but now am thinking ahead to doing the actual quilting. I have a very basic machine. Janome Jem Gold 2 (model 661). I believe that I can get a walking foot for this machine but is the machine really going to be up to the task? Is the "throat" of the machine going to be big enough? The blocks, 20 of them are 12" finished in size. The machine was around $200 and the walking foot is about $50. I don't want to invest in a walking foot for this machine if it isn't going to do the job anyway....
Thoughts, suggestions??
If your intentions are to continue quilting, a walking foot is a good investment. I have a domestic Janome MC4000 machine. It has a small harp (throat/or whatever that area is called) and I have put queen size quilts through it. I use a fairly flat loft batting -- polyester traditional batting -- (because we don't have much use for very warm quilts in our area). The only quilting I do is stitch in the ditch and cross hatching. I do one line at a time and roll the quilt up tightly to do that one. I start in the center and work toward the edges. Good luck and happy quilting.
P.S. Good for you for working on the BOM with Craftsy. I went through it by watching the videos and printing out all of the material. Even bought the background fabric that Amy used. Perhaps in 2013 I'll do the blocks.