Originally Posted by
vintagemotif
Nancy, I remember back when you were first starting to treadle. You were frustrated then, and I talked you into just keep practicing. I can treadle fairly fast with my treadle, which is fast enough for me.
I do not even back tack when I assemble my blocks since I try to do them in a chain method if I can get away with it. When blocks get put into rows, then I may back tack if I remember to do so. Somehow my quilts all get assembled and quilted without even one back tack.
Yep, I was frustrated. My DH sat down and treadled our first treadle the day we unloaded it in the garage - a 27 with the Pheasant decals! I tried and just couldn't do it at all! But, thanks to you all, I kept trying! Now I treadle as fast as that pedal will go - which is still slower than an electric machine could go! I agree with Skip, to be accurate I don't need to sew pedal to the metal. A little slower is much more accurate! It is great exercise and it is very relaxing to sit and treadle! I have a lot of respect for those women who use to treadle all day - my legs ache after a couple hours of treadling!
I also chain stitch my blocks together, but I usually back tack each row beginning and end as they go together. I don't want the blocks to come apart when I stretch them on the long arm table. I only free motion my smaller projects, the queen/king sized quilts have to be rolled on a long arm, which is harder on your stitching. I also use a very small stitch per inch so no distortion happens to my blocks on the LA table.
Nancy