katiebear1

I have noticed that in many of the quilts, the quilting is poufy and really stands out. Mine does not seem to do that. Do you all use double batting? I know a lot of your quilts are done on DSMs. So I don't think it has to do whether it was LA or not I did do one quilt in which I used poly batting and the quilting stood out more. I sometimes put a lot of effort in to my FMQ and it is disappointing when it is hardly visible .

nativetexan

I would think you'd need high loft poly batting to get the puffy look. I tend to prefer flat. Try making some samples.

PaperPrincess

The batting does make a difference. I really like wool. Nice loft but it's spendy. Another thing is the angle and lighting that the quilt is photographed with can really enhance or suppress the quilting.

Tartan

The problem is that 80/20 batt is easier to FMQ on a domestic machine. It's low loft makes it stable and clings nicely to the layers but doesn't really give high definition to the FMQ. I have tried using 505 spray basting and polyester and that did not go well for me. Some do use 2 layers of batt but that is harder to stuff through a domestic machine and it can shift. I love the look of 2 batts that the long arm quilters post but I have accepted that I can't do it on my domestic.

katiebear1

I guess I will resign myself to what I can do on my DSM.. I have a Pfaff With a 10 inch throat so It IS possible to do a King but It is really hard, I can do meander or swirly on the big quilts but anything else is hard. I just quilt for pleasure and we use everything I make . It is not like I am going to put anything in a show. I would love to have one of the sit down mid arm machines. I WANT that but I NEED a new car, so I guess it will remain a dream for awhile more

Buckeye Rose

Keep in mind that if the quilting is dense, there is very little area to be puffy....less quilting gives you more definition and also makes for a softer, more cuddly quilt.

helou

Thank you for asking, I was wondering the same thing and with your conclusion I guess I will keep dreaming too.

nativetexan

also think of doing your quilting in sections. Machine quilting in sections by marti mitchell (sp) is a good book.
also Reversible Quilts by Sharon Pederson. doing large quilts in two or three sections makes it easier on our necks and arms. good luck.

feline fanatic

Not exactly. Very dense quilting in the background can really get a motif to pop up off the background. Like in this example, the kangaroos:
I am a longarm quilter and this example was double batted but you would get a very similar effect with an 80/20 batting.
There are many ways to get your quilting to stand out. One is using wool or poly batting. Another is to try Trapunto where you have to outline quilt with just your top and a batting, then cut away the excess batting and then sandwich. This way you will get emphasis on certain motifs. Trapunto is a lot of extra work but well worth the effort and the key to trapunto is fairly dense background quilting behind the trapunto element.

feline fanatic

Here is an example of dense background quilting getting the moon and embroidery to pop. This was done with 1 layer of Hobbs 80/20