Libits

What a warm, wonderful, welcoming and knowledgeable community! You’re all so smart! Lots of ideas I hadn’t thought of.

So, I got it quilted. What a miserable experience or at least miserable on a home machine. I will probably never send my quilts out for FMQ because I want to put in each stitch myself.

The most difficult part—as I suspected—was not the actual quilting but the maneuvering of the fabric. I did end up doing an interior stitch for the white center block. I could only do two sides and then had to pivot the quilt for the 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] side. When it came to the 4[SUP]th[/SUP] side, I had to get up, walk to the back of the machine and, with a hefty pull, yank the fabric through so I could complete the square. (My dogs were looking at each other as if to say “I wonder what that word means. Mom’s never said it before.”)

I’ll post pictures when it’s done if it still looks decent. I did end up using clear thread with a bobbin the same color as the backing. I wanted the stars alone to be the star of the quilt with no distractions but I’ve never thought of contrasting colors so this is an idea that will stay in the forefront of my exhausted little brain for my next project which, at this point, will probably be a quilt made for the size of a hamster. I’m done with the big stuff…at least for now.

One last question for you all: What is your stuffing method? For those with a normal, home machine, how do you stuff your quilt onto the machine to quilt it? I’ve tried rolling it with marginal success but it’s still very cumbersome. With all the shuffling, I’ve had the machine move to the center of the table without me noticing it and I’ve had it nearly fall in my lap which I did notice. The available stuffing space on my machine is about 7”. I’d love to hear of any alternative methods since I’ve always found quilting the worst part of quilting because of space constraints.

quiltedsunshine

The throat space on my little Bernina is 6 1/4." I've quilted all of my own quilts and have done up to twin size quilts on it. I get the part that I'm working on, nice and flat on the machine bed. Then push everything else out and away from the machine. I use my body to hold what's in front of me. Rolling the quilt up works for long straight lines, but not so much for free-motion.

You might try the "Divide and Conquer" or "Cotton Theory" methods for quilting on your smaller machine. With these methods, you quilt smaller sections then sew the sections together.

I got a longarm 2 years ago, but still quilt some things on my little Bernina.

Tartan

I find rolling just makes it harder to move the quilt. I make sure the quilt is all up on my table to reduce drag and puddle the quilt around the machine. Remember you only need to have the about 6 to 8 inches between your hands flat for quilting. I work at right quarter top quilted, bottom quarter quilted....rotate the quilt around and repeat. This way you only have 1/4 of the quilt to squeeze through at a time.

QuiltnNan

I just puddle it as I go, but I don't do queen or king quilts

sewbizgirl

Agreed... puddle your quilt. Also check out Marti Michell's classes on Bluprint... Quilt As You Go, Quilting Strategies for any Quilt. She has a method for removing 2/3 of the batting temporarily, while you quilt just the other 1/3. It makes it easier to move your quilt through a smaller throat space. So you quilt the center 1/3 with batting first, then add back on another 1/3, and then the last 1/3. It makes a big quilt much more doable on a smaller machine.

Mousie

Libits, I am going to try Sharon Schamber's basting method next. You roll your layers
on two boards, top and bottom and do a large basting by hand in a very "seeable"
contrasting thread on the whole sandwich. I like the other ideas mentioned here too.

Libits

Well, I’m clearly doing something very wrong because I’ve puddled so much I’ve dog-gone drowned. “Puddling” to me connotates something soft and pliable. In reality, my puddling results in granite-like mountain peaks of the quilt. I seriously don’t know how you all do it. I’ve done it on smaller projects but this one just seemed too big to apply those methods.

The good news is that the piecing/seams seem pretty stable; all the pulling, tugging and dragging I’ve done haven’t opened any seams.

I’ve been stabbed, burned, cut and almost crushed trying to “puddle” when my machine almost fell on me. This is dangerous stuff.

nativetexan

Hmmm. think about tying it instead of machine quilting. look for tutorials/videos showing machine quilting on small throat machines. and for tying also. lots of information out there. Good luck!!

ckcowl

Check around your area for a machine dealer with longarms. I visited a shop that offered a class to learn the machine then you could rent time to longarm your quilts your self when you wanted. I bought my own after that but have offered the same service to quilters over the years so they can quilt their own.

Rhonda K

Congrats on your success! For every reason you mentioned, that is why I don't quilt large projects. You might try folding the quilt corners in with a diagonal fold instead of rolling. Whenever I rolled them, they got stuck in the back of the machine.

Give yourself a big pat on the back!