Hello, I hope some of you can help me. I'm about to make a quilted door curtain for the front door and I plan to quilt it on my regular machine - probably just in the ditch along each centre patch of the star block, in a straight line carrying on through the strip blocks, in both directions.

It's large - 85" x 109". My question is, would you wrestle something this size through a regular machine? Or quilt it in sections? If I did it in sections, I would prefer to keep them vertical otherwise I'd worry that the seams across the backing would stop it hanging right.

Any advice on how to quilt it gratefully received! :D

I'm sorry, I don't know how to get it to appear here as a picture without you having to download! :oops:

if you save the file as a jpeg you'll be able to post it as a pic instead of a download.

if you're just doing SITD you might be able to quilt it in one piece.

have you ever quilting something close to this size on your machine?

The biggest I've done is a bed topper that was around 70" square, which I FMQd. It's the 109" length that worries me - that means at one point I'd have 54" of quilt rolled up through the throat - just wondered if that would be too much with a regular throat? It's times like this when I wish I could get a bigger throated machine! :shock: :D

since your design doesn't have any sashing strips you can do the following for quilt as you go.

make each block a quilt sandwich (top, batting, back) and quilt as desired.

then join the blocks together either vertical or horizontal rows (do it whatever way you prefer).

then trim down some of the batting on the seams in the back, press seams open, and whip stitch in place or you can use water soluble 1/4 basting tape.

then to cover the seams on the back - cut strips 1.5 inches, press the raw edges in to meet in the middle (its a bias strip without being cut on the bias).

then hand stitch these fabric strips across the seams on the back with whatever stitch you like.

Here it is so folks can see -

I'd do as Klu suggests, only in sections - it would be in 9-oatches consisting of
stripe-star-stripe
star-stripe-star
stripe-star-stripe

and
star-stripe-star
stripe-star-stripe
star-stripe-star

I have no clue, but it sure is pretty!

I usually quilt in sections. Each section has usually been the length of the quilt, with 3-5 sections across. I've found this method to be much easier than wrestling a big quilt through the machine.

Thanks for that Moonpi. :D

KLue, I didn't want to have horizontal seams on the back because when I experimented holding up a QAYG I made before, it doesn't hang right with the seams crosswise, although lengthwise is fine.

Dunster, what you suggest is what I was considering. If I SITD, obviously I'll have to do the seams I join after I'd joined. And if I did echo, how close to the edge of the sections could I go and still leave enough room to manoevre when joining?

Thanks everyone for helping (and Terri for liking it!) sorry to be a pain, I have no experience of machining such a big quilt and I don't want to hand quilt it - that door needs covering THIS winter! :lol:

Dunsters idea sound good, and I work in sections too. I can't handle the physical aspects of shoving around a monstosity, and all of our family's beds are big...we're not, lol...just dreamers and movers :wink:
It is really pretty, and will make a great winter curtain. Then, lol, you could make another, to keep in the a/c, for warmer seasons. :D
I really like it...probably gonna make one, next year, for my pantry area. Our back door doesn't seal tight. Thanks, k, for showing us, and thanks Moonpi, or j pegging :D

Thanks Mousie!

Looking at it again, I'm thinking if I spit it vertiacally into three - strips of 2 blocks - 3 blocks - 2 blocks, then SITD only down either side of the centre strip/three patches of each block, then I won't have to worry about the joins. So now my only question is this - when I SITD the horizontal lines, how much fabric do I need to leave at the points where I'll be joining the sections? Does the 1/4" of the seam allowance give me enough room to manoevre? I've only ever QAYG by hand and then I left tails of the quilting thread hanging and finished off after I'd joined the sections. Obviously I can't do this by machine.

moonpi, that is simply beautiful, wish you luck on whichever way you decide to quilt it.

One way to do it is to go ahead and quilt all the way to the edge of one of the two sections to be joined (section 1), but leave 1" not quilted on the edge of the other section (section 2). When you join, make your .25" seam with the backing from section 2 held back so it is not included in the seam. (I usually also cut away the backing of both sections so it is even with the .25" line; that way the backing doesn't get caught in the seam.) Now you can fold under .25" of that 1" that was held back, and hand sew it down. I do the hand sewing with the quilt laid on top of an ironing board or table, so the two sections are out flat and I can tell that I'm getting the seam straight.

That's just one method. I have Marti Michell's Quilting in Sections book, and it has been very helpful in explaining several different methods of quilting in sections. It gives good examples of when you might want to use one method rather than another, and also gives helpful advice on how to break the quilt down into sections. Hope this helps.

Thanks Dunster that is really helpful. I was just ironing my specially bought extra wide backing and thinking how ironic now I'm planning on quilting in sections, I could have gone with regular width... :shock: :D

That is one pretty quilt and one big door.

One big COLD single glazed door! :lol:

Thanks Renee - everything is washed and ironed, now I just have to get cutting! :shock: :D

Well, whatever you will do...This door will look nice ....However...diferent machines have diferent space in the throat space....
From my own experience I know that squeezing a big quilt under a small throat space can be done fisically, but the results of the stitching won't be so nice..... working by sections is the right desicion...

Good luck... :lol:

Okay I just can't wait to see this door quilt.

Thanks ania - I'm really torn about what to do - your point re the stitching was my worry BUT I feel really bad about slicing up my lovely backing fabric! I'm wondering if maybe I lay out the backing and batting together with another large piece of fabric, kind of like a 'dummy' and roll it up and see how it goes through the throat! OR I could just buy a new sewing machine! Now THERE's an idea! :lol: