"Machine Quilting in Sections" by Marti Michell- Has Anyone Tried This?
 

I am new to quilting and have been worried that it may prove too difficult for me to quilt a bed sized quilt on my home sewing machine. I have no problem attaching turned edge applique pieces with my machine. My concern is in "dragging" so much material around while trying to make attractive stitch shapes that are not pulled out of shape by the resistance from the "mass". This would apply to both feed dog up and down quilting.

I found the above book on quilting individual blocks, or groups of blocks, First and then joining the quilted sections together. Has anyone tried this or a similar technique? Since I am doing different sized applique blocks, I don't think the "Quilt as You Go" method would work for me. I imagine like anything else, there are probably different challenges that would crop up quilting in sections.

Any experience or observations would be greatly appreciated!

All your blocks don't have to be the same size. You can quilt each
section separately then put them together. Here's an example.
Hope this helps.
https://www.sewwhatyvette.com/quilt-...n-them-easily/

thanks for this link

I bought the Marti Michell book when I was a new quilter, and I heartily recommend it. I used several of her methods for my large quilts before I eventually bought a longarm. She also has a class on Craftsy/BluPrint. The book takes you beyond the "quilt as you go" technique. She explains several different techniques and shows how to figure out which technique to use on your quilt.

I made a king size quilt for my bed about a year ago and used this method to quilt it. I did all the FMQ on my 25 year old Bernina with the tiny throat section. While it was still a bit of a challenge, I was able to get it all quilted by this method on a machine with a small throat area. I thought mine came out really nicely and would recommend her book and method.

I have not done Marti Michell's method, but I have a book, Divide and Conquer! Quilt it Your Way that I used for a quilt that was too large for me to handle. On that one, you make the whole top, then you sandwich it. Then, you cut 1/3 of the batting off on each side. You quilt the center, then add the batting on one side and quilt it and then the other. The advantage is that you don't have all that bulk to deal with at one time.

They tell you to cut the batting in a wavy line, so that you can line it up. I had no luck with that and wished I had just cut it straight. The iron on fusing that I used to join the sections of batting didn't work well. I used batting with a scrim and it didn't like the iron, so I ended up zig-zaging the batting sections together. Had I planned on using the zagzag to join the sections, it would have been ok, not great, but ok. Once the quilt was done, you couldn't tell any difference. It was just frustrating.

I think there are patterns that lend themselves to the "quilting in sections" idea better than others. One is the French Braid. With sashing, it would be easy to do. I would suggest you pick a pattern that is actually designed for quilt as you go.

Mine worked out, but I haven't done it again.

bkay

Haven't seen the book, but I purchased the Craftsy (now Bluprint) class of Marti's, called "Machine Quilting in Sections: Strategies for Any Quilt". It is wonderful and covers several different techniques. I learned a lot from her and refer back to it fairly often.

I have a sit down longarm now, so don't have to QAYG anymore, but I still do sometimes, to use up smaller pieces of batting. I can tell you the "dragging" is just something you have to work out. Even with a sit down longarm, you have to "puddle" your quilt and free up enough of it around the needle to work one area without dragging. When you feel any resistance again, stop and free up more of the quilt around the needle. Puddle it up so there won't be any drag on the one area you are working on, then move on to the next. It's easy once you get used to doing it.

If you QAYG, you shouldn't have much 'drag' to deal with at all. The smaller the piece you are quilting, the less 'drag' is a problem.

If you have access to Marti's book, definitely read it and try her methods. If you learn better by being "shown" a technique, get her class on Bluprint. It's great.

I have her book and have used it once. Around the 1st of this year I made a Grandson and his wife a king sized quilt. I made the top in one piece, ripped out seams, marked them and made four smaller quilts. Sewed them back together and hand stitched the back then FMQed down and across to match quilting on the top.

I told them they got the first and last king quilt I will ever make. I have no empty space in my house to spread it out I was 108 x 117". I did not choose a good patter nor main fabric for it. My bad.

I've tried many methods of QAYG. I like 2 methods.

Join the entire quilt face.
Have the backing material.
Cut batting to the small area you want to quilt.
Roll up all the excess top and backing and quilt your area.
Unroll, decide on your next area, add batting, roll up all quilted and unquilted areas and quilt your area.

That's the basic idea, but look at videos to see how it works and if you want to incorporate different things like batting tape.

I also like making each block.
Put batting on each block and quilt independently.
Join blocks.
Add backing and join backing to quilt. This can be done with very rudimentary patterns just to join the sections, your quilting is already done.

Again, look it up, YouTube it. There's so many techniques, you just have to find those that speak to you

I have used both Marti Michell's book and the "Divide and Conquer" book - love them both. I have a pretty good throat space on my Elna but still find it too small sometimes to maneuver. I don't do a lot of free motion quilting - find it too stressful - so I use my walking foot most of the time. I highly recommend Leah Day's Walking Foot Quilting book, too.