Machine quilting
 

I have made a few quilts, but I had an Aunt in town with a long arm machine to quilt my projects. She had the nerve to move out of town! LOL

I have never machine quilted. Well, I tried once and made a mess of it, but that was years ago when I first started sewing of any kind.

So, I have a lap quilt that I have basted, and I just want to make wavy meandering lines down and across the quilt. I was set to do this tonight, but I was looking at some tutorials, and wondered if I would need a walking foot.


I did baste with Elmers school glue, so the layers are pretty well held together.

What would you suggest?

Thanks'
Charlotte

To me, a walking foot makes all the difference in the world.

If you use the walking foot why not stitch in the ditch? The wavy lines can be tricky and bunch it you get the curve too sharp. I am sure if you practice on a table runner (or something else) before doing this one, you will feel more confident to work on your quilt. The other option is to mail the quilt to your quilter of find a new one where you live. Your local guild or quilt shop can direct you to one, I am sure.

U tube has quilting tutorials and I think, All People Quilt. com has some free instructional videos too.

I never use a walking foot when I want to meander. I do use a hopping foot for free motion. Just drop the feed dogs and go. Though I would check the back on a test piece to make certain there are no eyelashes. I have one machine that eyelashed and another that doesn't. I can change the tension to make the one that eyelashes not eyelash but, why mess with it when it is perfect for straight sewing.

I've been watching the youTube videos and practicing on small pieces like mug rugs and placemats. especially since I will be using my DSM.

for meandering wavy lines a walking foot is a must,in my opinion.it makes a huge difference in fabric not sifting around.I use it for binding a quilt also.

I am new and not 100% sure what you mean by walking foot - I have to check into that. When I machine quilt I just stitch in the ditch or sew straight lines using the blue painters tape for a guide. Someday I hope to get brave enough to FMQ, but every time I practice on some scraps its very ugly

I think a walking foot for a smaller wavy line is ok, but if you want a larger wave, it would be easier done with the fmq/hopping/darning foot.

Depending on how wavy - I would definitely either use a walking foot or a darning foot (at least that is what I call it).

Here's a picture of a walking foot

[ATTACH=CONFIG]433888[/ATTACH]

By wavy line, I looking at just a half inch or so back and forth on either side of the seam. I thought that way it would not be obvious if I was not straight and it would be a little less "blocky". I did it with my doll quilt, no problem, but it was much smaller.

I found a wavy line much easier to manage when I first started quilting. You probably could do it without a walking foot, but it would be soooo much easier with one. I also would purchase a name brand one for your machine. There are generic ones out there, but they are usually much flimsier than the one made by a sewing machine company. Spendy, but worth it.
I think your auntie should buy it for you as it's her fault you need one!

I would use a walking foot. There are feed dogs on it which combined with the feed dogs on the machine help move the fabric evenly. That way the feed dogs grip both the top and the bottom.

If you don't have a walking foot, try it without. Set the stitch length a little higher and go slow. Keep your hands on either side of the foot and you should be OK. Quite a few quilters don't use the walking foot.

I recently did a quilt with just what I would call undulating lines - all one direction. I struggled with the walking foot as it prefers to go straight- could not manage the quilt at all with FMQ, so ended up just using my regular sewing foot - It turned out to be the right tool for the job. I also spray baste and had no problems with anything shifting or bunching up. I did not, however, cross any lines.

Thanks everyone. I think I'll look into getting a walking foot, and TRY not to touch this top until then! LOL

I attend a quilting class and we just discussed free motion quilting. The feed dogs should be dropped, as noted before, and a darning foot used. The teacher also said to take 2 pieces of muslin and sandwich it with batting to practice a bit. It made sense to me, though I do not intend to do it for a while - too many other things to finish.

I think a walking foot is not what you need for this job. A walking foot is good for going straight, but if you want to make wavy lines, you would want to move the fabric from side to side, not turn the quilt as you change directions. You would want a darning foot with the feed dogs down so you could move the fabric easier from side to side, or wherever you want it.
I did the wavy line thing across the seam lines a long time ago. Just moved the quilt from side to side, making the loops from one inch to about four inches wide. I used latex gloves to get "sticky fingers" to do that. Still like that quilt.

When using painters tape was mentioned for making lines,,,has anyone seen the new painters Frog Tape? I is not straight but one has a gentle snake curve (wavy line or rounded zigzag), one is zigzag and .....I forget that the third is. These would make good "lines" to follow if you don't want just straight lines. The one with the snake or rounded zigzag would give you the gentle meandering lines by just sewing down each side of the tape before moving it over. You could also stagger the curves so instead of lining up the curves shift them for different designs. The zigzags you could make squares or diamonds.

When I FMQ on my domestic machine, I leave the feed dogs UP, set the stitch length to 0, & slow the machine down. Works for me. The feed dogs up give a little more control but the stitch length & slow speed allow the free motion part.

Here is an article that may help you with a walking foot
http://blog.petitdesignco.com/2012/1...-quilting.html

Charlotte, where are you located? If near Iowa, you can come over and play with my system. Would love to find a quilting buddy near me to bounce ideas off and to get together to sew.

I have used the decorative stitches on my Viking #1 + to do wavy lines. I use a longer width for the pattern and mark the grid about three inches apart. I use the regular sewing foot.

I also have a New Home with a walking foot and have used the decorative stitch on it, but am more familiar with using the Viking machine and can see better without the walking foot.

I also glue baste with Elmer's School Glue- love that stuff !

do not use a walking foot to meander, you will have a mess, use your darning foot.

If the "wave" is small as you say, does you machine not have a "wavy" line setting? Mine does and I can vary the width and the length. (I use my built in walking foot for everything! But then I don't really FMQ)

I would use a walking foot!

I think I must get Frog Tape!!

Your sewing machine has a "wavy" line setting? Please point me in the direction of this. I would absolutely love to know how to do this!!

Do you mean like serpentine? You might just try that on a sandwich piece and see how that goes. I'd use an open toe foot so you can see where you are stitching, but at least worth trying.

I found this link a while ago and thought it might help !

http://www.quiltingboard.com/tutoria...g-t177072.html

If this link doesn't open,
Click on tutorials and scroll down to Paths to better stippling / meandering - the last reply was on 02/28/2013.
I thought this was a great idea !

Its one of the decorative stitches on my Pfaff E3.0 and is on many others as well. Hope you have one! I know it can be stretched or widened. Good luck!

[ATTACH=CONFIG]434383[/ATTACH]

Thanks! My machine doesn't have any such setting:(

You could try using a quilting stencil. Just trace the lines onto your cloth with a non-permanent pencil or use the stencil spray, then stitch on top of it. When you are done the pencil/spray washes out. You can find quilting stencils in the quilting notions section of Hancock Fabrics and I'm sure JoAnn's has a good selection too. Good luck.

Thanks everyone! I did get a walking foot on Amazon, but when I went to put it on found I needed an extender bar for my machine. So that doubled the price, but I got it on last night, and it did an OK job. I am happy with it for a first time. The wavy lines were not as easy as I had thought, and next time, I will go straight. I also did not cross over the lines.
All in All I was happy with my purchase! Thanks again for all your help.

If you are using the wavy one that is built into your machine you cannot use a walking foot. I have done many, and I do mean many quilts using the one built into my machine and never had a problem using a regular sewing foot.