Major Newbie Mistake - Is it Too Late To Have it LongArm Quilted?? Yikes!!
 

Hi everyone,

I mentioned a few weeks back I was new to quilting and am finding myself more of an art quilter type. I saw this design and thought I could do it which makes my first Art quilt. The question I have is I was stitching and appliquing my little heart out and realized that it may be too late to have the whole thing quilted.

I added the boarders and the sleeve but I have not hand sewn those two items down yet. Is it too late to get this quilted? I don't want to go to someone and have them look at me like I have grown two heads in asking them to quilt it for me. I am adding jewelry and beading but know that has to been done after it is quilted. My next lesson is to learn how to machine quilt myself. UGH. Your advice no matter how brutal is greatly appreciated.

Also, what is the going rate for longarm? This wall art is about 40x42. I only want a simple and very light design with monocromatic thread or very light weight thread. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and wisdom to us Newbies. :)

She is quite stunning!

Since I cannot have my tops quilted by someone else (because I can't claim them as my own if someone else works on them) I can't answer you LA questions. Pretty sure that the sleeve and any embellishments go on after quilting.

So is the only reason you aren't quilting it yourself because you are not experienced in FMQ? How about taking some Craftsy classes and learning how to? You could put this piece aside and quilt it later when you are more confident. This size is definitely manageable on a regular sewing machine. And there is NO rule that says you have to finish something before starting the next. (Or we wouldn't need the UFO thread on the QB)

Beautiful!!! It's not too late. Borders are part of the quilt top and get quilted too, so you want to add borders before quilting. The sleeve is usually attached after quilting, but leaving it in place the way it is would not interfere with quilting (as long as it doesn't get inadvertently turned underneath).

With the type of quilting you are talking about, I would encourage you to do it yourself using a walking foot. You could quilt around the figure, then echo quilt those lines or free-form quilt as you like. A walking foot straight feeds; however, you can easily use it to make curving lines by going slowly and moving the quilt sandwich as it feeds to the foot. Make a practice sandwich to test out what you want to do. Bottom Line thread (from Superior Threads) would work well for this, as it is fine but strong. You would probably want to use a size 75 or 80 Microtex needle.

Alternatively, you can consult with a longarm quilter about cost. Costs depend a lot on where you live and the experience level of the longarmer.

Thanks for the advice. I am one of those get it done then move on types! LOL. Guess I may have to wait. Checking threads now as I am still learning. Going to look at the Superior Threads.

If you have a walking foot for your machine, just make up a quick quilt sandwich and use whatever thread you have on hand to see if you like the technique.

This us stunning. Love the patched dress!

First off--your piece is absolutely stunning and if this is an example of your capabilities, I will be waiting with bated breath for your next piece! Stunning!

Now a question about how you put the picture together. Did you sew a crazy quilt-type block and then cut out the dress or are all those little pieces appliqued by hand or machine, or are they just fused to the background? If they are just fused, you should probably secure them by stitching along all those edges. If you sewed them together and then cut out the dress, it should at least be secured around its edges. Same with the hair, which seems to be bias tape?? You could just sew very close to the edges to secure it. Or you could put a fine tulle over the whole piece and then quilt it thru all layers.

Beautiful artwork. May I suggest that this a perfect size to hand quilt.

I did the crazy quilt block. I had no idea it existed, I went to Roads California and there was a vendor their that made something called EZ pieces I think. So I pieced 6 different blocks and then stitched them together. It was similar to the design of the dress which by the way the design is from Aisha Lamumuba. I did stitch down everything including the dress. I have not done the headpiece or the hair yet. Those items as well as her skin are appliqued. I thought quilting down the hair would be better. The hair is not tape it was a textured type of material.

That thought terrifies me! LOL. I will stitch down the binding and the sleeve even though this is my least favorite thing to do in quilting I have found. :)