I have a question on FMQ ~ When doing it on the machine, do you start in the center and work your way out, or do you start on the top, side, bottom.....and work your way across, up, down?
I'm new to this and have something special to make for my daughter, and I don't want to mess it up as the fabric was very difficult to find....and not cheap.

Thanks! (I think I should have signed up to be adopted by an experienced quilter.....but shyed away from it).

Hi Martha,I am new at FMQ,but I have taken a few classes. You need to start in the center and work you way out. I usually start on the bottom right side then move to top left and so on in case there is some movement in the quilt it will keep it in the center. Always practice on a piece before you start your quilt. I use two different machines and always have to adjust the settings,depending on the type of thread,batting,and fabric. I really enjoy FMQ,it took me awhile to start it,should have started years ago.

I'm taking another FMQ lesson in June -- I GOTTA learn how to do this :lol: :lol:

Thanks for the info. I'm new at it too. :thumbup:

What kind of FMQ are you planning on doing? Is it the usual free-form random type? For this type of FMQ, I prefer to start at an edge and work out from there.

Starting in the middle and working out originated with hand quilters using a hoop. It allowed any excess fabric to be smoothed out towards the edge. It still applies to FMQ if you are doing motifs (say a heart inside every other square). For motifs, people often first SID up/down/across to create stable squares for the motifs. In that case, it is not necessary to start the motifs in the middle (and the lines are worked from one edge to another edge, so there are no threads in the middle needing to be buried).

The most important thing is not to trap excess fabric in the middle of your quilt. When FMQing squiggles or other random forgiving patterns, if you start at one edge and work in general from one side to the other, you will be okay. I would not work from one corner to the other because bias is so much more likely to stretch.

I did a search and found a video to watch

http://www.hgtv.com/videos/freemotio...sics/9605.html

video to watch

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...1313378451452#

If you are going to travel all over the quilt top with your quilting, you might consider basting a little more heavily. The goal is to keep the whole top stabilized to prevent stretching and puckering. If I was going to go from area to area, I might do an area or two and then lay it down and look to see how it lays and check for any puckers that may be starting. Or do some SID to stabilize and then go on to the FMQ You could also use wash away thread to do additional basting. :D:D:D

Very good tips. I would never have thought of SID.

Before I got my frame I would always start at the center on work out. It worked great for me.

If your overall quilting pattern doesn't include SID, you can always do some basting near or in the ditch with water soluable thread. I did this recently and helped a lot holding it together while I was doing my free motion quilting. It all washes out. Works great!

How does the 505 spray basting work for this??? I've only used it for hand quilting and SID. :D

I haven't used that brand of spray yet, but my quilting comes out better using other basting sprays than it does with hand basting. I hardly ever have a pucker on the back!

Thanks katier -- I can vouch for the 505 though -- it works great on small quilts. Just wondered about spray basting a large one. :D

The largest I've used it on so far is about 60x80 and it works fine. I do pin around the outer edge too. With all the handling, it does come loose from the edges sometimes. I spray again before I pin if I think it needs it.

I wasn't too sure about where to start either. Being a hand quilter I always tried to start in the middle with FMQ and it was just so bulky. I will try it one quarter at a time and see how that does. If I ever get back to quilting again. lol

katier825 -- when my small hand quilting projects come loose from handling, I just hit them with a hot iron -- adheres instantly! (When using 505 spray) :D

thanks for the tip!

Thanks everyone! I have only quilted one quilt - a lap size for my daughter, and did it by hand - therefore I knew to start in the center. I ended up ripping that out 4 times before I got it right!!!

I have a panel of Noahs Ark that I want to quilt, so I will start in the center and work around the figures and see how that goes.
I did learn to use the spray basting. I learned the hard way!

I am also finishing up a lap quilt for myself and I will practice the FMQ on that - since it's not going anywhere else, I can stitch and rip as much as I need to but hopefully I won't need to!!!

And thanks for the video clips - I can use all the visuals I can get! :)