A question for those of you quilting on a DSM
 

Do any of the rest of you have a "fear" of doing the quilting on your DSM?

It mystifies me that I am plagued with this each time I sandwich a quilt and get ready to do the quilting.

I've been sewing since my early teens and making quilts for about a dozen years. Initially I did it all by hand as I thought that was what you were "supposed to do". But love how much faster it is piecing by machine and even if I have tension problems the quilting itself is much faster as well.

So why do I have this irrational hesitation as if I'm doomed to mess up?

Practice on large squares of felt, you will soon feel more comfortable. At least that worked for me!

Sandwiching the quilt well enough so my quilting doesn't cause pleats, puckers, and toe catchers is my worst fear. I'm reading posts about good quality batting can help keep fabric from slipping while quilting. That could be my problem.

If it is a large quilt or heavy I do the quilting in sections leaving about an inch free on the seam side for joining. The only time I get a big quilt is when I do the seam joining and quilt over in the pattern. I find it mush less stressful than quilting on the whole quilt all the time. My procrastination has reduced since I started doing this.

I don't know. I've not been quilting nearly as long as you & I love the quilting part. One thing that really helps me is marking my entire quilt top before I layer it. That way I have a rough idea of how I'm going to quilt it (no need to stay perfectly on the lines -- they're just there as guidance & come out in the wash). Before I knew I could do that, it was a much bigger struggle to try anything creative & I was constantly unsewing, unsewing, unsewing.

I'm quilting a queen sized Lone Star on my DSM. I heavily starched the backing & starched the top as I pieced it, which helps prevent any puckers or pleats. Then I marked it & pinned, pinned & pinned. I have over 957 2 inch safety pins in it. I use my ironing board to help support it as I go. I'm also doing Machine embroidery on it. The last one I did I messed up one embroidery design & it took me all day to pick it out. I look at mistakes as learning sessions ;). It also proves we are not perfect, nor are our quilts.

I feel the same. My quilt may sit there for a day or 2 all ready to quilt up. I am afraid that what I do to it may not turn out perfectly. I have to just jump in and start.

Mary

I feel the same. I am fmq a queen size DWR on my Janome. I want to get that thing done. (Long story)
I was so afraid of the border. I knew I wanted some feathers and they are not my strong suit. After hours of internet searches and a craftsy class I jumped in. Is it perfect? No way! But it will be just fine. I am my worst critic.
Every quilt is a learning process and I get better each time.

sounds like to me you are afraid of messing up but want you to know fmq is just that free motion nothing else. Just enjoy it

I have a fear of ripping:D, so I want to make sure what I'm going to do is right, before I do it. So, I agonize over it way too much. Quilters often say, "Better done than perfect." and I have to keep reminding myself of that!
Just go for it!

Watson

I've never experienced fear of anything sewing related. If I mess up so what?

The only item I hesitated at was with doing stippling. I found it much easier to follow drawn lines when doing FMQ. You learn to drive a car, it really is the same. First, find a speed that you are comfortable with (not fast like on a freeway) that you can feel or hear from your machine. Observe the speed at which the machine moves the fabric at that speed. Then when starting FMQ, hit that speed and try to move the quilt at the same speed that the machine would move it. Try not to stop on curves and look a few inches to where you are going, NOT at where you are. I was lucky to have taken a class from Harriet Hargrave and she improved my FMQ.

I looked at a store bought quilt on a friend's bed. She paid $400 for it and so proud of it. It had puckers and some of the stitching was off. I felt better about the few that I did. A whole lot better!!

Some quilts I just jump right in and start FMQing, figuring out what I'm going to do as I go along. Other quilts may sit sandwiched for a couple of days or more while I'm trying to decide what kind of designs will work best for them. I view "messing up" as an opportunity to go in another direction with the design or perhaps as an opportunity to re-bond with my seam ripper LOL. Anyway, I don't worry about making mistakes--it's just fabric and thread.

Rob

' cause you can put in a thousand bad stitches in the blink of an eye? LOL
I'm ALWAYS hesitant whenever I start a new piece.
Push through it and relax.

I have the same "irrational hesitation". I do just fine with my FMQ. I think it's because it's my least favorite part of quilting. I just want to get onto piecing my next quilt, and the "quilting" takes me away from that. Yes I know! That's totally irrational :-)

while still quilting on my DSM I always felt like I hadn't done a good enough job on my sandwiching and would get puckers--so kept rechecking that. And frankly, doing a larger quilt on the machine killed by arms and neck so badly that I'd procrastinate starting for that reason, too.

I am the same way. Every one of them scares me BUT the price of sending them out to be long arm quilted scares me too. :) Plus I like that I can say that I did the entire thing myself. Its a lot of work thats for sure

I sometimes feel the same, especially if it has been a long time between FMQ on my DSM... I have a stack of 12 inch sandwich blocks (from Leah Day's class last year) and I pull one or two out to practice the design I want to use on the quilt and it gives me that "a-ha" moment that I haven't forgotten how to FMQ....I've just gotten rusty.

I think we must be sisters! My situation is identical to yours!

I also feel that way but it is when I finish the top that looks wonderful and fear that I will mess it up with the quilting/FMQ...the way I have solved it is to QAYG...I am very brave when doing a large 15" block..one at a time...if it is messed up you can discard it and do a new one because they are all joined together after the quilting process. I also am much more comfortable with straight line quilting. My Bernina has a small throat and it is much easier to quilt geometric designs on a 15" block than it is on a whole quilt...lol.

Most of us have the fear factor to plague us as we prepare to FMQ-especially on a newly sandwiched item for fear we will make mistakes and have to take it out. Just start and move forward. One of the things I learned early was to STID to stabilize my quilt. After I do that, I quilt the borders first and then bind the quilt. It eliminated lots of bulk. Then I move further to the center. The stabilizing does two things as far as I can see. It allows you to see any areas that might have pleats and puckers-you can work them out to the edges easily at this point. Secondly, it allows you to work in small areas to quilt. On my next quilt I plan to use wash away thread to STID so I can enhance my quilting designs.

I usually get excited to get to the quilting part, it is the sandwiching that I dread. I have a Brother PQ1500s that I just love. Bought one of those Supreme Sliders and it was just a PIA, the table that comes with the machine is so slick, I need no slider. I am by no means the worlds best FMQer, but I love doing it, just the same.

Is it possible to quilt in sections with a light weight cotton backing then add a regular backing after it is all quilted and just SID? Is it ever done?

It is really daunting for me as well. I am working on little baby quilts and using my walking foot for now. I can't speak to free motion since I don't feel I'm ready to practice that, yet. It helped me to slow down. Ripping out a bunch of rows because I didn't like the original thread color helped too - that showed me I didn't ruin it by starting over. I volunteered to make some mats to go under the mats used for our condo board meetings - mostly so I could practice. (Also because the old ones were awful looking).
Good luck!

Because it's the part of the quilt that really makes it or breaks it.

I always have some anxiety before I quilt on my sit down mid-arm too. I think it is just the perfectionist in me. I want to do my best and wonder if the design will enhance the quilt or detract from it. Once I start quilting, I relax and begin to enjoy the process and the transformation. I asked my longarmer friend who has been doing it for over 10 yrs. and she still has some trepidation too, so I think it is an individual thing, based on a lot of things. I've seen your quilts and you do a wonderful job.

I had a BIG desire to learn free motion and read everything I could. I started with a project that had a very busy design and thread that blended. Mistakes were all over the thing, but could hardly be seen. The more I did a simple stippling the better I got. Now I do other designs and although they are not perfect, I am happy to do my own quilting. I do large twins with no problems!!!! Have the mindset that I don't care how this looks, I am going to master it!!!!!! Go forth and conquer!!

I have just started to really practice my topstitching whether it be straight lines or SITD or following outlines from stencils. I feel your angst! I'll let items sit while I gather my courage. Sometimes it sits as my creativity neurons fire away or the project speaks to me as to what will look/work best. To top off my anxiety I am facing a learning curve using a Singer 15-91.
Absolutely agree ---Every quilt I learn something new!!
I have faith in you!!

You are not alone. I am sure many others feel this way including me. What I do is use a practice sandwich, and then I do a real "mystic" thing. I close my eyes and envision How I want my arms and hands to move the quilt, I am a free motion gal, and then I dive in. I quilt with music or a book on CD and when I get tired I stop! I know, when I return to the piece my work will not be exactly like how I started but no one and I mean no one but an expert can tell the difference. If the expert is that picky then I don't need their opinion. I continue until finished and the more times I do this the better I get at FM and the less fear I have. Be bold, Be brave and Be the best DM quilter you can BE today. Have fun!

Anxiety... yes! I think that is pretty common. But, it's not a quilt until it's quilted. So I jump in and start and it always works out. Just choose a quilting method you are comfortable with and do your best.

I hesitate to on FMQ even though I have done it and took a one day class. Somebody suggested using felt--I might try that. I also like Angela Walters' suggestion to just do one block at a time and not worry about the entire quilt. I also like just doing 1/4 of the quilt at a time so that there isn't so much quilt to the right of the needle.

I used to be nervous when I first started quilting. It was because I didn't want to "mess up." I was afraid of making mistakes. Then I heard how quilters would intentionally make a "mistake" to show that only God was perfect. Well, I don't have to intentionally make a mistake. I do fine just making mistakes unintentionally! I am now of the midset that mistakes are okay. It's not like I'm going to enter one in a show. It doesn't matter if you cut the fabric the wrong size or get the blocks all in the wrong order, or the colors do not go together. You just fix the "mistakes" or just leave them in there and make do. No one else cares that your quilt is not perfect nor do quilts have to be perfect to be enjoyed. Just get out the scissors and go for it. Enjoy the process!

Yes, I still have self-imposed limitations when I get ready to FMQ. I recently worked on a desk runner for my hubby and when I first started I was almost paralyzed to do anything past STID. DH hinted that he would really like to have it at his desk and I gave myself a push and just started doing it. No marking, just free-form with contrasting thread. It turned out great. Are the patterns even? NO. Are they consistent? Not really. Can anyone tell by just looking at it? No. He had so many compliments and some of his colleagues told him that they want to buy one from me. That is quite a compliment for a completely scrappy project.

I do spend a lot more time preparing and planning the FMQ path. I do it with pencil on paper. Not necessarily to scale but enough to give me muscle memory from repeating the patterns. It makes such a big difference.

i don't quilt on my machine, but was watching eleanor burns this morning and she reminded me that you could machine quilt using a darning foot and dropping the feed dogs.

no pleats and puckers that way!

Personally, I would say go for it, start simple. When I made my son's Triple Irish Chain quilt, I just quilted diagonal lines across the squares, much easier than hand quilting my daughter's full size quilt with hearts, the first and last quilt I ever hand quilted as my carpal tunnel won out. I am or was a self-taught quilter, hand quilting one stitch at a time, but since I was self-taught, nobody told me about any "rules", so I didn't know I was breaking dozens of them. After my son's quilt I made a king size quilt for our bed with pieced basket blocks, including a pieced handle. I made a medallion style quilt with 4 quilts in the center, set on point, then plain blue blocks around them where I quilted feathered wreaths (see, I told you I didn't know the rules) and all done with black sashing. Did I make mistakes, I sure did, but by the time I finished that quilt, I knew a whole lot more about machine quilting, and I've never looked back; but now I balk at FMQ, but I'm getting there - see you're not the only one with an irrational hesitation. I know I can do it, I did great when I took a long arm quilting class, but one day soon.

I too have fmq anxiety. Here are some things that help me.

I actually draw out my entire quilt top fmq design. I use rolls of Golden Threads quilting paper (very thin, vellum paper). Vellum Quilting Paper 20yd Roll
2340 - 12" wide
2350 - 18" wide
2360 - 24" wide (Works great for tracing a pattern onto your quilt, without having to place a mark on the quilt. Tears away cleanly without pulling stitches.) You can actually sew on top of this paper.
You can get it lots of places, even Amazon carries it.

I tell myself....I am only quilting a 6 inch square. When I do that, even if it is what I think is challenging, I figure, I can do 6 inches. 6 inches isn't all that hard.

Lastly, I make an 18 inch block, sandwiched just like I will be quilting, then I either mark my design on the fabric, or pin the Golden Threads Vellum paper with the design already on it to the sample. Then, I quilt it. This almost always points out areas I need to reconsider, or it fills me with courage. Then I am ready to go.

Hope these hints help.
Alice

I think that may be why there are so many UFO's.

FMQ on my DSM is my favorite part of making a quilt. The more you do the better it gets. Kinda like when you learned to ride a bicycle; shaky, clumsy, scary, have a few falls, and then finally comes the day when it is smooth sailing. All worth the struggle to get there. It is all about timing and rhythm.