Quilting a big quilt
 

This quilt is humongous. It fits my California king bed. Unfortunately it is not for me !!😁it’s for my sons girlfriend for her graduation. I have only quilted on my Jenome and have enjoyed it and have done a pretty good job. I really wanted to quilt a pattern but now that I am sitting before my machine and have this huge quilt in front of me I have no idea what to do. Will try to attach pictures later.

The first thing I would do is determine how permanent this girlfriend may be. If you don't think she will be around forever, I would tell your son to buy her a quilt. If she's your future daughter-in-law, get to quilting.

Even "future daughters in law" or even wives, can go..I wouldn't use that as a criteria. If you tell us what the pattern is maybe we can help you choose a quilting method/ and or design. In general, on a sit down machine, I would work very, very hard to roll one side tightly..but I have doubts that a Cali King size could ever fit under a domestic machine...I would roll as tightly as I could to the halfway point and see if it will even fit under your machine arm.
If it doesn't, there is a way that I saw where a lady only used batting down part of her quilt, she did it in thirds, starting with the center..she cut the batting in a wave pattern so there wouldn't be a permanent crease when she joined the outer 2 sides...that reduced the bulk and she was able to a large quilt on a domestic machine that way.
other than that, you may be looking at sending it out or renting a longarm...or handstitching!

Check out Marti Mitchell's "Machine Quilting in Sections". It demonstrates several different ways of quilting a large quilt on a domestic machine. I used "low fat quilting' to do the quilt that is my avatar. It made it so much easier.

I'm with rvsfan above, is this for a girlfriend that has been with your son for a long time. Did she ask for a quilt, does she want a quilt? Many of us have gifted a quilt only to find out the receiver doesn't like quilts. Or we've gifted a quilt and find out it's not their colors, they wanted a smaller one or larger one and the quilt ends up in the closet or it becomes a regift or a dog bed.

I quilt on my domestic too. I don't do fancy intricate feather wreaths or such but on large quilts I will quilt diagonally corner to corner or straight line and off set from the patterns of the blocks if the pattern is geometric. When in a hurry and if it fits the pattern of the blocks I will do wavy lines. (Great for quick baby quilts) When I do simple meandering on large or small quilts, I always mentally divide my quilt in quarters as mentioned by other posts. It makes the process so much easier, less manhandling of that large project under the needle.

I would prob’ly have to tie it or big stitch quilt it by hand. (0: I have a hard time with a twin on my machine, I would NEVER be able to manage a king!

I quilted a huge one a king with a full drop. Never again. I did get thru it by conquering it in 4 sections. If you can get to the center, it can be done. If you can't get to the center, I'd get a long armer to do it. My advice is to do an all over. I did mine in what I call a loop de loop. Whenever I got into a corner with my quilting, I could loop de loop out since threads crossed over each other in the design. As long as I didn't go straight, it worked.

I have already seen mention of quilting in sections which is exactly what I do with most of my very large quilts. I have one ready to do right now. It is already basted in 4 sections as is ready to go under the machine. I have done a number of quilts this way using different designs. The only reason this one quilt remains as it is right now is because I want to become proficient with ruler work before I start on this one.

Thanks everyone. I do love her to pieces. I would give it to her even if they break up. They have been together 4 years it seems pretty permanent. She will love anything I make her and I don't worry about her reaction. I was thinking I could make her another one but I literally started this one in April just for her. I never thought it would be so big ( guess I should have read the measurements before I started ). I have never made one before with a specific pattern. Just made blocks and put it together. So I have agonized over colors, patterns, backing. ... Oh my the backing.. With everyone sewing during covid the background was so,so,so hard to find and even so I did not get the one I really wanted.

I wanted to make a pattern but I think I will just do the normal meandering I usually do. I still can't post pics. Why is it so hard here to post pics ?
Thanks for the suggestions.

I would agree with tying the quilt. Remember that the ties can be on the front or the back (when the ties are on the back, it is less obvious on the quilt).

Whatever you decide, I am sure this wonderful lady will love it.

Whether the girlfriend is forever or not doesn’t really matter since the quilt is already made. I quilted a king size quilt on my domestic just like Tartan describes. You can do it just take your time. Good luck!

I too am using Marti Mitchell's book Machine Quilting in Sections. It is helping me learn to machine quilt with fancy quilting beyond straight line quilting.

If you are thinking of doing free-motion, using a white board to come up with a design has been very helpful to me.

I have a very large quilt that I started and put aside. Why? Because I chose to do some ruler work. There isn't room for the excess quilt and the ruler in some areas. I have another large quilt on the machine now. It's going well. Why? Because I chose a simple pattern that I can get in and out of tight areas easily. This one is Sew Very Easy's "C" pattern, but I've done spirals, too, with no problems. Meandering, loops, there are lots of choices that are forgiving.

I don't roll mine - just puddle it and smooth a big enough area to quilt, then move on. Center to edge as much as possible.

I agree to quilt this monster in sections and keep the quilting simple. I have also tied large quilts and they are very soft and comfy and some people prefer that to a quilt that is machine stitched. Good luck to you and I must say I admire your giving spirit.

I have quilted a quilt about 110 in square in a stipple/ meander motion. I start in the very center, it is not easy but is possible. It’s is so heavy to move and I don’t have drag because I have room for it to rest on tables. Good luck and I’m sure she will appreciate anything you do. Sounds like a nice girl. If you look I’m my albums you will see my king and queen quilts there.

First of all, congrats on finishing your top and getting to this point! That's an accomplishment!

It's not too late to call a longarmer and have an all over pattern long armed. If you really don't want to go that route, or if all of the longarmers are busy, I would put on your walking foot and do some straight line quilting. Be sure everything has been carefully basted, probably with a spray.

First, have you marked or planned what design you are going to quilt? I have a Juki 2010 so it has a larger throat. I quilt 1/2 at a time then turn it around and quilt the other half. The last quilt I quilted was a large quilt for my king bed, it was oversized. By doing 1/2 at a time it was like I was doing 4 feet at a time. The thing is you have to have alot of table space off to the left to hold that other half. You can't have all that on your lap. I try to have as little as possible on my lap, especially if its hot. Just think of what you're working on, not what is waiting to be worked on. One squiggle at a time!!

For a utility quilt and practice with ruler work, I sandwiched individual rows of blocks and am quilting each block using different rulers. I will use Marti's book to decide how to connect the rows.

I too have used my Janome to quilt a large quilt. I traced a pattern on a roll of tracing paper. Pin it. The just use the free motion foot. I have placed large cranes and other birds on my quilts this way.