Quilting On A Home Machine
 

I know this has probably been asked a ZILLION times, but what's the largest you've quilted on a home, non-quilting machine?

The reason why I ask is I really want to make quilts for my Aunts for Christmas, however paying someone to do the quilting for me is a bit out of the question as it will severely put me over budget. Originally, my sister's MIL offered to do any quilting of mine for cheap/free when she first got her long-arm machine. Things have changed for whatever reason and now the cost to have two lap quilts done is way out of my budget.

The quilts are approx 60" x 76" each, and I'm probably going to just do SITD since I don't have a FMQ foot for my machine. I've got a Janome Sewist 525s as my primary sewing machine, but I do also have a Brother PC-6500 Embroidery/Sewing Combo Unit that has a slightly larger throat (but not by much) but I don't have a walking foot for that one.

I guess I'm just looking to see if ya'll think it's possible for me to quilt these suckers on my own without having to send it out to be done.

I've quilted one king and a number of queens on my regular sewing machine. It isn't easy, but it is certainly doable. Good luck.

SID would work. I've done queen size on my Pfaff. I couldn't FMQ something that big with it. You would definitely want to use the walking foot.

The largest I have quilted is a California King. I cut the batting in thirds, quilted the middle section, then added the batting to the sides and quilted them. My machine has a 7" space for the quilt. With cutting the batting, I did not have a problem with the machine area. My biggest problem was not as much space on the left side of my machine as I would have liked. I put a TV tray on the left and that helped somewhat. I do have lots of table space behind my machine. I try to quilt all of my quilts that are twin size and smaller. I use a combination of stitching in the ditch and FMQ. Best wishes with your quilting. I am sure you can do it.

Good advise from DJ...walking foot a must have! There are things you can do without FM...XXX's - lines, I have done flowers in blocks by making an S from corner to opposite corner then mirror that to make 2 petals and the same in the other 2 corners. I bet if you search around you can find more ideas.

I have a Janome 6600 so I think I have a 9" throat - I've FMQ'd a huge king-size quilt (full 10' square) on that one. THAT was a chore!

On my prior little machine (Brother CS6000i), largest I did on that one was a twin and that was not much trouble. I think I could have done a double sized quilt but probably not much larger than that...at least not without a lot of work and swearing.

I've done queen size on my small Brother machine....just simple straight line quilting and SITD. I also have done quilting just ouitside the ditch. Maybe you could use some of the fancy stitches that are on your machine.I like to do a fancy stitch...think it's called herringbone stitch...and quilt right on the seam. My friend uses a double needle and quilts either side of the seam.

As WandaVA said...it isn't easy but it is doable.

One possibility is to quilt in sections. I did this until I bought a longarm. I used Marti Michell's book, Machine Quilting in Sections, to learn various ways to do it. I quilted an oversize king, 118x188, that way.

I've done a King on my White machine and I had to just remember to keep it rolled up. I took the class on Craftsy for
doing large quilts on a home machines and she showed how to do in three's and cut the batting in 3 sections but when you cut curve it and then you can either tape the sections together or zig zag hand stitch back together and I'm going to try it on the quilt I'm going to do now it's a King and I think it'll make it easier. Hope this helps you a little. Sue