Running in Circles!
 

I am trying quilt using circles. I bought one of those circular attachments, but it didn't work very well. The back side puckered a lot, and the front some also. So I tried marking and just sewing a circle that way, but the whole circle raised in the back as if I was doing trapunto (without stuffing). I'm just NOT having any success at this. Any advice from you wonderful experienced quilters?

Sorry, I tried using a straight ruler once on my Bernina and didn't find it an enjoyable experience.

how much room do you have for your quilt to move behind the needle? that could be one reason for bunching. You should be able to sew a circle but slowly turning your quilt while keeping it flat. Watch some videos on this method.

You could get a circular quilt ruler and a ruler foot for your machine. Not sure how the attachment is supposed to work. I always thought it was to sew circles.

Nativetexan, I was only doing a test square so I had free movement. I'm sure with just stabilizer backed fabric it would have been fine. Maybe just not designed with quilting in mind?

MadQuilter, it is for sewing circles. That's what I thought I was doing--sewing circles. Although I did have three layers under the presser foot. The circular ruler and foot is definitely an idea worth exploring. I have never done ruler work only FMQ and straight-line quilting. Sounds like a steep learning curve.:shock:

As mentioned, you have to have a lot of room for your quilt to move. Also, the layers need to be secured a lot more than with straight line quilting. If you use spray, add lots of pins in the area(s) that you are going to do circles in. If you use pins, use lots more! Don't just pin in the area where the stitching will be, make sure you also pin the interior of the circle and also just outside the stitching line. Some circle attachments let you use a walking foot. This helps too. You need to go very slowly, and keep adjusting your fabric so it's not hanging up anywhere.

What size circles are you doing?
I can't help with the puckering but in order to get your circles, well circular, think of them as squares. Think of your four points and connect each point using an arc. Look forwards towards your next point, not at where you are.
Hope that helps in the geometry department.
The toughest thing for me about ruler quilting is remembering to keep the foot against the ruler or template. If you can keep the foot snug against the ruler you've got it.

Watson.

I know it's a dumb question -- but I've made this mistake -- are your feed dogs down & is your stitch length set to 0?

I absolutely agree with Paper Princess about the pinning process being critical. Tape down your backing & pin from the center out every 4" or fist-width. The only other suggestion I have is to make sure you're not twisting or turning the quilt to create the circle. Your hands should form a triangle-like shape near the needle so you can have good control over moving the quilt. Just move a little bit, stop, re-position your hands & then start again. Don't pick your hands up while the machine is moving or that can cause puckers.

As far as it looking puffy like trapunto, I'm wondering what you have between your layers of fabric. You mentioned stabilizer. Depending on how thick that is & how thick your batting is, that could be the culprit. Circles do seem to puff up a bit more than other shapes even in most professional quilts I've seen. But if yours are puffing more maybe try adjusting the tension on your presser foot.

Great idea about connecting the dots to form an arc....I did this for rectangles I. Sashing on a baby quilt and it worked very nicely.. :)

Judy in Phx, AZ

I use either spray baste or Elmer's glue to hold the sandwich together -- the back moves because there is play in the fabric. If I don't use glue, I do a bit of stay stitching (stitch in the ditch, etc.) before trying the fancy stitching.

If you have some experience at FMQ then learning to use a ruler foot and rulers is not much of a learning curve. Using a circle ruler and a ruler foot you can do circles without having to rotate your quilt. I've just finished doing a small wall hanging with quilted circles that were done using a westalee ruler foot and one of their circle rulers.

If you are using one of those circle tools like the one that Nancy Zieman sells, then those are designed to be used with the feed dogs up and a regular presser foot, though a walking foot might work as well. Anyway, the feed dogs move the quilt and the circular tool has a pin attachment that makes sure your fabric is rotating around a fixed point. It seems to me that unless you're doing a tiny quilt then as the quilt rotates it could very easily get bound up against the tower to the right of the machine and would begin to twist. That would cause puckering no matter how well you've basted your quilt. You could try sewing very slowly just a stitch or two at a time and carefully checking each time you've had to move the quilt to make sure that there are no puckers forming under the quilt as it rotates.

Rob

I have quilted a large spiraling circle using my walking foot without a problem. I drew the innermost circle with a jag leading me into the next circle. After that I was able to use the side of the walking foot as a guide.

Are you using something like this? I remember seeing a generic version a while back.


http://www.amazon.com/Brother-SACIRC...chments+circle

The circular attachment are not meant for quilting thru layers....they work best with heavily starched fabric or stabilized single layer. You can use it for doing cirules on two fabric layers. If you mark your quilt in circles, you need to sew slowly following your markings, smoothing your fabric as you go. I found using a hoop to hold the quilting area down helps alot.

I have a circular attachment and did some blocks with top, batting and bottom. That worked well.

Doesn't Nancy Zieman sell as circle tool that you fasten down on top and it helps the quilt turn?

Thanks to all for responding with so many helpful pointers. The Brother Circular Attachment is exactly what I am using. I had pin basted previously. With ideas picked up here, I spray basted a block well and then used the powered digital dual feed foot that came with my Brother DreamWeaver XE to try quilting the circles again. (I had tried a regular walking foot as suggested, but the top feed wasn't powerful enough.) I turned the top feed setting on the MuVit up to "3" and it sewed those circles perfectly without a single pucker and without any puffiness. That walking foot on steroids is amazing! I do, however, need to practice more to achieve a perfectly formed circle using more pointers from my wonderful fellow quilters here.

how about this
http://www.quiltingboard.com/tutoria...ue-t90945.html

this is one I made with circle cutter
http://www.quiltingboard.com/attachm...9-dsc_2618.jpg