Joselake

I see so many beautiful pics of quilts that are done....with all the beautiful quilting. Do most quilters have their quilts long armed, or can you get the same effect, with all the pretty leaves and swirls from doing it yourself with your regular machine and a darning foot?

I would love for my quilts to look like that, but realistically, I just don't have that much money it costs for long arm work, and I would rather spend it on material.

Does anyone else do beautiful work like that on your regular machine? I would like to know.

mpspeedy

I do that kind of work by hand and all it costs me is my time and a few stencils. I know that many woman work full time and machine quilting is faster but it doesn't give me the satisfaction or the sense of accomplishment that handquilting does. Hand sewing has been shown to lower blood pressure. I do most of my handquilting while watching TV or visiting with friends. I have been handquilting for more than 40 years and durring that time period I at times held down a full time job and raised two children. I love the feel of fabric and handquilting gives me a good excuse to constantly be touching. I actually prefer the quilting process to the construction of the top. Before long armers became so popular I did quite a bit of handquilting for other people.

Lacelady

Until last November, I did all mine on a Bernina, initially my old 1260, then a newer 730 with BST. I learned by practising on Project Linus quilts - the sick youngsters don't mind the odd Boo boo, I get the practise, and everyone wins.

Now I am the proud owner of an HQ Sweet Sixteen Sit down, which gives me a lot more space to get my quilts through

To start with, I did a lot of doodling on paper in quilt designs. And I mean A LOT - that trains your hand, eye co-ordination, then try on a practise sandwich, and then onto a Project Linus quilt (or some other, small charity quilt). Finally, take the plunge, there are no quilt police here.

LyndaOH

I do quilt myself, both by hand and machine. I can do a lot more designs by hand than machine, but I'm slowly building up my machine skills. I'd suggest finding a local class to get you started and then just practice, practice, practice!

You are somewhat limited by the size of your sewing machine; I have one with a large throat so it's not a problem for me.

You may find you don't enjoy it as much as you enjoy other parts of the process and that may be another reason some quilters choose to send out their quilts to longarm quilters.

fabric_fancy

you can do it on a DSM its just that larger quilts with have challenges due to the size of the throat and the size of the quilt.

feline fanatic

I recommend you get Diane Gaudinski's book "Guide to Machine quilting". She does amazingly drop dead gorgeous quilting on her Bernina. Harriett Hargrave's book "Heirloom Machine quilting" is another recommendation.

I myself, could never quite master FMQ by moving the quilt sandwich under the machine needle so I invested in a LA.

ckcowl

many many people do fabulous quilting with their domestic machines- it only takes the will to do so---and lots of practice.

lisalisa

LOTS and lots. The people here on the board inspired me to try free motion quilting on my machine. Started with swirlys and moved onto simple motifs.

Just don't expect perfection. And do watch the videos online by Leah Day. She will shine the light bright.

tjradj

I use my domestic sewing machine for quilting. I am lucky enough to also have a quilting frame that I can put it on. Lately though, I find I'm using it table top mode more than on the frame. If I have it on the table, I can make tailor made patterns for each block regardless of the size. On the frame I am limited to the 9" between the rollers.
YES, beautiful quilts can be made on a home sewing machine. If you'd like to check out a fabulous website for this , look up Leah Day's site.
http://www.freemotionquilting.blogspot.com

QultingaddictUK

Of course you can, just go to Leah Day's site, the FMQ Diva and you will see she does ALL her FMQ on a so called domestic machine http://www.daystyledesigns.com/faq.htm#use