SO BUMMED :(
10-18-2011, 06:22 AM
#82
Super Member
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Fort White, Fl
Posts: 2,689
This is a beautiful piece so do not give up. I saw in your picture that you do not have anything but your machine table there. If there were some way to put a table or ironing board or anything like that it would help. I use my regular machine and have done a queen size on it. It is hard but once you get the settings figured out it works. I put my feed tension on 0 so there is no pull from there and it takes time. You will feel so good if you hang in there and finish this piece. I also found that spray basting works better for me than pins. Roll both sides of your quilt and that helps also. Good luck.
10-18-2011, 06:25 AM
#83
Super Member
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Camarillo, California
Posts: 1,746
I've not read all the comments here and I'm sure you've received some excellent advice. I'll tell you what I've finally figured out to do for me.
First I move my sewing machine into the dining room and butt it up against the dining table. More surface for the quilt to rest on when I'm running it through the machine. Less drag on the quilt! Then I put a card table to the left of my chair to also support the quilt. I don't roll the quilt. I found that made a very hard lump of fabric that was just too hard to push around. Instead I scrunch the fabric into the throat of the machine until I get to the point that I'm going to start the quilting.
The best advice I have received is to then only worry about the fabric that is going under the needle. Let the rest of the quilt take care of itself.
The final advice I have. PLAY! I give myself permission to just have fun with the quilt. If it's not perfect, well, perhaps the next one will be. If I'm not having fun chances are I won't make another quilt and I do want to make more quilts. Each one is better than the last (usually!).
I hope some of this has helped. Go have some fun now.
P.S. You're quilt is lovely!
First I move my sewing machine into the dining room and butt it up against the dining table. More surface for the quilt to rest on when I'm running it through the machine. Less drag on the quilt! Then I put a card table to the left of my chair to also support the quilt. I don't roll the quilt. I found that made a very hard lump of fabric that was just too hard to push around. Instead I scrunch the fabric into the throat of the machine until I get to the point that I'm going to start the quilting.
The best advice I have received is to then only worry about the fabric that is going under the needle. Let the rest of the quilt take care of itself.
The final advice I have. PLAY! I give myself permission to just have fun with the quilt. If it's not perfect, well, perhaps the next one will be. If I'm not having fun chances are I won't make another quilt and I do want to make more quilts. Each one is better than the last (usually!).
I hope some of this has helped. Go have some fun now.
P.S. You're quilt is lovely!
10-18-2011, 06:32 AM
#84
Super Member
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Folsom, CA
Posts: 1,548
This is it. Follow these suggestions and you will get there. The other thing I have found is I stitch in the ditch throughout the quilt, then go back and add free motion quilting such as echo, meander, bubbles, following a pattern. The SID anchors the spaces much like the pins do for the first round of quilting. Not my favorite task, I prefer the piecing, but I do get satisfaction from quilting my own quilts.
Originally Posted by Yvonne
I've not read all the comments here and I'm sure you've received some excellent advice. I'll tell you what I've finally figured out to do for me.
First I move my sewing machine into the dining room and butt it up against the dining table. More surface for the quilt to rest on when I'm running it through the machine. Less drag on the quilt! Then I put a card table to the left of my chair to also support the quilt. I don't roll the quilt. I found that made a very hard lump of fabric that was just too hard to push around. Instead I scrunch the fabric into the throat of the machine until I get to the point that I'm going to start the quilting.
The best advice I have received is to then only worry about the fabric that is going under the needle. Let the rest of the quilt take care of itself.
The final advice I have. PLAY! I give myself permission to just have fun with the quilt. If it's not perfect, well, perhaps the next one will be. If I'm not having fun chances are I won't make another quilt and I do want to make more quilts. Each one is better than the last (usually!).
I hope some of this has helped. Go have some fun now.
P.S. You're quilt is lovely!
First I move my sewing machine into the dining room and butt it up against the dining table. More surface for the quilt to rest on when I'm running it through the machine. Less drag on the quilt! Then I put a card table to the left of my chair to also support the quilt. I don't roll the quilt. I found that made a very hard lump of fabric that was just too hard to push around. Instead I scrunch the fabric into the throat of the machine until I get to the point that I'm going to start the quilting.
The best advice I have received is to then only worry about the fabric that is going under the needle. Let the rest of the quilt take care of itself.
The final advice I have. PLAY! I give myself permission to just have fun with the quilt. If it's not perfect, well, perhaps the next one will be. If I'm not having fun chances are I won't make another quilt and I do want to make more quilts. Each one is better than the last (usually!).
I hope some of this has helped. Go have some fun now.
P.S. You're quilt is lovely!
10-18-2011, 06:35 AM
#85
Junior Member
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Tennessee
Posts: 137
What ever you do, please finish your beautiful quilt! I plan on sending my big quilts out to be quilted. Maybe you could check some prices. Maybe start quilting on smaller baby quilts. Good Luck and please let us see it when completed.
10-18-2011, 06:36 AM
#86
Super Member
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Piedmont Virginia in the Foothills of the Blue Ridge Mtns.
Posts: 8,562
Remarkable idea!!
I've been thinking a lot about machine quilting at home and how to manage it again for myself, due to cost restraints for LAQing. Just yesterday, before reading your post, I thought about keeping the backing whole but dividing the front and batting into 4 sections, sort of like you do yours. I would quilt each section with the extra backing fabric rolled/folded out of the way before joining the sections with a 1/4" seam, joining the batting with a serpentine stitch.
I saw Caryl Bryer Fallert do something like this with her quilts and it forever changed my perspective. Her amazing art quilts are here: http://www.bryerpatch.com/gallery/gallery.htm :D
OR you could finish all sections's quilting, seam together each layer as above, finish the backing by carefully folding and covering that seam with a strip/ribbon/rickrack so that sewing it down becomes part of the front quilting motif. Got to try this one myself soon!
Jan in VA
I've been thinking a lot about machine quilting at home and how to manage it again for myself, due to cost restraints for LAQing. Just yesterday, before reading your post, I thought about keeping the backing whole but dividing the front and batting into 4 sections, sort of like you do yours. I would quilt each section with the extra backing fabric rolled/folded out of the way before joining the sections with a 1/4" seam, joining the batting with a serpentine stitch.
I saw Caryl Bryer Fallert do something like this with her quilts and it forever changed my perspective. Her amazing art quilts are here: http://www.bryerpatch.com/gallery/gallery.htm :D
OR you could finish all sections's quilting, seam together each layer as above, finish the backing by carefully folding and covering that seam with a strip/ribbon/rickrack so that sewing it down becomes part of the front quilting motif. Got to try this one myself soon!
Jan in VA
Originally Posted by abc123retired
No one ever mentions the method I used for quilting my large quilt with my DSM.
So here it is:
1. lay out your quilt-top, then batting. Making sure your batting is large enough find a nice way to divide in thirds. Each quilt is different so you need to look at yours and see what can be quilted nicely in the first go over.
2. mark two lines, with quilt markers, dividing the batting into manageable thirds. These lines can be gently waving and your markers should be on both sides of the line for matching later (registration lines)
3. cut and remove the two side pieces marking somehow "right" and "left"
4. Lay out the backing, spray the middle, lay down the middle section of the batting, spray and lay down the top
5. Now you are ready to quilt the middle section without all the bulk.
6. When this quilting is finished, fold back the top and the backing and with a wide zigzag stitch stitch the left side batting back in place (use the walking foot) spray this part and continue quilting, repeat with the other.
7. This method really works and it is easy to get that batting sewn together. It will hold with all the quilting you are going to do on it and the wavy line helps to disguise the joining.
Try this method on a table runner or small quilt and see if you understand the cutting, spraying, quilting, joining, spraying, quilting and repeating for you. That's what I did and found my next large quilt was not a struggle for me or my walking foot.
By the way, I think stitching in the ditch is the hardest kind of stitching you can do. It never goes as straight as one would like. Look closely at the picture of the hand quilted one on this thread and that stitching to the side looks great and is much easier even by machine IMHO. Also plan on leaving lots of ends (result of lots of starts and stops) and using an easy threading needle (spiral) to get them tucked in. I personally avoid pinning-they are always in the way.
Quilting a large quilt gives you quite a feeling of accomplishment-it just doesn't all have to be done at once-keep at it.
So here it is:
1. lay out your quilt-top, then batting. Making sure your batting is large enough find a nice way to divide in thirds. Each quilt is different so you need to look at yours and see what can be quilted nicely in the first go over.
2. mark two lines, with quilt markers, dividing the batting into manageable thirds. These lines can be gently waving and your markers should be on both sides of the line for matching later (registration lines)
3. cut and remove the two side pieces marking somehow "right" and "left"
4. Lay out the backing, spray the middle, lay down the middle section of the batting, spray and lay down the top
5. Now you are ready to quilt the middle section without all the bulk.
6. When this quilting is finished, fold back the top and the backing and with a wide zigzag stitch stitch the left side batting back in place (use the walking foot) spray this part and continue quilting, repeat with the other.
7. This method really works and it is easy to get that batting sewn together. It will hold with all the quilting you are going to do on it and the wavy line helps to disguise the joining.
Try this method on a table runner or small quilt and see if you understand the cutting, spraying, quilting, joining, spraying, quilting and repeating for you. That's what I did and found my next large quilt was not a struggle for me or my walking foot.
By the way, I think stitching in the ditch is the hardest kind of stitching you can do. It never goes as straight as one would like. Look closely at the picture of the hand quilted one on this thread and that stitching to the side looks great and is much easier even by machine IMHO. Also plan on leaving lots of ends (result of lots of starts and stops) and using an easy threading needle (spiral) to get them tucked in. I personally avoid pinning-they are always in the way.
Quilting a large quilt gives you quite a feeling of accomplishment-it just doesn't all have to be done at once-keep at it.
10-18-2011, 06:42 AM
#87
Super Member
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Misssissippi
Posts: 3,196
I use Marti Michelle's Machine Quilting By Sections method. I divide my pieced quilt into pieces, for the queen I'm working on I'm using 9 pieces about 36 inches square. I baste and quilt with a back that is stitch friendly (usually a print). After I've quilted all 9 fronts and backs, I join the fronts like usual with a 1/4 inch seam. Then I fold over an excess on the back (1 inch) into a half inch seam and sew it up the back. If I don't want the seam to show on front I hand stitch with a blind stitch or a whip stitch. If it doesn't show on the front I use the serpentine stitch on my machine (depends on how busy the front is.) This has taken away all the frustration in machine quilting for me.
10-18-2011, 06:43 AM
#88
Super Member
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Oregon
Posts: 1,904
Originally Posted by crystaltx
I have been cruising along, piecing my first quilt, but I am having a heck of a time with the actual quilting on my sewing machine. It's so big, it is just impossible. I don't know how I will ever finish it without it puckering or having crooked lines. Does anyone have any tips on the actual quilting process on a regular machine? I guess that is why some of you have long arm quilting machines, they look nice but expensive. If I don't find a way to do this, I'm afraid I will never try this again. Maybe I'm doing something wrong? I have a walking foot and I'm just doing the ditch stitching right now...I am starting in the middle and trying to work my way out, but I can't really switch direction of course. I have the quilt kind of rolled up but I have to move it all the time so everything bunches and shifts. I have about 100 safety pins holding the sandwich in place though so it is probably ok. This just doesn't seem fun =/
10-18-2011, 06:49 AM
#90
Super Member
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Connecticut
Posts: 1,117
Several things will help. Did you know that Ricky Tims quilted all his big prize winning quilts on a Bernina with a 7 inch harp. He free motion quilts. That being said I also have quilted a small king size quilt on my Bernina 7 inch harp machine. I stitched on the diagonal one half of the quilt at a time from the center out! So yes it can be done.
First to stop the drag on the quilt I find it must lay flat going into the machine. Either get a large flat extension or a table that will drop the machine down to have a flat surface.
Second I find pinning difficult due to my fingers with arthritis. So now I spray baste everything even my hand quilting. I have used most of the products but really like 505 spray.
Third Relax and try to quilt small sections at a time. work in quarters. Yes from the middle out!
Watch tutorials and perhaps make a matching table runner and practice on that.
Let me know if you need more help. Good Luck and have Fun!
First to stop the drag on the quilt I find it must lay flat going into the machine. Either get a large flat extension or a table that will drop the machine down to have a flat surface.
Second I find pinning difficult due to my fingers with arthritis. So now I spray baste everything even my hand quilting. I have used most of the products but really like 505 spray.
Third Relax and try to quilt small sections at a time. work in quarters. Yes from the middle out!
Watch tutorials and perhaps make a matching table runner and practice on that.
Let me know if you need more help. Good Luck and have Fun!
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