Joeysnana

Newbie1001, you are one inventive cookie!!

Debbie B

You are a really smart quilter. I have been trying to learn FMQ, too. I bought a Brother sewing machine because it talked about drop feed for FMQ & the price was in my budget. The machine is a good machine but the work space is only about 5 1/2 inches from the needle. Being new to quilting I just didn't think about the throat size of a machine. Live & learn. I make bed quilts and it has been a struggle. I think that I'm going to try this...if I can make the space in the spare bedroom.

fireworkslover

What a good idea. I really think I might try this too. My sewing machine sits on an old dining room table all the time, so I have the space to turn my machine 90 degrees and do this. Thanks for the pics. too.

craftybear

cool idea, thanks for sharing, I would love see pictures of you quilting using your cool technique, thanks again

annette1952

Great idea! I think I'll try it too! I am always amazed at all the info here. Thank you

Gerbie

Newbie, do you quilt from left to right or which direction do you start your FMQ? I have a quilt that I started quilting a design on and have had so much trouble, finally decided to have a LAQ to do the job. I haven't taken the quilt to one yet, and just might try this first. I really wanted to do it myself. Thanks for the info. Gerbie

newbie1001

I do not really have a set order yet, but I start somewhere in the middle to make sure the layers of fabric are secured there and then expand to the outsides, going left to right and back, not necessarily across the whole width, but kind of like in sections. I haven't quilted any designs yet other than some curvy things in the sashing and borders which I then do in a complete line from left to right. There is a similar topic in the Main section that talks about this way of quilting, there must be a lot of people out there doing this. I just started the whole quilting thing like half a year ago. And I haven't yet quilted anything bigger than 42" square or so.

LadybugPam

Newbie ... your quilting idea is so awesome, it should be patented. In three years someone is going to bring this to Market, mark my words.
I have done FMQ for some time and have not had a problem quilting as big as 72" square. But I am not comfortable doing a pattern - I do lots of meandering (puzzle pieces). But I have quilted two double/queen size quilts in two pieces. The toughest part is when the two pieces are sewn together and I have to do the last row of quilting in the center. It can be done. It can be beautiful.

hcarpanini

Great idea! The Handi Quilter HQ16 Sit Down model is designed exactly like that. This machine has a 16" throat to work with.

fireworkslover

Something to consider doing when making a larger quilt than a crib size, is to make it in sections. This must be planned out before you sew the top together, because you might decide to have sections that aren't just the whole thing divided into four equal sized/shaped parts. You also must not quilt within 1" of the cut edges. When done quilting all the sections, you sew just the top edges together, trim batting so will butt up together, flip it over and hand sew the backing seam together. See the book " Machine Quilting in Sections" by Marti Michell. I'm in the middle of one of these right now and each of my four sections are very different shapes, but managable for FMQ w/ my home machine. I still like the idea of turning the machine 90 degrees, tho, and am going to try that on this one.