Dolphyngyrl

Yes you need a walking foot

ManiacQuilter2

My first question is how often did you space you safety pins?? You need to pin every 4 to 5 inches. I use my loosely closed palm to measure the distance. I would careful clip the threads every 5 or 6 stitch and the when a row is done, gently pull the top thread off. Usually when you use a good grade of cotton batting, the fabric top shifts very little because it loves and sticks to the cotton batting. Hope this helps.

And yes, you need to use your walking foot. That is what it was made for.

Lstew2212

My best friend is my seam ripper. I use it often.

Bree123

I agree with others -- seam rip, get walking foot, pin hands-width apart. One thing I might add is that if you don't have a sewing table so your machine can sink into the table, you may want to build yourself a little surround for the machine & also, be sure to have plenty of space to the LEFT of the machine -- if need be, push another table (card table) up next to your sewing machine table. Fabric can get distorted by the force of gravity pulling on one or all layers. By having space to spread out your quilt, it will make the quilting go a lot easier.

tate_elliott

And please be sure to come back and post a photo under Pictures.

Tate

carolynjo

To stabilize your ready-to-quilt top, use your walking foot and stitch 1/4 inch from the edge all around the top. That will help keep it square while you work on it.

ube quilting

Welcome to QB and as you can see, all the help you need is right here!
peace

maviskw

I'm surprised no one has yet mentioned School Glue. If the three layers are glued together with school glue, they feel like one fabric. I usually machine baste around the outside before I start the quilting; then the handling of the quilt will not pull it apart. Then you can start quilting anywhere. It acts like one fabric. There are many old threads here that talk about school glue.

trolleystation

Great advice from an 'old hand'.

Sneed

It's your first quilt!! Keep going on it, learn from it, and be able to look back at it someday and say, "Wow! Look at that," be able to see how much you have improved over the years. You should see my very first and then where I am now. I have kept that first one simply so that I can see the improvement and marvel at the changes in techniques!! Your daughter will cherish it down the road knowing that it was made with love.