t.farmer

Hello all,
I am new to quilting as well as to this group.
I have just completed my first quilt top and the sandwich process all is left is the quilting. I have decided to do this on my sewing machine. does anyone have any helpful hints to make the process run smooth.
Thank you for help.
:D

Geema

Hi t.farmer and welcome. Congrats on finishing your first quilt top!! One piece of advice I can offer is to relax, take your time and have fun. Quilts don't have to be perfect..thank God! :D Remember to quilt from the center point out. Are you doing stitch-in-the-ditch or something else? Please post a picture when it is all done ok? I am sure others will be on and have lots of other ideas for you.
Have a good night everyone.

t.farmer

thank you for the advise.
I will be stitch in the ditch. this is my first and dont want to make too complicated.
thanks again
Tammy

triciasquilts

Welcome!!! I do alot of machine quilting and one recommendation I would have to say is-if your quilt is fairly big, baste alot. I use safety pins and basting to hold everything in place. Oh and try to hold your quilt with support under it so it doesn't pull down. And then just have fun. Good advice about relaxing. You tend to tense your shoulders when machine quilting!!! And you don't realize it until its too late and you're sore!!!

Hope this helps.

t.farmer

Thank you for your helpful hints.
the quilt is 50x70.
support and pin basting I have done those and they are both very helpful.
The first day I started My hands ached, but I must have finally relaxed and the discomfort disapeared. My shoulders havent bothered me.
I sew for about 10 minutes or so and then stop for about 5, get up walk around, play with the dog ect. then go back to sewing-quilting.
I am about a 1/4 thru it and still enjoying it.
Thank you again for the great advise.
Tammy

chance

Hi:

At long last I have the time to quilt. I am an artist/woodcarver and have made my living doing things I love to do. But never could squeeze in the time to make a full sized quilt. Well, I did and now I'm at a loss as to how to quilt it on a small throated home sewing machine. Any tips on how to manipulate the quilt ( 60 x 72 -all basted and pinned - ready to go) in that soooo small space would really be appreciated.

Thank you

Chance



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bj

Hope someone responds with good hints Chance. I have the same problem. Not much room to maneuver a quilt around. The ones I've done I've started on one side and worked my way to the opposite side, rolling it up as I go. But I don't do anything fancy, just stitch in the ditch or echo stitch.

annmarie

I did a king size on my regular sewing machine and stitched in EVERY ditch. Put a table behind the sewing table to catch the bulk and my lowered ironing board at my left elbow so the quilt laid on it as I fed it in the machine. I started with the vertical rows. I rolled both sides to the middle, then started in the middle at the top, worked my way down, then pulled the whole thing to the top again & unrolled the right (inner) side a bit & started over working my way down. When the inner side was done, I turned the whole thing upside down & did the other side the same way working from the middle out. Then I did the horizontal rows the same way after rerolling the whole thing the opposite way.

This is probably as clear as mud, but it worked for me!! Have fun.

MissTreated

Chance,
Roll the quilt to get it in the small space. When you stitch, start either at one corner and work your way across, or start in the middle and work your way out. If you work from the outsides in, you will puckers in the fabric because it doesn't know where to go. "Feel" the fabric as you sew to make sure you don't get any puckers underneath.

Have a good masseuse handy. It's gonna kill your shoulders...

M

chance

Thank you all for your helpful hints. Now maybe I will be brave enough to start quilting it. I was at the point where I thought it couldn't be done and was gearing up to hand-quilt it. Not a solution I was looking forward to with these old hands. I think starting in the middle is a good idea to avoid bunching or puckering.

Again, thanks.

Chance