Free motion quilting question
01-05-2016, 10:42 AM
#12
Super Member
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Illinois
Posts: 5,354
Your quilt looks great. I use kid panels to practice on and then donate to charity. It helps me maintain control when I outline the details etc. I certainly don't have the time to practice everyday, but have improved greatly over the course of the year I have had my sit-down mid-arm. Muslin sandwiches were far too boring for me : )
01-05-2016, 11:57 AM
#15
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Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Mableton, GA
Posts: 11,277
When you are able to move the quilt at the same rate that the machine does, you have got it. It is being able to find the proper speed (and I don't mean FAST). Another trick is to look at the area you want to go to. It is so easy to stare at the needle but like driving, you have to look ahead so you don't miss a turnoff or a curve.
01-05-2016, 12:37 PM
#16
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Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Central Florida
Posts: 1,472
Looks to me like you've got the knack!! I don't practice, just choose a design and either I copy it and sew over the paper like paper piecing until I get it right without using the paper. Have a great time with it!! It's really fun!
01-05-2016, 06:53 PM
#17
Super Member
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Tallmadge, OH
Posts: 5,120
One of my quilting goals for 2016 is to work on free motion quilting. Here is a picture of my 2nd quilt that turned into a quilting sampler. It's for charity and has a dog theme. I'm hoping by the end of the year I will have improved and that my stitches will be more even. Just wondering how much time quilters committed to fmq practice each week when they first started working on mastering the technique?
01-05-2016, 08:41 PM
#18
Super Member
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Illinois
Posts: 2,140
That quilt is just beautiful. Getting FMQ stitches even & just the right size is so, so tricky. I certainly haven't mastered it yet. I'm not sure that it ever really can be completely mastered. Even brilliant award-winning quilters spend time ripping out & re-sewing sections of quilting lines in order to get them just so. But it does get easier the more techniques you learn and the more you practice.
I read something by Pat Sloan some months ago that talked about spending at least 15 minutes a day practicing FMQ. Personally, I don't have enough money to buy all that fabric, though I guess if I were more committed, I would take advantage of some of the bags of second hand fabric that show up at local quilters' garage sales or at guild auctions. I'd love to buy a machine with a stitch regulator in the next 5 years, but in the meantime I make sure to always make a18x24" practice quilt before I start FMQ on a new quilt so I have some warm up. Lately I have also been adding a few jelly roll-type strips to the excess around my quilt top so I can do a quick warm-up before I start each time I sit down at my machine. I don't always take the time to do that, but every time I do, it really does help! Even just a quick 5 minute warm-up really makes a difference.
I read something by Pat Sloan some months ago that talked about spending at least 15 minutes a day practicing FMQ. Personally, I don't have enough money to buy all that fabric, though I guess if I were more committed, I would take advantage of some of the bags of second hand fabric that show up at local quilters' garage sales or at guild auctions. I'd love to buy a machine with a stitch regulator in the next 5 years, but in the meantime I make sure to always make a18x24" practice quilt before I start FMQ on a new quilt so I have some warm up. Lately I have also been adding a few jelly roll-type strips to the excess around my quilt top so I can do a quick warm-up before I start each time I sit down at my machine. I don't always take the time to do that, but every time I do, it really does help! Even just a quick 5 minute warm-up really makes a difference.
01-06-2016, 05:10 AM
#19
Super Member
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Dover DE
Posts: 4,250
That's a cute piece to practice on - and it looks like you're trying out a lot of things as you go. I prefer my practice to be on "real quilts" instead of just muslin. And I do donate a lot, since they are my practice quilts.
01-06-2016, 05:24 AM
#20
Super Member
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Gladys, VA
Posts: 1,626
My book recommends 10 minutes every day for 6 months. I find that if I have a different foot on the machine and thread on that I need for a specific project I can get a little lax about it. But over all I have improved quilt a bit. I hit 6 months in August 2015.
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