pam1966

I bet with all the great advice you'd gotten here that you can quilt it yourself. I've only been quilting for almost a year and luckily for me, it never dawned on me that I wouldn't be able to quilt my own quilts. I say luckily because otherwise I would've never tried it if I thought I couldn't do it. Also money is a big factor- I spend enough on the fabric and everything else, I just can't come up with more money to pay someone else to quilt it.

My theory is about to be tested though because my next quilt is a king-sized one....although I love doing it myself I'm kind of dreading it!

garysgal

If you really get desperate, try tying them. They come out more fluffy, but look nice.

JackieG

I don't know what to do other than to complain to the major corporations like JoAnn's and Hancock's about prices going up. I understand that J/A's paid off all of it's debt last quarter, so everything is profit. They are still raising prices on almost everything, and it's no longer affordable to quilt or even make your own clothes. Even with a coupon, it's still too expensive.

kwiltkrazy

I think the trick to good machine quilting is the basting. If you baste close enough, you shouldn't have much trouble with bunching, or puckering. The other key to good machine quilting is practice, practice, and more practice. You should check out daystyledesigns.com, I have learned so much. You can also get a generic stippling foot, and they run less than a walking foot and are much more useful and versatile, I do everything with my free-motion foot, even straight lines and stitch in the ditch. Try out the web-site. Good luck with your quilting.

Bev

I think someone here mentioned simple quilting without a walking foot or adjustable feed dogs. I knew a lady once who told me she quilted her small things this way, and I wonder if any of you have done it? I wonder too, if she was just kidding. Is it possible to quilt by just stitching the regular way without anything special? I'm really curious about this. 8-)

garysgal

I very rarely use the walking foot. I didn't have one for so long, I guess I forget to use it now that I have one. You can quilt with a regular foot, tho not as well. I have also used the blue attachment called Big something or other, can't remember. the part that lowers to the fabric is clear and in a circle. I have also used the spring for darning. It works good for FMQ.

Lucy90

I have a regular sewing machine and I quilt my own quilts. The largest I did was a queen. I stitch in the ditch and do meandering on the borders. You can meander the whole quilt. Just practice on some scrap or muslin. Make a sandwich like you would for a quilt and practice. I also just made a pattern like a heart and butterfly, traced them on tissue paper and pinned it in the square and stitched on the lines. This worked great. So just try it and you will get better at it. I could never afford to send my tops out. I also hand quilt which takes a long time but it is relaxing. I just hand quilt certain ones.

TanyaMas

i have just learned to do simple quilting on my VERY basic brother from walmart on clearance... without a walking foot....
takes alot of frustrating practice, but ends up worth it :D just make sure you adjust stitch length... needs to be alot bigger for quilting than piecing :D

Butterflyblue

A couple of years ago when I really started quilting, I bought a free motion foot and a walking foot, for about $25 together, I think. I also recently bought a book called "Quilting in Sections" by Marti Mitchell. I consider these investments, since they help me save a lot on sending tops out to be quilted.

I taught myself to free-motion quilt and straight-line quilt. It's really not hard, I didn't take a class, just learned out of books and from trying stuff.

I haven't done a queen quilt yet (that's my next project, assembling & quilting a queen size sampler that I've got all the blocks for), but have made seven or eight baby to throw size quilts, and several wall hangings, from start to finish, so it's been well-worth it to me.

If you don't like to do a project just to learn on that you'll throw away, consider potholders. Manuevering a potholder is easier than a larger quilt, anyway, so it's a good place to start learning. Then maybe try a table topper or baby quilt (I like to use baby quilts to test out new techniques).

Also I did take a quilt class once and the teacher said she never used walking feet, just the regular presser feet. And she did very nice work. For myself, I think the walking foot makes a nicer end product, but you might give both a try to see what you think.

bjh11

Thanks for that advise ....I have always tied my quilts....I'm going to try your technique with a fancy stitch....
I love this site...I've learned a lot here
Betty