mem

My Labyrinth Walk is sandwiched and waiting for me to be brave enough to start quilting. Hand quilt or do it on my Bernina 550? Looking through archives, saw someone quilted hers on a Bernina 440, the almost-twin to my machine, so I know it’s possible . Mostly nervous about how to keep it wrinkle-free while cramming it through my machine. Wold love any suggestions.

Thanks,
Margaret

Tartan

Congratulations on completing that neat pattern. A well basted quilt will be easier to manage. Some quilt shops will baste a quilt for you on their big machines. If I am quilting a large quilt on my B440, I use Hobbs 80/20 fusible batt. It takes some prep work but I have good results with it. Another option to use is 505 spray to get it basted. Start your quilting in the middle and work outward. The centre is the hardest but it allows you to move any extra backing out to the edges if needed rather then get wrinkles.

ekuw

I agree with Tartan 100%. If it's well basted it will be fine. Would love to see a picture of your quilt. I am just starting to make this pattern . I quilt all my quilts on my domestic Janome 8900 Horizon and intend to quilt this one on it too. That is putting the cart before the horse though as I am in the very beginning of this project.

aashley333

The most difficult quilt I quilted on my 40 year old domestic Bernina was king sized. I just tightly rolled up the side that had to fit through the throat and started in the middle. SID is the method I used. I did not notice any wrinkles afterwards.

Tartan

Another tip, pick a busy backing. I once machine quilted a huge quilt and thought I would put flannel on the back. Not a good idea since flannel has a habit of sticking to itself. Luckily it was a busy flannel because when I was done, there was a 6 inch wrinkle close to the centre. I wasn’t about to unpick it since the rest of the backing was good. I found matching thread and using an invisible ladder stitch, I stitched the wrinkle out. Even the quilt judge at our local fair couldn’t find it.

mem

Thank you all for your suggestions and encouragement. I have spray-basted and put in some pins for good measure and additional peace of mind. I do have a busy background…invisible ladder stitching to eliminate a big wrinkle is an inspired idea. Thanks again!