Machine quilting - where to start?

Hello,

I'm a long time lurker and I love the group. I especially love the
inspiration that I get from looking at your pictures.

I'm ready to start machine quilting my first quilt and I'm really at a
loss. Since I'm too afraid to risk destroying my piece work, I've
bought a piece of cotton, a piece of flanelette, and a piece of
batting to practice. I'm going to make a 40" X 40" lap quilt out of
it to practice machine quilting. (Can you call it a quilt if it's
just a solid piece of material??? ;-) )

But I sit in front of the machine paralysed with fright. I've never
machine quilted. What should I start with? The book I'm reading
suggests starting with straight lines. Do straight lines look good?
I'd prefer not to do straight lines.

There's a nice fan template in my book but it looks like a lot of
starting and stopping. Isn't starting and stopping bad when machine
quilting?

I really like the look of the free motion meadering pattern but I
don't have a darning foot. Can I do meandering type pattern without a
darning foot? Should I start at the edge or in the middle of the
quilt?

I have two quilting books that focus mostly on piecing and skim
briefly over quilting.

Thanks for any guidence you experts can send my way.
Mandy

Welcome, Mandy! You are on the right road...making a practice quilt.
Yes, any time you layer three fabrics and sew them together, it's a
quilt! MQ takes LOTS of practice. Following a pattern is really
difficult, but not impossible. Trying to stay on the lines without
wriggling off is maddening. Try some free-motion designs...circles,
swirls, triangles, names, clouds. Pretty soon you will 'get in the
rhythm' and be happy with it. You will have to invest in a darning foot
to really do it right. Try loosening your thread tension just a bit,
too. BTDT Nancycog in MD

OH, I forgot to add, Mandy. When free motion quilting, start the needle
moving, then move the fabric, slowly at first until you get the right
speed for you. When stopping, sew where you want to go, stop moving the
fabric and then stop the needle. It prevents needles breaking. It sounds
confusing, like pat your head and rub you tummy, but you'll get it with
practice...LOTS of practice. 8^) Nancycog in MD

You can call it a quilt if it has 3 layers. You're practicing on a
whole cloth quilt.


Machine quilting looks best when the stitches are even. Straight or
meandering lines are up to you and depend on the quilt top.


You might have an easier time getting started on your practice piece if
you spilled some ink or grape juice on it. Tomato sauce works too,
whatever you've got in the kitchen. I know I rather like the way plain
cloth looks when it is all basted. You've got to ruin it first to make
yourself comfortable.


I suggest starting with straight lines too-- not because they're easier
but because they're more familiar. The idea behind meandering or
stippling is not having a line to follow. If that's scary, I recommend
signing your name in quilting lines. That's familiar for us and comes
easily. The idea is to get to where you're using that needle as a pen.
Think of a preschooler learning to write holding a crayon for the
first time. Which would be easier, carefully tracing, or just
scribbling? So why do quilters learning free motion for the first time
think that tracing and following a line will be easier? Learn to
scribble first!


Stopping and starting aren't bad; they're a pain in the neck because you
have to deal with the loose threads. For practice, stop and start a
lot. As you practice, you'll get a sense for continuous line quilting
patterns which minimize the number of times you have to stop and start.


Do go out and get that darning foot. The hardest part of machine
quilting, besides getting used to it, is getting the machine put
together for it. That's the right foot, the right tension, the feed
dogs up or down, attention paid to the stitch length. I have trouble
with mechanical stuff so I got in-person help with all this and have
always been glad of it. It does not make sense to practice with one
foot and then graduate to the right one. You have to get your machine
all set from the start.


There are good books on machine quilting. I recommend _Machine Quilting
Made Easy!_ by Maurine Noble for you. It has specific exercises for the
beginner in it and lots of troubleshooting. The classic is _Heirloom
Machine Quilting_ by Harriet Hargrave which is more comprehensive.


--Lia

I think you should still do some straight line stitching in another
remnant sandwich, to get used to grabbing the fabric, etc. etc. it will
also work much better with a walking foot. curves are a lot harder and
you don't want to get discouraged from the start, right? I encourage you
to get from the library even Harriet Hargrave's machine quilting book,
or to take a class to make some placemats... that is what I did, and we
quilted 8 placemats with different motifs, from straight lines to fans
to stippling and hearts and leaves.. when I finished I came home ready
for anything! not that I do it very well still, but I had lost the fright!

I'm ready to start machine quilting my first quilt and I'm really at a
loss. Since I'm too afraid to risk destroying my piece work, I've
bought a piece of cotton, a piece of flanelette, and a piece of
batting to practice. I'm going to make a 40" X 40" lap quilt out of
it to practice machine quilting. (Can you call it a quilt if it's
just a solid piece of material??? ;-) )

But I sit in front of the machine paralysed with fright.

--
Dr. Quilter
Ambassador of Extraordinary Aliens
http://community.webshots.com/user/mvignali
(take the dog out before replying)

Hullo Mandy
Well, I hope this won't annoy you; but I think you will have to actually
*start* on something smaller.
I suggest you make up a really small pre-practice sandwich. If it is
only six inches square, that is not going to intimidate you. The thing
is, unless you do something like that, you might have things clear in
your mind, but you don't know how the machine + you + the sandwich are
going to interact. By making a really small extra piece, at least you
find that out. So, you start and it all goes fine, great; move onto your
40" piece. If it doesn't go quite so fine, try and fiddle a bit, see
what is going wrong, see if you can fix it. If you fill up the first
tiny piece, make another, and have another go. When you do move onto
your 40" sandwich (I presume you will have basted it thoroughly), you
might like to divide it into 10" squares? and do different 'stitch'
practising in each of the squares? Like a sampler quilt, but with
quilting.
If you want to do straight lines easily (and it is a good place to
start, whether you really want to or not!) set out a few lines with
masking tape. It is *so* easy to sew alongside something like that;
much easier than following a pencil line, at the very start.
You did not mention that you are aware of the distinction between
quilting with the walking foot; and free-motion quilting with the
darning foot. If you have neither of these, then the task is not
impossible, but it is going to make success more difficult to achieve.
If you're fine with that, go ahead; but, if you can afford one, but not
both special feet, then buy the one which allows you to do the quilting
which most appeals to you. I do most of mine only with the walking
foot. I have learned to do fairly 'pretty' quilting - not just straight
lines - though there is quite a bit of stopping and turning, which a lot
of people don't like. With free-motion, I am still at the practice
stage.
It isn't stopping and starting machining which is a pain, it is the
starting and finishing off of one small piece/area, before going on to
another. As Lia said, you then have all those ends to take care of.
You need to draw yourself, or find in books or online, patterns which
are called 'continuous'. These allow you to go much further without
fastening off the thread. It is possible to do the whole quilt - if it
is small and the bobbin lasts out!
..
In article , miss mandy
writes
Hello,

I'm a long time lurker and I love the group. I especially love the
inspiration that I get from looking at your pictures.

I'm ready to start machine quilting my first quilt and I'm really at a
loss. Since I'm too afraid to risk destroying my piece work, I've
bought a piece of cotton, a piece of flanelette, and a piece of
batting to practice. I'm going to make a 40" X 40" lap quilt out of
it to practice machine quilting. (Can you call it a quilt if it's
just a solid piece of material??? ;-) )

But I sit in front of the machine paralysed with fright. I've never
machine quilted. What should I start with? The book I'm reading
suggests starting with straight lines. Do straight lines look good?
I'd prefer not to do straight lines.

There's a nice fan template in my book but it looks like a lot of
starting and stopping. Isn't starting and stopping bad when machine
quilting?

I really like the look of the free motion meadering pattern but I
don't have a darning foot. Can I do meandering type pattern without a
darning foot? Should I start at the edge or in the middle of the
quilt?

I have two quilting books that focus mostly on piecing and skim
briefly over quilting.

Thanks for any guidence you experts can send my way.
Mandy

--
Best Regards
pat on the hill

I machine quilt but don't have a darning foot! I don't feel the need to run
out and get one either! I do really well without any special attachments. I
have 3 plain ole machines that dh got out of a dumpster and off the side of
the road. I also have my dgm's machine that is older than I am and these are
what I use to machine quilt on. All it takes is "want to" and lots of
practice! Not much more than that. When I started to mq, I tried the
straight lines and grid pattern. I found it much easier to just grab a big
scrap and start free motion designs. I am a very impatient person and love
the instant gratification you get from mq'ing. It takes a fraction of the
time to mq than to hand quilt.

At the moment, I am working on a "couch quilt" for us. This will be the
first quilt I've done for dh and myself. I have another king quilt ready to
be quilted after I get finished with the couch quilt. The couch quilt by the
way, is all hand quilted. Only because my machine is still in storage and
has yet to be brought inside. ;o)
Shelly
wrote in message
...
Welcome, Mandy! You are on the right road...making a practice quilt.
Yes, any time you layer three fabrics and sew them together, it's a
quilt! MQ takes LOTS of practice. Following a pattern is really
difficult, but not impossible. Trying to stay on the lines without
wriggling off is maddening. Try some free-motion designs...circles,
swirls, triangles, names, clouds. Pretty soon you will 'get in the
rhythm' and be happy with it. You will have to invest in a darning foot
to really do it right. Try loosening your thread tension just a bit,
too. BTDT Nancycog in MD

"miss mandy" wrote in message
om...

I'm ready to start machine quilting my first quilt and I'm really at a
loss. Since I'm too afraid to risk destroying my piece work, I've
bought a piece of cotton, a piece of flanelette, and a piece of
batting to practice. I'm going to make a 40" X 40" lap quilt out of
it to practice machine quilting. (Can you call it a quilt if it's
just a solid piece of material??? ;-) )

Yup, it's called "whole cloth". Very traditional, actually.

But I sit in front of the machine paralysed with fright. I've never
machine quilted. What should I start with? The book I'm reading
suggests starting with straight lines. Do straight lines look good?
I'd prefer not to do straight lines.

Since you want to make a lap quilt out of the piece you have, that's NOT the
piece you're going to start with. Either get a couple of yards of plain,
cheap muslin, or root though your scraps for the uglies, and make a few
dozen small (12 x 12? 20 x 20?) quilt sandwiches. You are going to spend
time filling every square inch on those with quilting.

Draw a grid of lines about 1/2 or 1/4" apart on one. Quilt on every line on
that grid, then do the diagonals. Take another sandwich and practice
doodling, meandering, writing your name, whatever. Take another one and draw
more doodles, practicing quilting on the lines. Fill up so many of those
sandwiches that your eyes are ready to pop out of your head. (But take lots
of breaks along the way!) THEN, and ONLY then, are you ready to start
tackling that lap quilt.

There's a nice fan template in my book but it looks like a lot of
starting and stopping. Isn't starting and stopping bad when machine
quilting?

Starting and stopping takes time and practice. Not bad necessarily, but I
prefer to do as little as possible. Try it on your practice sandwiches and
see what you think.

I really like the look of the free motion meadering pattern but I
don't have a darning foot. Can I do meandering type pattern without a
darning foot? Should I start at the edge or in the middle of the
quilt?

Get yourself a darning foot if you want to do anything other than straight
lines. You will really, really, really thank yourself. Different brands are
different, but the darning foot for my Janome was only about $10 -- well
worth it.

I have two quilting books that focus mostly on piecing and skim
briefly over quilting.

Yeah, they do that a lot. *sigh*

--
Kathy A. (Woodland, CA)
longarm machine quilting, Queen of Fabric Tramps
http://www.kayneyquilting.com ,
remove the obvious to reply

What I did was divide the quilt into 9 sections first using the walking foot.
Then I quilted each section differently. A book with MQ ideas helps.
Debra in Idaho

Some very good advise on this thread.
Since I am currently taking a machine quilting course, I'll add a few things
I have learned

When straight line quilting with the walking foot, pull bobbin thread to
top. Sew slowly at a very very close stitch and while sewing gradually
increase stitch length. At about 3" you should be at your stitching line,
and comintue quilting. When ending gradually reduce the stitch length to
very very close stitches, cut threads close to your stitching. Start again.
The close stitches at beginning and end achor the threads and should not
pull apart.

When free motioning, pull bobbin thread to top, take 3 or 4 stitches at the
beginning and end.to anchor and hold stitching.

Lots and lots of practise on practise blocks before tackling a project is
highly recommended.

Ann
http://community.webshots.com/user/mrs_ducky

wrote in message
...
OH, I forgot to add, Mandy. When free motion quilting, start the needle
moving, then move the fabric, slowly at first until you get the right
speed for you. When stopping, sew where you want to go, stop moving the
fabric and then stop the needle. It prevents needles breaking. It sounds
confusing, like pat your head and rub you tummy, but you'll get it with
practice...LOTS of practice. 8^) Nancycog in MD