Article continues below this Ad
Have you wanted to Quilt Your Own quilts? As soon as I started making quilts I knew I'd want to quilt them as I'd be making a LOT of quilts. Over 600 quilts later I learned tips & tricks to help you. I know where the pitfalls are and how to over come them... we'll chat about those in my Quilt Your Own Quilt sew along!
Assignment #2
Missed Assignment #1, CLICK HERE
Since I've written an entire teaching book on how to quilt your own quilt, we'll be using that as our tutorial, and I'm quilting my Grandma's Kitchen quilt with my walking foot in rows which is very manageable. I know some of you would rather use a different project, which is totally ok! My book has 12 different projects you can make, or find a quilt top you already made, or a quilt panel to use.
In Assignment #1 you were to baste the first section and i want you to double check your seams allowances around the edges. Here is an example of one where the star point is going to be chopped off a bit when the rows are sewn together.
PITFALL/Solution - You decide if you are bothered by this. If you are not.. keep going! If you are bothered, then you'll need to fix it now by unsewing the edge stablizer stitches, by then fixing the seam a little so that the point has closer to a 1/4" to work with when you sew it to the next section.
It's easier to fix NOW rather than after it's quilted.
Select Thread color
On Page 15 & 16 of my book I talk about thread weight & color.
You need to decide
- Thread wt - 50wt is what you most likely are piecing with and works fine
- Thread color
- Will you change colors or use one color for the quilt quilt?
PITFALL/Solution - If you have a high contrast fabric quilt, such as a Red & White, your thread color that contrasts will really stand out and every little bobble will show. The solution is a)change thread colors to the area, or b)pick a color in a medium range that works across both.
THREAD
For my quilt I decided to audition these 4 shades of Aurifil 50wt thread.
- The white will come forward a bit more than the other shades.
- The antique goldish/green is really nice, but it's also more dull
- The Pink is very much like the pink in many of the fabrics
- The coral is a bit softer than the pink to blend across other fabrics
I decided on using White #2021 & Pink #2425. Both will be sewn on all the fabrics. I'll change colors by blocks and might use the white when the block has a lot of white fabric, and on other blocks and units use the Pink, switching when it seems one is better over the other.
Walking Foot
My Baby lock Destiny II has a digital dual feed foot. Which is a computerized walking foot. It has more controls for quilting thicker quilts and for helping to sew thicker fabric.
- See page 17 & 18 in my book for what other walking foots look like and how to get ready to quilt
- STOP & START of your threads is on pages 19 & 20, including what to do when your bobbin thread runs out.
PITFALL/Solution - One thing you told me is that sometimes you are sewing along and your stitches start to get really small and you can't move the quilt very well.
The #1 reason this happens is that you have gotten the quilt sandwich bunched up under the back end of your walking foot. This can happen with any walking foot and you want to have it flat, like the photo collage previous.
If your quilt is not feeding well.. STOP and ADJUST
Article continues below these Amazon Goodies
Quilt Plan
Here is my top section of my Grandma's Kitchen quilt which is spray basted and edges secured
Page 29 is my locking stitching, I did this across the seam line of the 2 rows.. photo for a larger image
PITFALL/Solution - I am sewing in sections. The top section I can quilt right to the bottom edge as I will be sewing all 3 layers to the 2nd section when I sew the rows.
**BUT** The section below this, section #2, I will leave 1.5" to 2" UNQUILTED along the TOP edge so that I can more easily sew the 2 sections together for a 'Quilt as You Go' method.
Plan your Design
Page 22-28 are my walking foot styles for this book. They are straight forward, then you apply them to your blocks. It's my go to methods for walking foot quilting. Click the photo for a larger image.
PITFALL/Solution - I am not one to do a massive amount of planning for a design. But doing just plan of action for the quilting let's me balance and figure out where I'm going, plus it kick starts the entire process for me. If you have never worked like this, you can take a photo of your quilt and load into a online website that allows you to 'overlay' hand drawings. Or print off a few black & photos and then take a sharpie and draw over them with possible designs. Another way is to have a piece of clear acetate from the office supply store to draw on and use just one photo. I'm going to use all the styles from my book in this quilt changing it by block unit. I don't need anything exact, just a guide so I am not sitting at my machine looking at a blank wall.
Article continues below these Amazon Goodies
What now?
- If you have not basted and stabilized your quilt sections, do that.
- If you don't have a quilt to work on, get a Quilt Panel
- If you have your unit ready to quilt, do your plan and start!
- Next Assignment is Saturday.
What Do I need again?
- Purchase a copy of my book 'Teach Me to Machine Quilt' ... A Physical Copy .. or a Kindle Version .. or a PDF from my publisher's website
- A Quilt Top or a Quilt Panel
- Batting
- Backing fabric
- Thread
- Basting Spray or Pins with a Kwik Klip
The Sew Along Schedule
- ALL the Posts incase you missed one
- Dec 27 - Assignment 2 - Thread Selection, Walking foot, Securing sections with walking foot - ALSO baste your quilt if you didn't get a chance to do it yet
- Dec 30 - Assignment 3 - Designs - with Facebook live that I will upload to Youtube
- Jan 13 - Assignment 4 - Quilt next section
- Jan 17 - Assignment 5 - Quilt last section
- Jan 20 - BONUS Assignment 6 - How I cover seams of the sections. This is just one of many ways you can do that.
- With Video or FB live, not sure which