Bicycle Clips and Stippling

Quilting Setup for Invaders project

I thought I would show you my setup for quilting the invaders. You can see that I have a nice clean desk which is a corner style. This gives me plenty of support on the left hand side of my machine when I'm quilting and I can move my machine around to the best position. I also have a fantastic light with two brightness settings and two articulation points so that I can see what I am doing from any direction.

For a lot of this project I had my machine closer to the corner where I could get the whole width of the quilt spread flat. I also found that pushing the machine back away from me gave me space at the front of the machine to support the fabric there. You want a lot of support when trying to stipple because you don't want to fight with the weight of the quilt. For example, if it hangs off the edge of the table you will have extra weight pulling against you as you try to ease the fabric back and forth under the needle.

You can also see in this photo that I found a use for the bicycle clips which I purchased when quilting my first quilt and found too awkward to use at that point. They really helped this time to keep one side wound up and secure so that it didn't fall off the edge of my table. They work best when they are tight around the fabric and I used three along one side to keep it secure and out of my way.

The quilting is finally completed and I count this a great success for my first attempt at stippling. Of course there are a lot of teething problems but I allowed myself to have a go and to make mistakes so that I could learn. Do have a browse through all the free motion designs and instructional videos by Leah Day as they are such a great help for a beginner and I am sure anyone could get something out of her fantastic blog.