Learning Free Motion Quilting

My Second Free Motion Stippling Trial

So I've stitched in the ditch and used a basic diagonal quilting technique. Neither of these techniques are going to work on the Invaders as it is mostly black so necessity is forcing me to learn how to free motion stipple.

It is a very intimidating technique to begin. The first thing is to create a practice quilt sandwich. Two practice strips later I am still too tense and a little jerky, but feel I could begin a larger piece.

First change to your darning foot and then you want to get your tension right. Do a little test patch then look at the back of your work. If there are loops being formed on the underside increase the tension - I had to increase my top tension up a lot - and try again. Once your tension is right, adjust your speed to a comfortable setting. I have reduced my speed to half way which is not too fast, but not too slow for me either. Now you're ready to practice.

The best technique I found is to try to make two curves on one side and then two in the other direction. Move the fabric around and with a little practice you should see a random pattern emerging. Try to keep your spacing even and try not to overlap any stitching you have already done. If you are right handed work from left to right. When you get to the right hand side turn your fabric either 90 or 180 degrees and keep going. You could also find a diagram of a simple stipple online and practice drawing it on paper to learn the curves you want to achieve.

Quilting on Invaders Started

Another top tip: Don't forget to lower the foot on your machine or you won't be able to sew at all I actually forgot this myself as my darning foot doesn't sit right down on the fabric like a normal presser foot so it is difficult to tell if it is up or down at a glance.

Great Video Tutorial by Leah Day

Quilting the Cats

Quilting in progress

I was a little afraid to start the quilting on this project and enquired about a professional finish with three long arm quilters. I think I must have had a dream (or nightmare) about the quilting because I have just read through their emails again and I was certain that two of them were against stippling and recommended custom quilting or keeping it simple so that the quilting didn't detract from the design. Only one quilter suggests that an all over design might not be the way to go, but that was enough to plant the seed of doubt... so I have just completed stitching in the ditch.

It was actually quicker than I thought it would be. After quilt number one I expected the quilting to take me at least a month, however I was able to quilt the blocks (except for the very centre) in a continuous line which went a lot quicker. I had to be careful not to run into the cream as I used a navy blue thread. I erred on the side of the blue while keeping the stitching as close to the seam as I could so the quilting is barely noticeable.

Only the binding is left to do now. This is fantastic! I will definately be finished by Christmas.

Diagonal Quilting

Halfway Through Quilting

I just love these "in progress" photos, and it is also a great excuse to take a quick break from the machine. I am doing a simple diagonal quilt, which apparently isn't as easy as it looks. I am now eye-balling the lines which is accurate enough for my liking.

I started off with the blue painters tape as we had some in the shed left over from renovations and I have read it is a good way to aid sewing nice straight lines. However after laying it out and sticking on a couple of guide lines I was already tired of that method. To be honest I wasn't any more accurate with the tape either.

Have you quilted diagonally across squares like this? How did you obtain nice straight lines?

Stitch in the Ditch

Quilting on my Janome MC7500

I have made some progress on the quilting of my first quilt. I've decided to do the "stitch in the ditch" method which involves sewing along the seam lines so that you don't really see the quilting stitching. I have completed 4 blocks in this fashion and have discovered that the hardest part is manipulating the large bulk of the quilt around the corners. Straight line quilting is suddenly looking much more attractive!

Rather than turning the quilt in the same direction around all 4 sides (and ending up with a tangle being dragged through the middle of the machine) I am now turning 90 degrees for 3 sides and then back 270 degrees for the 4th side which reduces the tangled frustration and lines me up for the next run.

Now the only problem is working out which area's I've done and which I haven't as that stitching really is quite hard to see!