I’ve really tried to like quilting on my sewing machine but am having a very troublesome time of it, woe is me!
In my post on August 11, 2016 , I mentioned I was making a sewing machine cover for my mom’s sewing machine. Well, here is the final result. I had a lot of fun planning and piecing this cover, figuring out the necessary dimensions and even sewing it together…but the machine quilting part, not so much! It looks good from a distance.
We are honing in on a closer view and it still looks reasonable…but wait! There’s more!
When I started the machine quilting, I made a valiant attempt to do meandering loops, but things quickly turned on me!
This is just one hot mess of quilting loops and jagged sewing lines. My stitches are less than even because I was dragging the quilt sandwich around with my feed dogs down…talk about downward dog (oops thinking ahead to my yoga class tonight!). I digress…
I even thought I would try the meandering stitch on my machine (note white in upper right and lower left pinwheel in photo below). I quickly realized this wasn’t a good solution but I wasn’t willing to give up! I kept making jagged loops and lines until I was done. Finally, I resorted to a decorative zigzag stitch to hem this sewing machine cover and bring my woeful attempt at machine quilting to completion.
I know I’ll try again this again someday but wonder if I should just stick to straight lines?
I think you need to go a different direction every other loop. so sew the loop down than sew the loop facing up. That should make it work better. Also practice makes perfect. You will eventually get it. Good luck.
Thank you, Maryann! I will give that a try and yes, I do need to keep practicing! I’ll make up some sandwiches and sit down whenever I have a few minutes.
I found Leah Day on youtube has some great videos on free motion quilting that takes you step by step of machine quilting. I practice on potholders and placemats before a quilt top. You see your messages more than anyone else.
Thank you! I will take a look at Leah’s videos!
I like it
It’s always nice to hear from others who are learning too! Thank you so much!
The only solution is to mail to to me to keep and enjoy, I will put up with those pesky quilting loops! It looks lovely and who cares about the loops, it is a pretty cover!
LOL! Thanks T! It does brighten up my sewing room!
I have a HandiQuilter Sweet Sixteen which makes quilting a lot easier than using a domestic (and our local dealer has dropped the prices on them to $3500) but I have a friend who has quilted up to a king on her domestic. And yes, she does quilt almost exclusively straight lines or meandering but sometimes it’s all parallel lines; other times she creates a diamond pattern, etc. She also bought one of those Teflon baking sheets for a smooth surface which she said helps a lot.
Some of my quilting friends love their HandiQuilters! I think I will try the Teflon baking sheet, thanks for the tip!