We call ourselves quilters. But some of us rarely actually quilt our quilts. If the quilting process seems a bit intimidating, I have a few suggestions to help reduce your quilting anxiety.
First, start small. Practice on small pieces to get comfortable.
2. Practice makes perfect… Or at least better. The pros tell us it will take 200 hours of practice to really get the hang of machine quilting. But you will get the hang of it much quicker… especially on smaller pieces.
3. Match your bobbin to your top thread and loosen your top tension just a bit to avoid pops of thread showing through needle holes.
4. Baste well. Whether basting with safety pins or basting spray (For machine quilting) or thread (For hand quilting) be sure you baste enough to hold the quilt together.
5. Enjoy the process!
Here is one of my favorite techniques for quilting – just straight lines! I quilted the exclamation point and some periods (cut out of freezer paper, ironed in place then stitched around) first, then just went to town with lines very close together! This is small, about 8″ X 10″, but I love the texture and the sentiment!
Would you like the Create Pattern? Leave a comment below and let us know!
Did you know? It’s okay to mix walking foot, free motion and hand quilting all in the same piece.
For more quilting tips and techniques, check out the Quilting Instructional PDF linked at the end of this post.
************************************************************************As always, you are invited to look around this site for LOTS of other dynamite gift ideas (Get an early start on this year’s Holidays) and lots of other free patterns.
Including:
2013 Fabric Swap Schedule for our Orange County, CA Classes
Scrappy Swappy Quilts E book of our 2012 fabric swap quilt patterns based on 8″ squares Available in Jan-Feb 2013 only
Our 2012 Block of the Week The Quilters Alphabet Quilt Archive (In case you have missed any of these wonderful blocks)
Free Quilting Classes (Orange County, CA) Times and LocationsNew Student Supply List And I just posted our 2012 Doll Quilt eBook with all 14 Doll Quilt Patterns presented here in the last 12 months. Download them all in one operation! And, check My Etsy site For Even More Patterns **************************************** Thank you for dropping by! Here is the link to the Instructional Quilting PDF (A multi (5) page PDF)
Machine Quilting PDF
And another link to a bit of info on preparing your quilt for LongArm Machine Quilting….
Long Arm Quilting Prep PDF
Make A Great Quilt!
Comments
3 responses to “Quilting Your Quilt”
Lyn thank you for all your patterns and tips. I am one of those quilters who struggles to quilt their own quilts – think I am scared I will ruin them if I quilt my own tops but your tip to “start small” may just be the best advice for me to get started and I am going to try it. I too would love your create pattern, maybe that will be the project to get me started!!!!
Thank you for the inspiring words of encouragement! Also, I would love the “Create” quilt instructions – I can see it on the wall in a spot above my machine to keep me going when the thread breaks, my stitching goes terribly wrong, etc. I really love all of your projects and emails, thanks so much. Barb
Thanks for the tutoring! I am in desperate need of help machine quilting! I am going to give this a try!