Man, I suck at this. Help!

I'm trying to quilt the flannel baby quilt by machine but man, I suck at this. I have tried and tried to make a nice flowing heart design in the border but I can't seem to get the quilt to move easily enough to make the design look even . It zigs and zags this way and that making a big ugly mess. It doesn't look like hearts at all. I've got a big job ahead of me doing what I have become so good at, ripping out stitches! How do you move the quilt while stitching? There has to be an easier way of doing this. Help me please!

Susanne

Reply to
MSM
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Practice on a small piece. Practice some more. get the biggest flat surface around your needle that you possibly can. Practice another 10 or 20 hours. did I mention practice? Roberta in D

Reply to
Roberta Zollner

Perhaps it is more difficult to dance around with a SM on flannel. I haven't tried it. Polly

Reply to
Polly Esther

I'm using my open darning foot and trying to do free motion quilting. I'm fine with the walking foot but it is the free motion kind of quilting that looks awful. I guess I will be doing a whole lot of practicing. Did I mention that I have to have this done by Wednesday to take with me to Ontario! Yikes

Susanne

Reply to
MSM

Reply to
Patti

If that is the case Susanne, switch to the walking foot and do it by turning as you need to. If it is for a gift you don't want to ruin it. You can do hearts with the walking foot, and even if you go slowly, it is still quicker than having to unpick a lot of what you do. That is, at least, what I would do at this stage with two days to go!! Then, when the deadline is over, you can have another go at free motion. Actually what Kathy said about knowing what you are good and not good at is very good advice (although I teased her). I know that there are a couple of aspects of free motion which I might never be able to do. If that is the case, then I won't even contemplate the type of quilting that requires those skills. I will just tailor my quilting within my capabilities. It will probably be very boring for spectators!! but who cares? >g< Good luck. .

In article , MSM writes

Reply to
Patti

Are you using a walking foot?

Kim

Reply to
Kim E

Hi Susanne,

When I've had trouble moving any fabric whether it's for quilts or regular sewing (am I going to get flamed for that?) I use a very light weight tear away stabilizer and it glides along. Use small pieces under the area you're sewing and just pull it away when you're done. Good luck! Shawn

-- mslibra

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Reply to
Shawn

I spent several hours this afternoon making designs to follow with my free motion sewing. I'm going to spend several hours this evening sewing over the designs. If I improve enough I'll try the quilt itself tomorrow, if not, I guess I'll make a grid pattern with my walking foot and call it a day. Thanks everyone for all your help. I'll let you all know how I make out.

Susanne

Reply to
MSM

got cha! Thanks

Reply to
MSM

I have practiced free motion quilting on "cheater" crib quilts for the local hospital's neonatal unit. One panel makes a nice quilt and they don't seem to mind less-than-perfect quilting.

Julia in MN

Reply to
Julia in MN

What a great suggestion! I am going to try this next time. I don't hand quilt because I am too impatient for a finished project, but I was not liking machine quilting either. But I think I was looking too much at the needle rather than where I needed to go.

Thanks for sharing that one!

Reply to
AliceW

Oh Wow! Following a line of any sort with free-motion is what I absolutely cannot do. Now I might be able to. This might have been the problem all along - and I couldn't diagnose it! Can't wait to get a little practice sandwich made and try it out. This could be exciting. Thank you so much for sharing this tip. . In article , zo writes

Reply to
Patti

Absolutely!! Remember, when you drive a car, *you look at the road ahead,* not at the hood (bonnet) of the car, not at the guys on the sidewalk, not at that idiot in the next lane who is talking on that blankety blank cell phone, and not even at the quilt on the

clothesline

over >

Reply to
Pat in Virginia

Well I spent hours practicing yesterday and then spent hours tracing my designs onto paper, which I pinned to the quilt. I sewed it up finally about midnight last night and am thrilled with the results. It turned out better than I good ever imagine. Thankyou everyone for all your help.

Susanne

Reply to
MSM

I am so glad that my suggestion went over so well. It makes me feel so good to help "the experts". Having a dumb electrical engineer as a fellow quilt ain't so bad, is it? Ha ha.

Reply to
zo

Yah!!!! Looking forward to some pics :-)

Shawn

-- mslibra

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Reply to
Shawn

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