Re: BEGINNER QUILTER NEEDS HELP!

Hi Katherine - from Downunder in OZ.

I can't help much with your quilting question as I now send out all my large quilts, but Kate's advice on good threads is spot on. Straight stitch slightly longer than the st length you used for piecing would probably be fine. And of course you have a nice new needle don't you?

I wish you luck for finishing by Halloween. Hope we see some pictures.

For stitching in the ditch, straight stitch is probably best, in a ice toning cotton thread. For this type of quilting I like either plain old fashioned Sylco or Empress Mills cotton. YLI is lovely, but a tad expensive to hide in this way! ;)

Do you have anywhere to post a picture of your quilt? it sounds like a great project! :)

Oh, and welcome to the group! It gets a bit manic in here occasionally, but there's almost always someone on line to natter with! :)

Definitely straight stitch instead of the pretend "hand quilting" stitch. Pin basting is fine. Use safety pins to avoid sticking yourself. Use lots of pins, no more than 4 or 5 inches apart. Be sure all your layers are laying smoothly before pinning. A walking foot will help feed the quilt through the machine smoothly. Use the same kind of thread as you used for piecing. Pick a color that will blend pretty well with the top. I usually use bobbin thread to match or blend with the backing, though some people prefer to match the bobbin thread to whatever they are using on the top.

Julia > I've never quilted before, but I have wanted a Halloween quilt for

If your machine has a hand look quilting stitch...check to see if it has a serpentine stitch. ~~~~~~ (sort of). It's easier to use this stitch instead of a straight stitch in the ditch. Try to keep the ditch in the middle of the curves, and it won't be as noticeable when you fall out of the ditch. You can then stitch at a fairly quick pace and get your quilting done sooner! KJ

Howdy!

Even as a non-machine quilter, I agree, go w/ the more often recommended machine quilting stitches & good thread. Because that so called "hand quilting" stitch that machines say they do: they don't. Not really. It doesn't look like handquilting, and why should it? Nothing wrong w/ some really decent machine quilting. Get good at it and don't hide the stitches, esp. in a busy backing print. ;-D Pin baste-- definitely. For handquilting, too.

Good for you, Katherine, Finishing this king-size top. Good luck w/ the quilting.

Ragmop/Sandy

Have you thought about just tying it?

Katherine, if you're machine quilting, safety pins will work best for the basting. As for which quilting stitch to use, make it easy on yourself and use the straight stitch. The hand-look stitch is generally for use where it will show, and it doesn't show much in the ditch. Besides, most of those hand-look stitches take a lot of fiddling to make them look right. ;)

I don't think anyone's suggested the need for a practice sandwich. You'll need a piece of backing the same as your real backing, a square of your batting and a top of whatever your quilt top is. A twelve-inch square is a good size. That's probably impossible but get as close as you can. This is will be a fine place to check your thread, tension, needle, speed and steering =). A practice sandwich is your friend, much like warm-up stretching exercises before you run 5 miles or try to fly off of the garage roof. Use your practice sandwich everytime before you get going on the real quilt. With a little luck, if there's anything you need to resolve, it will happen while you're 'just warming up'. Polly

On Wed, 11 Oct 2006 16:44:51 -0500, snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote (in article ):

To stitch in the ditch I recommend you use a walking (even feed) foot and a regular straight stitch. I usually lengthen my stitch length too. My sewing machine also has the hand look quilting stitch but I've never used it on any of my quilts.

Maureen

Hi Katherine! Good advice given here already. I would like to note that while safety pins are excellent for basting, one needs plenty of pins and that adds weight to the quilt package. So, if you have any strength issues, you might want to thread baste; it might make a major difference on such a large quilt.

It is great to see a newcomer here ... WELCOME!! The only rule you really need to know: Send a pound or two of chocolate to the Official Chocolate Tasting Office, conveniently located here in my Palace in Virginia, USA. I will taste test if for you and report via E-Mail. No need to thank me! It is my selfless volunteer service to the RCTQ Community.

PAT, Official Chocolate Taster or RCTQ AND Queen of Everything

snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote:

Good work! You are courageous to plunge in and make a big project first time around. Pin basting: Definitely! (By this we mean safety pins, about an inch long and non-rusting, in case it isn't obvious.) Use lots of them! Spread your backing on a flat hard surface (I use an old dining table and pin the middle bit first, then the sides). Tape or clamp the ends of the backing fabric so it is smooth but not stretched. Smooth on the batting. Then the top. Pins should be every 4" or so. For a king size, you'll need a couple hundred.

IMO the so-called hand-quilting stitch on the machine looks terrible, so I vote for a regular straight stitch. Use the best thread you can afford -I love YLI for machine quilting (long staple cotton).

Once you have done an all-over grid of some kind and finished quilting the borders, you can attach the binding and get rid of the escess backing and batting. Helps a bit when doing a big quilt. If your shoulders and patience give out, you could even stop quilting at this point and tie in between your grid lines. There are no Quilt Police! Good luck! We want pictures! Roberta in D

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THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR WONDERFUL ADVICE! Everything has helped me so much... I am about halfway finished quilting it, and will definitely post pictures when I am done!

I am very excited and feel welcomed to be a part of the group. If anyone has any questions, you can ask me but I won't be able to help...not for a while anyway... I'm still getting the hang of this!

Thanks so much, everyone!!

Katie

there is one thing you can do already :-)

we *love* photo's - even just of tops or half quilters etc. :-D

Oh and welcome from me too :-)