Machine Quilting Advice needed

Assuming that the quilt is made of block units, stitch in the ditch around each block first. That will stabilize the top, bat and bottom so that you're better able to control the pucks and tucks while doing free motion.

joan

And once you have done this, think of each block/area as a small block, which you can already do.

I find I have to remind myself to stop and reposition my hands and/or the quilt often, and not try to keep going until only my elbows and my willpower is controlling the quilt.

Hanne in London

Joan and Hanne have weighted it with good advice. I'd like to add: be sure you have needle DOWN when you stop. AND, it is OKAY to pause and 'regroup' now and then. Good luck. PAT

- dlm. wrote:

You sound like a candidate for quilt-as-you-go techniques! Do all those small blocks, then join together.

The puckering is a basting issue. Maybe you stretch the backing? Maybe not enough pins? Or you need more space to the left of the machine to support the weight. (I use my ironing board, lowered to the height of the table.)

For even stitch length, maybe you would benefit from one of the new stitch length regulators. Haven't tried it myself, but I know Bernina has one. Maybe others by now. Roberta in D

"- dlm." schrieb im Newsbeitrag news:BI6dncUB4MZgLlzbnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com...

Firstly Dawn - you say 'self-professed ... failure'. Therein lies the trouble. If you are convinced in your mind that you can't do it - then you won't! Can I offer the 'secret' that worked for me? I started with one or two patterns that I discovered I could do fairly well, together with one or two stitches on my machine, plus stitch in the ditch and grid lines. I used that little 'armoury' for a good while, then I began to expand my stitches, and now I have quite a few. I do a lot of painstaking sewing with my walking foot making leaves and flowers - and turning a lot >g

Basting spray is your friend: no weight, no puckering, no shifting and 1/10 the time to do.

Dawn, In addition to all the great advice you have received, I have three suggestions: make sure that your basting is close enough to help with the pucker problem, make sure that the portions of the quilt you are not working on are well supported by a table, desk or other stationary object and be sure to BREATHE. Machine quilting does take practice. You can do it!

Mary

As always, the advice that I've received on RCTQ is invaluable! I will certainly give "quilt as you go" a try as soon as I check out the local library for books on the subject. I never thought about proper support for the quilt, so I will give it a whirl on my dining room table. Finally, I will remember to breathe. Maybe that will help to alleviate the discomfort/tenseness that I feel when I attempt MQing.

Many thanks,

- dlm. in central MA

no one has mentioned how you hold the quilt, I find gloves are an absolute necessity, then you kind of press down on the quilt with your hands, leaving a square free to sew in, you have to move your hands often, you don't want to pinch your fingers together at all, if you do that, even if you've basted really close together you'll still probably get small puckers.

cheers Anne

I use to have Georgia Bonesteel's Quilt As You Go books....they 'stopped' moving with us when the hand work quit, but I sure could follow her way of doing it.

HTH Butterfly

I use to have Georgia Bonesteel's Quilt As You Go books....they 'stopped' moving with us when the hand work quit, but I sure could follow her way of doing it.

HTH Butterfly

Howdy!

Advice? Of course: don't. Don't worry about it.

Good to see you back here, Dawn!

R/Sandy--handquilt> Hi, I'm Dawn, and I am a self-professed MQing "failure." I've taken

Dawn, you've had lots of good advice, and I don't think I have anything new to add to it! Just a reminder: make *sure* there's no "drag" on the quilt; that is, be careful that the quilt isn't dangling off the sewing machine table. As Pat said, also be sure to stop with your needle down so things don't shift. I sometimes use gloves (when doing a quilt that's larger than a crib size), but other than that I don't use anything on my hands. Still, lots of people swear by quilters' gloves. Good luck! Don't give up! :)

When you write MQ do you mean Machine Quilting or Free Motion Quilting? I haven't had success with free motion yet, but straight or slightly wavy machine quilting I'm ok on.

If you are having trouble with stitch length on bigger pieces doing straight stitching it could be that you don't have enough support for the size of the quilt you are trying to move through the machine. If major portions of the quilt is falling below machine height it's own weight will cause drag leading to varying stitch length. Add more table space around your sewing machine if possible to correct that problem.

I learned the hard way to be careful not to let the quilt lay in my lap or droop down between my body and the sewing machine. Debra in VA See my quilts at

Hi Dawn,

I'm no MQ pro either. The only thing I've been able to manage with what I regard as some measure of success is to do straight line quilting. I can't maneuver a full sized quilt well enough to stipple. So one thing I did find that helped in regard to slipping and puckering, enabling me to do the straight line quilting, was to use spray basting. I "glue" the quilt sandwich together securely. When I'm spray basting backing to batting, I spray both the backing and the batting before I put them together and smooth out. I do the same between batting and the top. This pretty well makes the whole quilt sandwich unit act like one fat piece of cloth, instead of separate layers.

Now, I'm off to read what others have to offer in hopes I'll get more tips!

Best regards, Michelle in NV