Quilting machines

I made some blocks some years ago that were appliquéd. I didn't enjoy that at all. Too time consuming and tedious. I still have them. I never finished the quilt. I may just use it as a wall hanging.

But the "look" is just not the same. I assume you have your own quilting machine. Do you make quilts as a business?

Do you all have your own QMs?

You can quilt on just about any sewing machine. I've stuffed a full size quilt thru a regular machine several times now. You should never have more than half the quilt in the throat at a time anyway.

I machine quilt using my Pfaff 2044. It is a regular size, lives on a desk top, sewing machine. There is some beautifully quilted work produced by long arm quilters, regular machine quilters and hand quilters. I have also seen some unimaginative, poorly executed and boring work from all three types of quilters. To my mind, the important thing is that the quilter has thought about what quilting will enhance the project and created that to the best of his/her ability. Finishing a project is also a good thing (right Ragmop?).

Mary

The look of hand quilting and machine quilting ARE different. I like them both. I do all my machine quilting on my shortarm Pfaff 6122, the same machine I use for piecing. I have sold a small handful of quilts and was thrilled to do so, but I wouldn't call that a business.

--Lia

I totally agree. I've seen boring machine quilting, and horrible machine quilting. But there's a woman here who just does *amazing* work. She freehands much of it. I've seen her do gorgeous feathering on the borders, then quilt each block individually. I can watch her for hours. She just has natural artistic talent with that machine. Machine quilting isn't nearly as easy as I thought it would be. It takes a lot of skill and practice. And likewise, I've seen some really sloppy hand quilting, and some unbelievable work, too. I don't think I could choose which I like "better". I do know that if I handquilted everything, I'd probably only be able to turn out about five quilts a year. I'm pretty slow at it. "Perfect is good, Finished is better", yes!

Sherry

Howdy!

;-D

R/Sandy-- handquilt> "Marie Dodge" wrote:

I use a Janome 6500 with the large harp. Before I had the Janome, I used a Bernina 1090, and a Pfaff Quilt Pro, both of which have regular size harps.

Iris

I know what you mean. I've sold more than a few in the past but it was to neighbors or co-workers etc. It was more a labor of love for me and something to do with my hands in the evening.

How on earth do you compress the quilt to "quilt" it on a regular machine?

I roll it up and fasten it with bicycle clips.

You just scrunch it up and shove it thru. It's not all that hard to do.

It's scrunch and shove for me. At first it seems impossible to fit everything under there, but after you do it for a while it's no big deal. Just jump in and do it. It will all work out! And a large area that's even with the bed of your sewing machine makes all the difference, too. It keeps the quilt from pulling or dragging as you quilt it.

Leslie, Missy & The Furbabies in MO.

Moosh it together. Doesn't look possible, but knowing it can be done is half the battle. I tried rolling neatly and clipping, which takes up a bit less room, but wrestling the resulting anaconda did something evil to my shoulder. I also have the machine in a flat bed cabinet with lots of table space, an immense help! Roberta in D

"Marie Dodge" schrieb im Newsbeitrag news:folagm$rgo$ snipped-for-privacy@aioe.org...

In my case, the thrill was in knowing that an unbiased stranger was willing to pay money for my quilts. When I sell to a friend, neighbor, or co-worker, the quilt has extra value to them because they know that I made it. That doesn't help me judge my own work. They're paying for the love. (Which is not to say that the love wouldn't be there if they didn't buy the quilt, but you know what I mean.) When I put my quilts on consignment in a gift store and they sell, I have the satisfaction of knowing that the quilts sold on their own merit. It felt like winning at a show when the judges didn't know the names of the entrants.

--Lia

You must have to so a lot of basting to keep the top and bottom from shifting. I remember trying to make placemates one time and the scrunching and bunching were horrible. I was using my old Singer. I ended up "quilting" them by hand in a small hoop.

For placemats? You must have been using a toy machine. I only have to flip one side or end up when doing placemats. For anything smaller than a doll quilt I don't even bother to baste, the cotton batting holds it just fine all by itself.

On Sat, 9 Feb 2008 16:46:42 -0600, Marie Dodge wrote (in article ):

I just scrunch it up good (if I'm feeling virtuous, maybe I'll roll it) and shove it through.

Maureen