Machine Quilting Advice: How Not to Quilt

Vivika DeNegre — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 05:00:00 GMT

I hate to admit it to myself and to others, but I really did just ruin a small pillow top by machine quilting it. You read correctly: I ruined a perfectly nice piece of patchwork. The stitching is crooked, the thread is blah, the quilting takes away from the design rather than enhancing it, and the workmanship is not the best. I can only blame myself--I achieved lack-luster results all because I didn't follow my own self-imposed "rules" for quilting.

I've been thinking long and hard about investing in a new machine specifically for quilting my larger pieces. But in the back of my head I know that no matter what machine I have or how much time and effort I spend in learning how to use it, I will never create pieces that are of show-stopping quality if I don't follow some basic steps before starting to stitch.

So are there really rules for machine quilting? Maybe not hard-and-fast rules, but when I do follow a few guidelines I get better results. And this time, I think I broke every single one of them.

My own internal checklist has me answer a few simple questions before I get started.

Plan the design before you start. If I had taken a few minutes to relate the quilting pattern to the quilt top, the overall result would have been significantly better.
Fill an extra bobbin or two. This ensures there is enough thread for the project and minimizes stopping and starting as you wind bobbins and rethread your machine.
Practice on a small quilt sandwich before quilting on the final project. 10 minutes of practice usually gets me "in the groove" to stitch any design with confidence. Instead, I practiced on my project, and the results are inconsistent design details and stitch length.
Pull the bobbin thread to the top to avoid unsightly nests underneath your work. Ugh, that happened twice.
Always move the work away from you so you can see where you are going. I got lazy and tried to quilt by moving the work toward me on alternating rows of quilting. The results speak for themselves...
Relax. My shoulders were tight after only a few minutes of quilting. Relaxing makes a big difference in the quality of the stitching.

Better than my advice is to review the incredible wealth of information from the real experts. My go-to source for inspired designs and practical quilting advice is past articles in Quilting Arts Magazine from contributors like Robbi Joy Eklow, Frieda Anderson, Judy Coates Perez, and Carol Taylor. There's even a free machine quilting eBook available on our website, packed with advice for quilters of all levels.

How do you prepare for quilting? Do you plan everything ahead, or do you just jump in and stitch? Leave a comment on the blog and let us know.

Perfect Handmade Gift: Stitch a One-of-a-Kind Sketchbook Cover, Part II

Vivika_Blog — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 14:20:00 GMT

Note from Vivika: This is the fourth in a series of blog posts by Candy Glendening showing you how to create unique functional pieces with artistic flair.

Now that you've dyed a spectacular piece(s) of multi-colored fabric ,it's time to show it off. What better way than to make a one-of-a-kind Sketchbook? Featuring a piece of multicolor fabric with a thread-sketched abstract mum design on the cover, this cover holds a 7" x 10" coil-bound sketchbook securely with an elastic to hold it closed when it's tossed in your bag.

Materials Needed for a 7" x 10" Sketchbook

(2) Fat quarters of fabric: multicolor "focus" fabric and lining
1/3 yard accent fabric
Scrap of fusible webbing
Midweight woven fusible interfacing: ¾" yard
Fusible Batting: 12" x 18"
12" of ¼" flat braided or wrapped elastic
Neutral color sewing thread
Heavy Cotton Decorative Variegated thread

Cut and Interface Pieces

2. Use a rotary cutter and ruler to cut out all the pieces in the table below. Different pieces will be interfaced differently, this is detailed next.

Fabric	Item	Fabric		Interfacing		Batting
		Width	Height	Width	Height	Width	Height
Focus	Front & Back (2)	8	12	8	12	6.75	10.75
Accent	Spine	3.5	12	3.5	12	2.25	10.75
Lining	Inner Lining	17.5	12	17	11.5
Accent	Inner Flaps (2)	14	12	6.75	11.5

3. The front, back and spine will become little mini quilts, except the backing is interfacing, rather than fabric. Lay the fabric pieces (right side facing down) on your ironing board, center the batting and then add the interfacing (fusible side down). Using steam and a hot iron, fuse this sandwich together in a 3 step process (to avoid wrinkles around the perimeter): 1^st, lightly steam and fuse tack the interfacing to the batting, 2^nd, flip the sandwich over and press from the center out, fusing all three layers together, and then 3^rd flip it over again and give those edges an extra press to ensure that the interfacing is well fused to the perimeter of the fabric (and the batting is safely enclosed in the middle.

4. The inner lining piece is simply interfaced by centering the interfacing (fusible side down) on the back of the lining material and fusing following the manufacturer's instructions. The lack of interfacing in the seam allowance will cut down on bulk.

5. Fold both the inner flaps half, wrong sides together, and press. Insert the interfacing into the fold, aligning the top of the interfacing with the top of the fold, and press.

Artify the Journal

6. Unleash your creative muse here! Whatever you love to create, the outer panels are the place to share this with the world. For this sketchbook, I fused a piece of my lining fabric to the front and used that as an anchor for my "Free Motion Machine Sketching." I thread my machine with a very thick (24 weight) slightly variegated thread, a very strong needle (denim/topstich) and use 50 wt cotton bobbin thread (matching the main color of the top thread). See the video below for more details.

Click on the image above to see the video of Candy machine quilting
the motif.

Assembly

7. Stitch the spine between the front and back pieces. Press the seams open and topstitch along each side of these two seams. Topstitch the folded edge of both pockets as well.

8. Place the lining right side up and align the raw edges of the front pocket on the left side and the back pocket on the right side. Baste the pockets to the lining. Baste your elastic about 2" in from the left side.

9. Lay the front cover face down on top of the lining/pockets, right sides together. Stitch around the perimeter, taking care to leave a 4" gap at the bottom for turning. Clip the corners and turn inside out, using a tool like a knitting needle to get those corners pushed out (be careful you don't poke through them though!) Press well, making sure that the edges of the gap are folded just right so that they are in line with your seam.

10. Topstitch carefully around the perimeter. Make sure the elastic is on the top so you're aware of its location. When you get to the part of the cover where it's attached, stretch the elastic out of the way so you don't stitch over it.

11. Insert your journal or sketchbook and you are done!

I hope you've enjoyed this series of posts I've shared with you. The flow of color and visual texture of the fabrics that I dye, combined with the strong, "sketchy" lines of my free motion machine stitching emphasize that individual hand made quality of everything I make; I hope that this inspires you to find your own path towards unique textile art.

Candy