Tonight we are going to have a class on what design and thread color to choose to use when machine quilting a quilt. We will learn how to audition our design ideas before we make our first quilting stitch. As a special treat I have found a 1947 film on how to sew a straight stitch. So come and join us as we spend time talking quilting.
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We are going to start off with a class on what to choose to quilt on your quilt. When you are new to quilting, it is hard to figure out what quilting design or thread to use. You have been practicing your free motion quilting on scrap blocks and you are confident that you are ready to quilt your first quilt. Only you end up disappointed with it after you are finished. Your stitching looks nice but it just doesn't seem to look good. I found this free online class that will give you some tips on choosing the right quilt pattern. The video is 30 minutes long but well worth the time watching this class.
You are going to need certain types of feet for your machine This video goes into some other features on a machine that is nice to have. I have fallen in love with my needle down and back stitch feature on my new machine. I need to add that I always use a quilting needle when I quilt. The needle is designed to go through the layers smoothly and not bring up fuzz.
Moving along into using your walking foot and free motion foot. In the class it was mentioned in several examples about stitching in the ditch. Here is a short demonstration on stitching in the ditch using both feet.
Here is my block that I chose to practice this technique. I did the curves in the larger areas and just used the walking foot in the smaller blocks and kept the stitching straight. I am also using a cream thread throughout the whole quilt because this is a reproduction of a 19th century sampler quilt. They only used white thread to quilt with then. They didn't have the color fast threads that came along in the early 20th century. Also tea leave quilting was used in the late 19th century. It got it's name from the tea cup that was used to trace around. The cup would be passed around as a group quilted and they would score the fabric with their needle to trace the circle. That mark would last just long enough to quilt around.
First I started with the walking foot.
I switched to the free motion foot.
This is a quilt I made for my grand daughter for Christmas in 2007. I used the same quilting that is in this lesson. I think I used the walking foot for the whole quilting process. As you can see I did a better job of it then. I am still getting used to my new machine.
I learned to sew in the 1950's as a kid on a straight stitch Singer. I just had to throw this little vintage film on sewing a straight stitch from 1947. I still use hemming tape to hem with. The catch stitch is what I used to stitch my pieces of batting together.
This machine has been part of my life since I was a child as well as the old iron. They are both in good working condition. I have all the attachments to it and a button hole attachment.
This was a travel iron that was not used much except as a back up when I lived at home. It sits on it's side and has a temperature gauge. Boy can it get hot. I use it once in a while when I need a very hot iron for a craft. I had it rewired about 25 years ago when we still had small appliance repair shops.
Next time we are going to get into stencils for marking your quilt and overlays.