Well the sassy triangle quilt is finished!!! Sunday I thought this machine quilting I will master, well I tried it on a small piece and yes it fed through beautifully and even managed to use a fancy stitch so loaded up the quilt and disaster, the weight of the quilt was too much and it would not feed so gave up! Decided I would draw circles and hexagons all over it and hand quilt. Spent the day doing this but only got about a quarter of the way and did not like what I had done so monday came and decided I would not be beaten so out came the machine again, decided I needed to lift the weight off the machine so put 2 coffee tables on top of each other next to my left hand side which took the weight and used a longer stitch guess what IT WORKED. Have to own up to the lines not been very straight but when I get better will unpick and re do them. I am feeling so pleased with myself. The binding I made from various lengths of the left over fabric which has worked quilt well. Yesterday the quilt went into the wash, confound it the washable pen I used to draw the circles and hexies has not washed out properly, not sure why as it washed out on a previous piece, fortunately I had only done them on the first 4 rows.It was a bit of a bore unpicking the hand quilting and after washing found one circle I had missed so must do that now the quilt is dry
As you can see some of the fabric is a bit distorted, there was one cotton that was a bit thinner than the others and that has caused a bit of a problem, never mind I am not showing it to the quilting police and I can learn form my errors.
I wonder why there is so little about the quilting of quilts, I have lots of books but only one seems to give much information and the magazines seem to be great at the piecing process but say quilt as desired! I am sure someone could bring out a book to help us beginners.
45 comments:
Simply beautiful!
KATRIN W.
Gorgeous.You have done a wonderful job,appreciate your perseverance to try machine quilting again.You will get it perfect soon,don't worry about the Quilting police.I think I have a book which has got few pages of helpful tips and techniques on both hand and machine quilting,will check and let you know the name and author of the book.
You deserve a medal Margie. The quilt is gorgeous.
I know exactly what you mean about the machine quilting though, I had such a job quilting mine and Tom has decided to tuft quilt his. It's the first thing he has made on a machine so I can't expect him to be able to struggle with it.
So,,,,long stitch and support the weight, I'll remember that next time.
Well done its brilliant.
Briony
x
Thias looks great and you are always colourful. I loke that.
Nana
Well done Margie! It is beautiful and you know I love those colors!
Congratulazions, Margaret. The quilt looks wonderful and it is good that you took it out again for another try onthe machine.
...and it is a great help to prolong the table - I do it with the ironing board.
Congratulations on finishing the quilt, I love the binding it is perfect! The washable marker, I have had trouble with before and was told it must be washed out with plain water and no detergent....somehow the detergent causes the pen marks to remain. Maybe another trip through the wash with only water will help.
xo
Deb
A proud moment for you with your lovely finished quilt hanging on the line. I have only ever made one quilt and had trouble also with the machine quilting, my stitches were all different sizes, I think my material wasn't feeding through properly.
It really looks fantastic, Margaret. I know exactly what you mean about distortion from the weight - the problem I had with my one and only attempt. I didn't have the room to put in an extra length to lift it. Agree that some advice would help. Still, yours looks great.
It loos beautiful, love the colours. I just saw the crazy block too. I like the spider's web you have done. did you make a spider too ??
Oh, that is GORGEOUS! I'm so proud that you finished it! I have tons of great tutorials on my Pinterest boards. Just go here: http://www.pinterest.com/44thstfabric/ and then go to the board on tutorials. There are tutorials with videos that are amazing (and free)! XO
Congrats, your quilt is just lovely! Love the binding.
Its a wonderful quilt and the colors are beautiful!
Alexandra
Fantastic finish, Margaret. I always spritz the blue washout pen markings with water, then launder as usual. I have not heard that detergent sets the color. If that is so, something to that effect should be noted on the package. Just be careful not to apply heat, as from an iron, to the blue markings, as that will definitely set the marks.
Now, about machine quilting. The internet has lots of info about the topic. Chief among them is having adequate support for the quilt because as you learned, the sewing machine is not up to pulling the weight through with just those teensy feed dogs. An ironing board whose height is adjustable, is useful as a side table to hold the weight if you have nothing else of the appropriate height. The quilt must be fully supported to the back of the sewing machine as well. Pushing your table against the wall will keep the quilt from sliding off the table behind the machine. For free motion quilting (which I take it you were not doing here), it is necessary to loosen the upper thread tension - sometimes I have to take ti down to 0. I have also found it helps to loosen it a little when doing straight line machine quilting, too. You may not need to do this if you are pleased with how the stitches look. A longer stitch certainly - which you already figured out.
Lastly I notice that you hung the quilt on a line. I wouldn't hang a wet quilt that way as the extra weight can break the machine quilting threads. It may not, but can. It will definitely break them if the quilt is hand quilted. I put my quilts through the dryer, but if you don't have one or don't want to do this, lay them out on the grass with an old sheet underneath if soiling is an issue.
Again, beautiful quilt. So colorful.
It looks fine. I wouldn't take it out. It's an example of your beginnings. Keep it to measure your progress as you improve. =)
you did a great job on the quilt and there's always a way if you are determined. i've given all my books on quilting a quilt away but there are some good ones out there. do a search on amazon and read the descriptions given of the contents. Leah Day also has a fabulous blog on quilting with lots of videos. here's the link... http://freemotionquilting.blogspot.com/
Alright! congratulations on your finish and a lovely one at that!
Your quilt is lovely and good on you for completing it! Now you can check this off and feel very proud!!
Congratulations on your success! I think you learned a lot and the next machine quilting you do will be easier. As many have said the support of the weight is important.
As for the marker not washing out. Did you by any chance use an iron on those areas before washing? I have found that heat can 'set' the ink so it won't wash out.
10 out of 10 for persistence, Margaret. It was worth it as the quilt looks great - well done. Deanna already mentioned Leah Day and her website and I also recommend a look at this. My FMQ is chronic and I always end up with a big headache. Picking out quilting stitches would be the worst job ever!!
One of the joys of handmade is that it's not perfect, it adds to the charms. The quilt looks lovely, enjoy it,
A wonderful achievement! Congratulations, it looks great and well done for all your patience and perseverance. We get a lot of customers in the patchwork shop who say that when machine quilting weight and support problem is a nightmare. A lot of people send them off to a long arm quilter now, so you should be really proud! There 's loads of great advice here from people far more expert than me, but I do use a lot of different pens and markers - and one useful tip is to always try a sample first, using the suggested removal method. Then wash/iron to make sure 'it does what it says on the tin!'x
Congratulations! It looks wonderful to me. It's a great achievement, I think. there are a few books out about machine quilting. Look up machine quilting on Amazon and you'll find some.
The hardest part to machine quilting and the one that I find makes people quit, is that it takes practice, just like handwriting. If you persist, you will find your accuracy will improve. Anyway, I think you've done a great job.
Your persistence has paid off, it's a beautiful quilt. Another tool that's useful in supporting the weight of a quilt when you're quilting is an ironing board.
I am sew proud of you, Margaret! Glad to see that you did not give up and managed to quilt with your machine. A great learning experience to add to your skill set, my dear! Bravo on a fabulous finish!
Well done, Margaret! Kudos for hanging in there when things didn't go as planned, and for figuring out about the weight and feed. I did one 4'x6' quilt once on the machine, and I had a bit of trouble myself, so I can imagine how much heavier a larger quilt would be. A proud finish for sure!
Oh YES!! well done - JUST BEAUTIFUL!!!
Wow , you really have worked hard indeed . It`s a fantastic quilt not only to look and love for its beauty , but also to admire because of all the hard work you have put into it !
I remember a time when I tried to machine quilt a baby blanket years ago and gave up in frustration because the fabric would not move freely due to the thickness .
But after reading about your trial and successI am going to take a leaf from your book . I am always going to be inspired by how you found a solution to the problem . No more abandoned projects by me now .......:)
Congratulations, your quilt is wonderful. Machine quilting needs practice, the next quilt ´ll be easier to do.
Oh Margaret, you have done so well! Congratulations!
It looks great and the main thing is that you like it, it is your quilt! And it is all a part of the learning process:-)
That quilt is gorgeous Margaret. I too have trouble quilting big quilts, so I've switched to 'Quilt As You Go' which is so much easier.
Wow, this turned out fabulous! I think its perfect, no unpicking needed:) I learned a lot about machine quilting from Craftsy classes and you tube videos. Hard to really grasp in a book. I think there is not a lot because you really just have to practice. Keep at it because you are doing great!
Top marks for persistence, Margaret. In spiteof your trials the quilt looks great! Practise will help and definitely using tables and ironing boards and draping the quilt around yourself to take the weight off it! There are on-line classes and help which you may find useful. I love Craftsy and they often have sales but I kow there are other places too that may be a little cheaper or free even. Awesome work!
Those basted quilts can be heavy. I do all of my quilting on one of those 8-foot folding tables for that very reason. I think it came out lovely.
Your quilt is looking terrific! Well done Margaret and great that you persevered. Hope you can find the info you're looking for perhaps in the quilting section in your public library or on-line?
Congratulations on the finish, Margaret, it looks excellent! Great design and colours. Persistence wins the day! :D
Oh how pretty! I love the fabrics and colors you used.
What a lovely finish!!
Well my lovely, you beat me to it! This is fantastic, well done you not letting your machine beat you! We've been that busy with orating out the house I've not sewn or hooked for weeks.....next week looks pretty quiet, so who knows! A great achievement, big pat on the back :) x
Your quilt is wonderful! I wouldn't worry about not so straight quilting lines,mine aren't either, but it's proof I made it. Oh, and "quilt as desired" drives me mad too.
Congratulations! The quilt looks great! I totally agree with you about the lack of info about the art of quilting. Well done 😃
I really love your Sassy Triangle quilt! Great colors! I am learning to machine quilt. I guess the old adage is true, practice, practice, practice. I think you did a great job!
It is a fabulous finish Margaret, you should be really proud of yourself. I definitely can't see any problems with it from here :)
You are just an amazing person margaret. Top marks for all you do and for how much you are learning in the process.
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