Thursday, May 28, 2015

I'M A LITTLE RUSTY WHEN IT COMES TO FREE MOTION QUILTING...

Well, yesterday I did try my hand at quilting the landscape.   The first thing I found out was that free motion quilting on my new sewing machine is a lot different than my older one.

For instance, the quilting/darning foot on my old machine stayed about 1/2 to 3/4 inch above the fabric.   It did make it a bit more difficult as far as losing needles because I did lose them on occasion.   But it was far easier to move the fabric which in turn allowed me to do a good job meandering (as I like to call it) around the fabric.   Really, I was doodling with my sewing machine.

The first thing I realized on my new sewing machine was that the foot petal was more of a distraction than on my old one.   My new machine has a switch as well as the foot petal.   I was hesitant to use the switch at first but I soon found out that the stitching was much better.   That was a plus for me.

But, the fact that the quilting/darning foot stays close to the fabric (and yes, the feed dogs were lowered) gave me all sorts of problems.   I had my quilting gloves on to move the fabric but the friction made it almost impossible to move smoothly.   As a result, I mostly did circles which I do not really care for.

The other problem I had was going back and forth over the unfinished edges.   Some of the time, the edges were caught and wound up folding over on themselves.   This is a raw edge landscape with about 1/8 inch open and roughed up (with a soft toothbrush) to soften the edges.

I used black thread so I could easily see my quilting.   Here's the entire quilt (it's not done)...

And here are close-ups of the quilting...


I was planning on quilting in the ditch for the borders just to finish it up quickly.   Remember, this is really a practice landscape.

I have found out that there are remedies for the friction problem.   One is a silicon spray and the other is a free motion mat.   I think I will get one or the other before I try quilting the bouquet.   I'll check out City Quilter tomorrow and see what they recommend.

I'm not totally unhappy with it but I really hope that I can find a way to move the fabric easier because if it continues like this, I may only do straight stitching.

Tomorrow's is Friday...another late night for me.   I will post on Saturday to let you know what I find.

Thanks for checking things out here...
Talk to you tomorrow or Saturday...