Thursday, December 8, 2011

Machine Quilting Shapes I. . .

Shapes I is ready to quilt.  I am going to go through the steps of sandwiching the quilt and determining what to quilt.
 My preferred basting method for small quilts is basting spray.  I layer the backing, batting, and top.  Because of its size, 12"x18", I have good control on any wrinkle possibilities as I am layering it.  As I use 100% cotton batting, the layers hold together as I layer them together before they are sprayed.
Once layered, the quilt top and batting are pulled from the backing to the midway point.  Spray the backing and lay the batting back in place, smoothing out any wrinkles.  Smooth the top over the batting.  Repeat for the other half.
 With the backing and batting basted, pull the quilt top away from the batting to the midway point.  Spray.  Lay smooth and repeat for other side.  I then trim up all layers 2" or less all around the quilt.  This makes it easier to handle while quilting.
I began the quilting by stitching in the ditch (SID) around the outer black border.  This can be done with a free-motion stitch or, as I did, with a straight stitch with feed dogs up.  Spray basting my quilts lets me begin quilting where I choose.  If there are borders, I always begin with SID to stabilize the quilt.  I DO NOT begin by quilting from the center out.
Wanting to keep the quilting simple, I chose to repeat the shape being quilted, widening the gap from one round to the next.  I also decided to use my straight-stitch foot leaving the feed dogs.  By using various parts of the foot as a quilting guide, marking the quilt was unnecessary.
With the shapes quilted, I switched to my free-motion foot, feed dogs down, and quilted the background with the shape names (circle, square, triangle) and a wavy line.
The quilting is done.  Do I embellish or not?


Until next time,
 


 

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