Good Morning, Quilters!
Let’s start the week with a quick tip on quilting speed control.
But first, a big thank you to all who commented and shared their stories on Friday-Nurse and Doctor Appreciation.
And I LOVED all the stories about readers of LKQ being saved by penicillin as young children! –Be sure to the read the comments from Saturday’s post!
Quilting Speed Control
Many sewing machines, including my lovely BERNINA 770QE, offer a speed control slider. In the above photo, the slider is left of the screen and to the right of the thread guide. The slider is marked with a minus sign (-) and plus sign(+).
The slider allows you to adjust the speed from very slow to full speed.
Controlling the Maximum Speed of the Machine
When the speed slider is moved to the left (toward the minus sign) the machine limits the maximum speed of the machine. The farther to the left, the slower the machine maximum.
However, when the speed slider is positioned fully to the right, the machine does not limit the maximum speed of the sewing machine.
Where Should YOU Place the Slider
Some quilters adjust the slider to the middle of the speed limit. Then they put their pedal to the metal-full force on the foot pedal-and this forces them to stitch at a consistent speed.
Stitching at a consistent speed is (mostly) a good thing. With speed held at a consistent speed, one can concentrate on fine tuning the speed of hand/quilt movement to create a motif.
HOWEVER, I only recommend this as a practice technique when a beginner quilter is really struggling to coordinate both hand and foot movements. While ALL students struggle to coordinate hand and foot control, most achieve satisfactory results quickly and they don’t need to rely on the speed control.
Most quilting is accomplished with subtle changes in quilting speed.
Full Speed for Full Control
I recommend students of free motion quilting, learn to fully control the speed with their foot pedal. The foot pedal is very sensitive and while it does take practice, it is better to learn to control the speed of quilting by using the foot pedal than by adjusting the speed control slider. The foot pedal allows you much more flexibility as you quilt.
For example, when stitching a motif like the Baby Bunny scene above, you would slow down for the small flowers and for the close echo stitching. However, while stitching the big ovals, you could stitch faster.
By not creating an upper limit, you have greater control for subtle changes in speed.
NOTE-The Baby Bunny can be found in the Spring chapter, page 58 of MORE Free Motion Machine Quilting 1-2-3.
Try the Speed Control
If your machine has a speed control. Try stitching The Baby Bunny or other motif with the speed control in various limits.
Do YOU find it useful?
Do YOU prefer to not have a maximum limit?
If not, be sure to keep the slider all the way to the right for full control.
We’d LOVE to hear YOUR thoughts…
What makes quilting easier for YOU?
Please share YOUR machine quilting quick tips!
PS…All tutorials, images and information are the property of Lori Kennedy Quilts and are intended for personal use only. Feel free to reblog, pin or share with attribution to LKQ. For all other purposes, please contact me at Lori@LoriKennedyQuilts.com. Thanks!
PPS…And don’t forget to take advantage of Bluprint’s two weeks FREE!
