Today’s Topic: First Steps in Machine Quilting
Hello, Quilters!
I am making great progress quilting my favorite quilt top-The Carolina Lily!
Please follow along as I walk through my process-from fear and fretting, then to design, and finally, machine quilting. I will share all the bumps in the road as well as my little successes!
NOTE-In this series, I am working on a long arm, but most of the steps are the same if you are working on a stationary machine.
Fear and Fretting
First of all, fear of ruining our quilt tops is common. I suspect ALL quilters, regardless of their skill and experience, suffer some anxiety as they begin machine quilting. The anxiety is directly proportional to the amount of work and/or love we have for the quilt top. For this reason, I had no problem quilting quilting some of the old quilts in my UFO basket, but it took me years to get the courage to begin quilting this favorite quilt top.
Fretting, (fear mixed with procrastination) is primarily caused by being unsure of the quilting roadmap.
In this series, I hope to offer you one possible roadmap for machine quilting a big quilt.
The Quilting Roadmap
Here are the steps so far:
- Get over yourself! It’s only a quilt!
- Press the quilt top and take a few photos
- Start Planning the Design
- Choose and mark the major design lines
- Sample batting, thread and motifs
- Create and press backing (not shown here)
Load the Quilt and Double Batting
- Load the quilt (or baste if quilting on a stationary machine)
- Test threads for top and bobbin
- Adjust tension
Today’s Steps:
- Stitch in the ditch quilting
- Stitching major design lines
- Continue to plan the design
Stitch in the Ditch Quilting
The first quilting decision to make is whether or not to do stitch in the ditch quilting.
Stitch in the ditch (SITD) quilting is simply stitching in the seam lines of pieced blocks and around the edges of applique blocks. The quilting line is intended to be invisible, therefore it is usually stitched with lightweight thread in a color that matches or blends with the underlying fabric.
If the line is invisible, why should we bother? SITD quilting sets the block lines and adds emphasis to the design. This simple-though bolded-sentence hardly does justice to the effect of stitch in the ditch quilting. It is a visual that you simple must sample for yourself–and not all quilts benefit from SITD quilting.
I will write more on this in a future blog post.
For the Carolina Lily, and especially with the double batting, I decided to stitch in the ditch all of the major seam lines as well as around the applique.
How to STID
When I am not quilting on a long arm on a frame, I stitch in the ditch with a walking foot to ensure straight lines and even stitches.
On the longarm, I used rulers to do my best to keep the lines straight and in the well of the seam line.
Stitching around the applique was challenging. The shape of the leaves and the stems did not correspond to any rulers in my collection so I had to free hand around them. The precision was very challenging! I am not perfectly happy with the results, but I did my best!
To complete all of the SITD lines before moving on to the next step, I stitched a section, then rolled the quilt, repeating this process from the top to the bottom of the quilt. This process took about ten hours.
Add the Major Design Lines
My next step was to stitch all of the major design lines. These are the lines I designed in the first step to give an overall structure to the quilt design. The major lines will divide up the quilt into design sections and help your eye flow between the sections. They become natural dividing lines for the motifs as well.
I wanted these lines to be visible so I used a slightly heavier weight thread, Glide 40 wt.
Most of these lines were marked with a blue washout pen before I loaded the quilt on the frame. I used a ruler to stitch the lines.
One thing I learned–more drawn lines are better than less! In some cases, I marked a line, but didn’t mark the line that was to be stitched 1 inch away. My thinking was that I could use the markings on the ruler to stitch the second line. However, when the quilt was on the frame, the position for the second line was often in an awkward position to set the ruler, so it would have been better to have the line pre-drawn.
Stitching the major dividing lines took around 3 hours.
Continue to Plan the Design
- While I had some ideas about motifs, the time spent working on the lines gave me more time to reflect on the placement of the motifs as well as the scale.
Design -Stitch-Design-Stitch is a sequence that works best for me for several reasons:
I don’t have to plan all the quilting before I stitch. (Less time fretting!)
The act of quilting helps spur ideas!
I often find I change pre-planned ideas once I start quilting.
I guess the important thing to remember–you don’t need to have every quilting stitch pre-planned in order to begin quilting. The ideas will come!
Please Share!
Do YOU fret about quilting?
Are YOU confident about the steps in the quilting process?
Have you made a sample of stitch in the ditch quilting?
We’d LOVE to hear!
Leave the fretting to the musicians!
Your Fret free friend,
Lori
PS…All tutorials, images and information are the property of Lori Kennedy Quilts and are intended for personal use only. Feel free to re-blog, pin or share with attribution to LKQ. For all other purposes, please contact me at Lori@LoriKennedyQuilts.com!
Check out my books on Etsy: LoriKennedyShop
16 comments
Kathleen B
I have spent the last four months piecing a “Dear Jane” quilt. The individual blocks are 4.5 inches finished and joined together with a half inch joining strip. I have a sit down Q20, but decided to “quilt as you go” method for the center blocks using simple straight line patterns and my walking foot. I am now in the process of quilting the attached borders in the same way but with the Q20. I am using a straight ruler but I’m finding that the border quilting just doesn’t look as good as the border pieces.
Your blog post came just in time! I have been so discouraged thinking that I’m ruining this quilt. Thank you Lori for blogging, I enjoy reading your posts.
Test Ting
Test
diane laplante
I have a quilt to quilt made in english paper piecing fabric from tula pink it will be my first one it help me to figure to doingit
Marilyn Larkin
It’s wonderful to see how you are approaching quilting with your long arm. the SITD process is so good as it anchors the layers together. BUT: what I am learning from you is planning, planning, practice and trust in yourself. Trust in yourself is so hard, especially after you practice and hesitate. I know its OK if it isn’t perfect, that ‘s what we all get hung up on I think. trying for perfection and expecting it rather than using our creativity to re-plan and trusting in ourselves. Thank-you Lori, I am so happy you are back.
Lytle Markham
I can’t even remember when I bought all the fabric to make this quilt! It’s been decades! Must get this made! I have a longarm, but haven’t even used it yet! Pathetic, right? I’m trying to catch up with all my buying.
Rhianna Pearl
Hi Lori and everyone. I just wanted to say, I am a new longarmer and have found that if I practice the quilting right on the machine, but without starting the needle going, I have a more realistic idea of how to quilt the pattern. Using paper or computer just isn’t enough like actual quilting. Love your easy going approach to quilting!
Rhianna
Sharon k
Why double batting and what kind of batting?
Linda
Thanks so much for your tips, Lori. I stitch in the ditch between blocks on every quilt top I make on a domestic machine. I use a walking foot and Superior micro quilt thread for this step. I find it helps to keep from getting tucks on the back and I can remove my pins as I get to each block. I have tried to skip this step but I always regret it. It works for me.
Pam
Sigh. Paralysis by Analysis. That’s me 100%. The other thing I have trouble with is that if I don’t write down what I’m doing on the border, I have forgotten it by the time I get to the bottom border and then I have to unroll my whole quilt to look at what I did earlier (Gah!)
I did just STID on my favorite quilt a couple years ago and bound it (time constraints and a deadline I had to meet), fully intending to go back and do more detailed quilting when I was more comfortable with the process…..now it’s two years later and I’m afraid to just use that STID because the fabric could have stretched. What should I do?
Debbie Mahlberg
Hi Lori. So interesting to hear how you devise your plan to quilt on the longarm. I have some questions for you. 1. When you STID what wt of thread do you use? 2. What is the reason that you have double batted this quilt, I have only done this once when a Grandma was worried her grandchildren would not be warm enough. I find that wool batting is warm or cool when needed, exemplifies the quilt stitch and is not heavy on the toes, especially for sleeping 3. When you do your stitching from top to bottom on one design only ie: STID and then roll the quilt back up to do another design element, I can only assume that you do not pin the backing and top to separate rolls. With my longarm I can only do what you stated you do by pinning the whole sandwich to the top and then the bottom. Do you understand what I am saying.? Otherwise I am not able to roll the quilt up and down. You information has been phenomenal and will think before I stitch or plan!!
Debbie Mahlberg from Wisconsin
Kathie Banks
Love the blog post! Love that you’re sharing your process. I tend to plan my quilting while I piece. If I don’t have a plan by the time it’s finished, I re-watch my Craftsy library (your classes included) for inspiration. Once I have a plan, I practice by drawing on images of the blocks in MS Paint. Then I practice the stitches on practice squares. Then I go for it. Those mistakes don’t show when I ride by on my horse.
Genie
Yes, I also fret about quilting my tops. I’m getting better and growing more confident but getting started is definitely the hardest part. Thanks for the encouragement to get my tops done because they are only quilts 🙂
Josie
Lori, I’m a fairly new quilter, so seeing your process is really helpful as I am piecing my first bed-sized quilt, a king. I plan to do simple quilting, but even so, it’s a bit scary to think of messing it up. I just need to get over myself!
Can’t wait to see the progress on your lovely quilt, and eventually, the finished product! Thanks for sharing your skills with us.
Deborah Mantlo
Yes, yes! I love your advice which works for me… “you don’t need to have every quilting stitch pre-planned in order to begin quilting. The ideas will come!”
Lori
Yes I fret about quilting designs. This usually lasts several days. I practice most of the motifs I decide on before actually quilting on the quilt. Once I get started I usually relax a little and enjoy the process. I just need to figure out how to get passed the fretting stage faster.
Nancy Vogel
Good to hear from you, Lori! I wondered how you were doing with your longarm.
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