Tuesday, April 01, 2014

Machine Quilting - Part 1

I have been enjoying some machine quilting on my spring tablerunner.
Using the walking foot, I quilted straight diagonal lines  on the center panel, and used the green painters tape as my guide. 
It worked well, even though there are lots of starts and stops. Everything was laying flat, but I thought it needed more quilting, so I reduced the space between the lines by half.
That meant there would be twice as much quilting to do on the center panel, but I think it's worth it. I started liking it much better! 
I found I could use a piece of tape to quilt 3 or 4 lines before it lost it's adhesiveness.
Next up is quilting the outside borders.

9 comments:

genie said...

I was so happy to see this post today as I am trying to machine quilt my daughter’s birthday gift. Both my Brothers starting making loud chugging noises even after cleaning and changing needles. Maybe I have just worn them out. Ordered one of the new walking feet for my old Singer Featherweight 221, and it is saving my life. It really works. Still I am having trouble staying in an even line off the seam lines. I wiggle, and it upsets me so. Will give the painter’s tape a try today. I like straight line and crisscrossing quitting the best for some reason. Love your table runner and can’t wait to see how you do the borders.

Vroomans' Quilts said...

I use painter's tape too - machine or hand quilting

Barb said...

I never thought of using painters tape....smart!!

Deanna W said...

Very bright , pretty and Spring like. Makes you think the snow will leave and the birds and flowers will be here soon!

Colleen said...

Don't ya just love your Brother machine??? I do!!

I do most of my quilting like this (sans the tape). I just eyeball it and it comes out pretty good. I'm not going for juried quilts, so it doesn't bother me if there's a glitch or so. I'm a strictly straight-line stitcher. I don't care for all the fancy-schmancy quilting that's so popular these days. Too much quilting for my taste.

margaret said...

great quilt and that is a good tip re the painters tape, have 2 wanting quilting but not got the nerve yet to tackle them as have only done machine quilting on tiny things

Anonymous said...

Hi Kathy,

I follow your blog on bloglovin'. I hand-sew, so i've been skimming over your posts on the machine quilting until today. I got notice that one of my sorority sisters (I'm now alum of course), has been diagnosed with leukemia. I would like to make a quilt for the chapter to auction off to raise funds for her dues, so she can remain a sister while she is out of school getting treatments.

All that to ask, is there a pattern or tutorial for the pink and green quilt you are working on? Those are the sorority colors.

Thanks, mindingmomma (Beth)
mindingmomma at aol dot com

Mary said...

Great to use teh Tape for straight line quilting. I used it for a Border that I quilted on my Midarm. It works for all kinds of quilting. Thanks for sharing.

Kate said...

When I finally get brave enough to quilt something on my machine, the painters tape looks like a great technique to start with.