It’s finally done, phew!
When I put it on my bed to take these pics, I said, “Ooooo, I like how it goes perfectly in here…” But I sternly reminded myself that I already have plenty of quilts and if I kept it, I’d still owe the newlyweds a wedding gift. (It got wrapped and delivered that day, lol. )
At 96″ x 102″, queen size, it’s the biggest quilt I ever machine quilted.
Diane Gaudynski’s Guide To Machine Quilting was incredibly helpful. She has a whole system worked out which includes needle and thread sizes, how to bundle the quilt, starching the backing to make it slide easier, even propping up your left foot to the same height as the right! Each of these steps makes the process just a bit easier, so if you implement all her suggestions you’ll have an excellent chance of success.
Just using a finer weight thread (standard sewing thread is 40, she recommends 50 or 60) and a smaller needle (#60 or #70) makes the stitches look much nicer.
The feathers were a lot more fun than I thought they’d be. The most helpful revelation to me was that each feather is just half of a heart shape. I can manage THAT.
They’re not perfect, but they’ll do. 😉
These free motion flowers were a lot of fun. It’s just spiral background quilting, with scallops added to the outer part of each spiral to turn them into flowers. (You can see this best in the flower in the upper left corner.)
I would NOT recommend you learn machine quilting on a quilt this size. I’d made many, many smaller projects before I decided to tackle this huge one. The most important thing to developing your skills is to practice, practice, practice. Baby quilts are great beginner projects. Whatever you do, have fun!
Happy creating,
Sandy
Sandy, that’s GORGEOUS. I’m speechless. What are you using? A machine on a quilt frame? A long arm? Mice at night? Show us a pic of your work set-up, please.
A long arm machine would be loverly, but they are quite pricey, so this will have to do for my set up. Here you can see it in action, sorta. As I mentioned in the post, Diane Gaudynski’s Guide To Machine Quilting was quite helpful. She makes quilts like this on just a regular sewing machine.
However, if would be fantastic if I could get the elves to come do my work by night.
Wow. I guess I’ll have to get the book to see how it’s physically possible to quilt a queen-sized quilt on a regular machine. Well done! Lucky recipient.
Oh, that’s cool! I have Diane’s book, and it’s great.
I just have to make myself practice.
Or get a $25,000 long arm. O.o
Yes, I’ve played on other peoples’ long arm machines and they are FUN. But you gotta have a big room to keep it in, and then there’s that payment like a car payment. Diane’s method really is great. Practice, practice!