Insider Secrets To Machine Quilting

Taking The Frightened Beginner to Confident Machine Quilter

Have you been intimidated even thinking about machine quilting your quilt? You put in all this time and effort and you don’t want to screw it up at this point. Don’t worry you are not alone.

I remember when it came time to quilt a small little project in a class I was taking and I was paralyzed. But, I practiced and practiced and now feel very comfortable machine quilting and you will too!

We are going to take this step by step so you can build skill and confidence. Who knows what hidden designer is inside you?

Your Tools

First is your sewing machine. Depending on the type of machine quilting you will do determines the type of presser foot.

The “hopping foot”, “quilting foot”, and “darning foot” are all the same presser foot. This will allow you to move your fabric in any direction so you can make designs and not be locked into a straight stitch. Free at last!

The main objective right now is to practice and get you feeling comfortable about maneuvering a quilt in your machine. We are not ready to complete your masterpiece yet!

Do You Baste or Not?

Personally I would start with a small quilt or project or practice piece, not more than 40” x 40” inches. This will give you enough to get started, but not overwhelm you. You should always have your backing and your batting at least 2"-3" inches larger on all sides. You will trim these edges once your quilting is completed.

Warm and Natural is a great batting and easy to use. It kinda sticks to the quilt top and fabric backing which is good thing, as you will learn in a sec.

Place your backing fabric with the wrong side facing up on a solid surface, like a table or floor. Not carpet. Tape it using painters blue tape. This will hold it in place while you are basting it.

As you are taping, make sure to smooth out all the wrinkles starting in the middle. You want it smooth but don’t stretch it. Keep it square.

On top of that add your batting, it doesn’t matter what side goes up. Once you put the batting down you can feel that it gets harder to move the fabric against the batting. This will help everything stay in place better while you are quilting. Again, smooth out any wrinkles in the batting making sure it entirely covers the backing.

Finally add your quilt top. Right side up. Smooth out any wrinkles being careful to keep it square and not lopsided.

***I find that if I get someone to help me hold all four edges and we lay the batting down together when I am stacking my quilt sandwich, it makes it so much easier to maneuver.

Now, you will need to baste your layers together. There are a few of methods of basting:

1) Pin with safety pins or large quilt pins.

2) Baste it with needle and thread taking really long stitches.

3) Spray it with basting spray. I find this messy and you need a well ventilated area.

Start in the center and work your way out to the corners and edges. If you are basting with needle and thread or pinning keep your stitches or pins no more than 3”-5” inches apart. Working from the center out will help to ensure smoothness.

Once you quilt sandwich is basted, turn it over. Do you see any puckers? If so, start all over. If you skip this step you will not be happy with the final result. If it is smooth you are ready to start quilting.

Readying Your Machine for Quilting

Put a new needle in your machine, either a quilting needle or a jeans needle (size 80/12). You will want to get the correct thread, either a 30, 40 or 50 weight cotton. Fill a few of the bottom bobbins with your bottom thread.

Place the center of the quilt under your needle, put your presser foot down, but don’t stitch yet.

You will have excess fabric that needs to go in the throat of your machine. You have a couple of options;

1) you can roll the excess so that as you quilt you can unroll it. or2) you can make accordion pleats with it.

Practice with both, see which one you are more comfortable using.

Get your machine quilting pattern together, either in your mind or chalked on your template.

Set your machine to sew 8-10 stitches per inch. Lift the presser foot and move the quilt to a top or bottom raw edge. Make a couple of stitches, to lock in your stitch. After locking your stitch, trim the threads.

Walking Foot Stitch straight or gently curved stitches across to the other edge. Don’t pull the fabric through, let the machine do the work, the walking foot will feed your quilt through. Relax your shoulders – this is very important, I find I have to consciously make myself relax or by the time I am at the end of seam, my shoulders are higher than my ears, and my neck is killing me.

Quilting/Hopping/Darning Foot QuiltingSince you will drop your feed dogs to have free motion quilting you will need to help move your fabric. Quilters gloves will prevent fabric slipping. You will move your fabric in a pattern, or a jigsaw pattern, outline curves, just about anything you can imagine.

When you are finished, you will want to end your machine quilting with a small locking stitch. Trim your threads. Now work on the other side that has been under the machine throat.

In the future you can even purchase machine quilting patterns and templates you can use to guide you.

If you want to see your quilting pattern have your quilting fairly dense. If you want your quilting pattern to blend make your quilting more open. Remember, not one single person alive was able to make a beautiful quilt design on their first try.

Aren't you glad to know that your sewing machine can also be a great quilting machine and that your machine quilting patterns can be beautiful, even if not stitched by a long arm quilter?

To learn about Long Arm quilting just click here.