Machine Quilting At Home: Quilting

Quilting on your regular machine is fun but it does require 2 things:

#1 The feed dogs have to be completely down below the throat plate

#2 You have to have a darning foot as pictured below.

If your machine has these 2 things then the fun can begin. Take a piece of paper and start doodling. Doodle small. . . 

 . . .or doodle big. Just never take your pencil off of the paper.

Eventually you can start adding things like leaves, flowers and other designs. Whatever you want just as long as you can draw it without taking your pencil off of the paper. As you can see I'm not a very good artist. I can actually quilt better than I can draw. Weird but funny.

If you have a flat surface level with your machine's throat plate you will want a pair of quilting gloves. I just bought a pair of gardening gloves.

It's best to practice on something like a play quilt that can be taken outside that is simply to pieces of fabric. Then you can practice all your designs and decide which one you can really quilt. This also gives you a chance to check your stitching tension. If the thread is pulling more to the bottom you may need to increase your top tension or decrease the tension on your bobbin. Or vise versa if the thread is beging pulled more to the top. HINT: I wind 3 bobbins before I start on a baby size quilt. It takes at least 2 bobbins when using a medium size quilting design.

You will start in the middle of the quilt and work top to bottom and then to the edges. Tightly roll the right-hand side of you quilt and safety pin it in place.

Now you're ready to start quilting. Be sure to keep your speed even and your movements steady. Make your design go clear to the edge of the front of the quilt. Anything beyond that will be cut off in the binding process and if the stitching is cut it could start the quilting to come undone.

If you don't have a flat surface to work on simply hold the quilt in your hands as you move it to make your designs. When you finish the middle section work toward the left-hand side of the quilt in a similar manner. To quilt the right hand side of the quilt unroll it and then roll the left-hand side as you did the right-hand side in the beginning. Quilt in the same manner. When you finish quilting you are ready to bind the quilt.