I have finally found some time to begin quilting my Sampler quilt. Of course, first up is the layering it ready to begin. Since I don't have access to a large table other than my dining table... I'm getting a little old to be crawling around a hard floor.... I've had to pick time wisely.
Securing the layers is important. I use a piece of fabric (or join pieces if it is not large enough) at least 2-4" larger than the quilt top and make sure it is pressed well. This is stretched (not too fiercely) out on the table using clamps and masking tape to hold it taut. I place clamps opposite each other starting from the middle and working out to the corners. I use tape where the fabric doesn't reach the sides of the table. Notice I don't use tape on the corners - this pulls on the bias twisting the fibers which is not what we want.... I use clamps and tape only ever on the straight of grain.
The backing fabric is the only piece I stretch. The batting and quilt top are simply smoothed on top with no stretching.
I used safety pins and a Kwik Klip. This is a little tool to help close the safety pins and save your fingers! (there is a demo on how this is used in my online workshop)
Safety pins are place roughly 3-4" apart and as I put them in, starting in the center of the quilt, I do the following:
- avoid seams and areas that will be quilted where possible (if I know I'm stitching in the ditch along a seam, I will avoid that area that way I'm avoiding forever removing safety pins as I quilt)
- turn the safety pins in different angles so they are not all facing the same direction (less room for the layers to move)
- think about what I am going to quilt by identifying the elements I want to highlight
With all the pins in place, I can remove the tape and clamps and check the back. It should be nice and smooth.
Now I'm ready to quilt and just like the pinning, I start in the middle of the quilt and work out to the border. This way, if there is any movement in the layers, it is pushed out to the sides rather than be bunched up in the middle.
I start by stabilizing the layers with quilting in some base lines..... that is, I'll quilt around the block in the middle (the churn dash) and then out from that both vertically and horizontally to the border.
Here is a video showing me in action with tips along the way. I hope this gets you started. I'll head off now to finish my quilting and videos. When finished, I'll add links in the pattern and I'll also be adding these videos in my machine quilting workshop.
