Welcome to the new Quilt in a Day community pages. Please use your old username and password to log in. If you forgot your password, you can reset it from the log in page. If you have questions about how the new board works, try the FAQ link above.

First Quilt/Free motion Quilting Questions I have

Stuck on a block, confused about directions, or have an incredible tip? Try this forum if you're looking for help or guides to improve your quilting techniques.
Post Reply
eascusa
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Oct 30, 2017 10:57 pm

First Quilt/Free motion Quilting Questions I have

Post by eascusa » Thu Nov 22, 2018 11:48 am

Hello everyone! I am new here and new to quilting. I have made my first part of a quilt for my 8 month old niece and just got finished with the quilt sandwich part of it. I am now needing to choose a free motion quilting pattern for it. I put some pieces together to practice on and realized it is a lot harder than I thought. And if I can't get the hang of it I guess I will have to put a walking foot on it and just have lines. As I was practicing a whole lot of problems and questions came to mind that I would like to ask this forum. Any advise would be very helpful I think.

O.K. First, I am noticing the big needle holes on the back of the quilt after I do my design. Is that just how it's suppose to be on the back of your quilts? I am using a 90/14 needle. I want my back to look nice as well. I already know it won't look as well as the front because the pattern won't be matching the fabric pieces I have on the back. So, I imagine when I am finished it would look like a bit of a mess on back. And then big needle holes on top of that would not look good. I am really nervous about it because as it is while trying to do patterns on my practice piece I did a horrible job. And is it normal to have your design not match the back fabric pieces? I have different shape boxes on the front that I want to put different patterns in depending on what the box is. But my back piece has a whole different look to it and obviously won't go with whatever stippling pattern or design I use on the front. Is this O.K.?

Second, I noticed myself doing sudden jolts to the right or skips and then I would have one small line going in a different direction. Will this stop when I get more practice. If you do that on your quilt what can you do about it? That will look horrible! I am already wearing quilting gloves and am on a slick smooth surface to move the fabric piece around. But it still happens.

Third, when it comes to doing a baby or child's quilt is less more? Should I do one simple pattern or maybe two and forget about having any more than that? I notice the more design the less flexible the quilt seems to be. And I want it to be a really comfy quilt. Or maybe it isn't the design but rather the spray glue I used putting the sand which together. Which leads me to my fourth question.

Fourth, is it better to just use pins than the spray can glue? I notice that my quilt is stiff because of the spray glue. Will this go away or does it need to be washed first? Is it better to just use pins because it is more flexible while stippling or free motion quilting and overall in general? I realize stiff mat actually be good while you are stippling right under the needle but I was thinking of when you need to roll it up or gather it on your lap.

Fifth, I chose a thin cotton batting. I think for a baby/kid blanket I should have chosen a thicker batting because there doesn't seem to be much to it and when you put the free motion quilting design on it, it doesn't puff out of the design at all. I like that effect. For a baby or kids quilt anyway. I chose the thinner one because it seemed like that is what every one on the web recommended. Where I went anyway. Especially, for beginners. Opinions?

Sixth, when practicing free motion and trying to do designs I notice because I don't know what the heck I am doing that I keep going over the same lines to get to other places. Is it just a matter of needing to learn the design your using? Where to start and where to finish? This is probably a no brainer. Just wondering if any of you have any good ideas regarding this?

Seventh, in the middle of stippling my thread broke. My sewing machine has a auto and that is what it was on. I was using a regular stitch and with the regular settings that the machine gives you for it which is the auto. Is this wrong? Should I change it?

And lastly I don't know what color to use. I am doing a eight month old girls quilt and I did it with pink, lime green( I think this is what it would be) turquoise (like in a baby's quilt) and soft baby blue ( also, like in a baby quilt), some yellow and teal. I shouldn't have put the teal in there I don't think but it's too late now. And it matches because it came in a pack together at Walmart. Although I used two different color packs they were very close together in color. And I say I should have left it out because the teal is dark while all the other colors are soft( Except the yellow I guess. It's more of a medium yellow) and in my opinion it might have looked better left out. I was going to go with a off white color that I bought. It's Aurifil 2311. It doesn't say the color on it but it's a soft white I guess or a light cream color. Almost has a hint of beige in there super lightly. It's definitely not white white. I don't know if this would be good for a beginner although it won't probably matter if I end up doing just lines. But then will that look good doing just lines in this color? What thread color do you think would look the best with these colors? No matter what I choose it's going to stick out on some of the fabric.

I know these are a lot of questions and I am sure they all won't be answered ( by one person anyway) but maybe if some of you have advise on one or two maybe they will all eventually get answered. Thanks so much! It is sooo appreciated!

TeresaK
Posts: 9585
Joined: Thu Jul 10, 2008 1:32 pm

Re: First Quilt/Free motion Quilting Questions I have

Post by TeresaK » Fri Nov 23, 2018 1:28 pm

Hi ๐Ÿ‘‹ I live in California City also ๐Ÿ˜๐Ÿ˜How cool ๐Ÿ˜Ž is this.
I would love to get together and help you finish what I imagine is a delightful quilt.
I am here but also on FB as TeresaKittredge for you to friend me.
Looking forward to meeting you ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿ‘

Post Reply

Return to โ€œQuilting Technique Discussionsโ€