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Sequence of different quilting designs?

Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2007 12:11 am
by HomespunMary
When you use free motion machine quilting, is there a way to figure out which areas to quilt before others if you are placing different quilt motifs in different areas? That is, if you are for instance going to stipple some areas, make straight lines in some, and then make some elaborate quilt motifs in others, which of these do you do first? And does it matter?

Re: Sequence of different quilting designs?

Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2007 2:25 am
by ipquilter
I'm not experienced but I've heard folks say they do the longest straightest lines first for stability.

Re: Sequence of different quilting designs?

Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2007 3:55 am
by gardenquilter
when I used my small janome to free motion I would always start in the middle and work my way out in circles or squares and quilt the different designs as I went
I now use my long arm and I go section by section and do the larger designs first and then fill in with the smaller then advance to the next section
I am not sure there is a right or wrong way to do it
starting in the center with a regular machine and working your way out would most likely alievate any bunching and would most likely allow for quilting out of mistakes and taking in wonky borders

Re: Sequence of different quilting designs?

Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2007 12:53 pm
by HomespunMary
Thanks, ipquilter and gardenquilter! That makes sense.

One more question, though, to the experienced machine quilters out there: are different quilt designs "pulling together" the fabric to different degrees? That is, would an area of meandering, compared to an equal size area of for instance straight line grids, be "shrinking" differently when the quilting was done, even if the distance between the quilting was fairly equal?

(Don't know if this question is making sense, but I really don't know how else to put it...)

Re: Sequence of different quilting designs?

Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2007 5:37 am
by gardenquilter
homespun I have never noticed that this is an issue - one person that you may want to investigate is Karen Mc Tavish - I am sure you can find her online she has a style of quilting that I think you would very much like
check her out
but again I have never noticed a difference - if I am doing a large design or outline I will do it first and then fill in around it. I do this just so I have a guideline and it is easier for me but I dont think it is an etched in stone rule

Re: Sequence of different quilting designs?

Posted: Fri Jul 27, 2007 4:24 pm
by quilterbee
Well, I'm a lazy quilter,lol! I quilt left to right, advance, left to right, advance, and on and on. If I'm doing something different on the borders, I'll quilt the top border and a little down each side, then do between, advance, work down the sides and in between, and on and on. I float my top and batt,too. When I do ruler work, I SITD around each block in that row and then go back and "fill". Amie

Re: Sequence of different quilting designs?

Posted: Fri Jul 27, 2007 4:26 pm
by quilterbee
BTW, my previous post was pertaining to those with a frame, not the ol' push-n-pull, Amie

Re: Sequence of different quilting designs?

Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 12:44 am
by HomespunMary
gardenquilter, I looked up Karen McTavish and... oh my, her quilts are unbelieavably fabulous!!! I just couldn't stop looking at them... :-)

But, I really shouldn't even peek at pictures of such quilts, and probably shouldn't even be posting at all in this machine quilting forum, seeing that I am, to say the least, belonging to a very different category of quilters: I just (last night) finished my first ever attempt at free motion machine quilting, on my regular Husqvarna Viking, at my kitchen table, on my third quilt top ever... So I am still an absolute beginner and should probably be better off reading some beginner's books...:-)

Re: Sequence of different quilting designs?

Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 7:24 am
by gardenquilter
homespun mary I have seen your pictures and you keep on posting your work is beautiful - I would never think just a beginner for you -
Karen mctavish has been at it for years and is inspiration for me ha ha cant wait to see more of your work in the future

Re: Sequence of different quilting designs?

Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 8:02 am
by HomespunMary
gardenquilter - thanks! And... yep, will very soon post pictures of my "free motion practice quilt", which is now only a binding away from being all finished! Yippeee!