Skip to main content

Not So Little Project #2 Done

To the left here is a little water-colored muslin test piece I batted and backed to use for my first attempt at free-motion quilting, so I could see if I could manage it for Not So Little Project #2.

To quilt in free motion you have to drop the feed dogs on your sewing machine, and move the fabric manually. I did that for about 5 minutes before my wrists said "Okay, we're done with this." I finished the rest by spinning the piece with the feed dogs up.

Frankly I suck at machine quilting, but I really stink at free-motion machine quilting. It looks so easy in all those videos, but the reality is you have to manipulate three layers of fabric and batting with only the pressure of your hands and wrists. Mine are simply not up to the task.

Also, moving a quilt as you're sewing and keeping the stitches even and a uniform length should be an Olympic sport. God, I had no idea it was that hard to do. When I think of all the dense free-motion quilted pieces I've seen at shows now it blows my mind. How the heck do they do that kind of work?

Honestly, I'm going to take back everything bad I've ever said about machine quilters. I bow to you, oh Hercules-wristed makers.

Anyway, as you can see I machine-quilted the bargello practice quilt, aka Not So Little Project #2, with my walking foot in straight grid lines, which is all I really know how to do. I finished it much faster (took me a week versus a month or two by hand for this size quilt.) The results aren't horrible, but eh. I need a lot more practice if I'm going to quilt all my work in the future on the machine, which is where I'm heading with the arthritis invading my neck and continuing to erode my hands.

Here's the back, where you can see my quilting lines get a bit wonky (helpful hint on machine quilting: do not use your patchwork as a quilting guide if your seams are off like mine):

I suppose I could invest in a long-arm sewing machine, but they're hugely expensive -- a used floor model will run $5K -- and big. I'd need a whole room to set it up properly. They also seem to be very complicated to operate, and if you use the wrong thread or needle they tend to go wonky. I follow another quilter on Tumblr who bought her first long-arm last year. While she's a pro she's been having all kinds of problems with it. I can't justify the expense when I quilt only for myself and to make gifts.

Then there's my personal preference, which keeps nagging at the back of my mind. I simply don't like the way machine-quilted pieces look compared to hand-quilted pieces. I know, it's a little ridiculous, but there you go. I think I'd rather keep hand-quilting for as long as I can and just limit the number of projects I do every year. I'll make less, and go slower, but I'll be happier with the final results.

I think I have just enough time to do one more little project by hand before Christmas. If all goes well, I'll make these log cabin blocks I bought from Jen at KnJ Studio into a car seat quilt for Oliver:

Labels:

Comments

nightsmusic said…
I prefer the hand quilting as well. It just looks nicer. At least to me. I tried machine quilting a small, manageable piece once but my machine sure wasn't meant to do that. It ate the piece. Good thing it was only a practice piece.

I might have solved my keyboard problem. I'll know more tomorrow and let you know :)
December 12, 2019 at 10:56 AM
the author said…
Hooray for the keyboard problem solution! I need more WIP to read. :)
December 13, 2019 at 8:23 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Other Stashes

Along with clearing out the spare bedroom and tidying my office and our guest bedroom, I decided to reorganize some of my stashes. This is all the yarn I have on hand, sorted by color. It looks like a lot, but lately I've been using up a minimum of half a bin every month, so this is approximately a year's supply. All of my solid color cotton perle thread. I go through a lot of this every year, too. I need a container in which I can fit all of it together, but I haven't found the right one yet. I won't show you all of my fabric -- I'm still reorganizing this stash -- but I went through everything and donated two bins of fabric I won't need to the local quilter's guild.
Post a Comment
Read more

Goodwill Gamble #2 Arrives

My second Goodwill gamble arrived; this is one I paid ten bucks for last month. Just inside the lid was a big roll of plastic mesh that I think is for latchhook work. In the auction listing it looked like fabric to me, so that was unexpected. Someone at the seller's end was nice enough to put a note on this pinned fabric. I'll put on my gloves before I take it out to inspect it. The embroidered green fabric turned out to be 1-1/2 yards of sequinned and three-dimensional designer fabric. I'll guess this cost somewhere between $20.00 to $30.00 a yard, and it's in pristine condition. But here's a shot of everything in the lot, which is mostly crafty odds and ends with a small amount of cotton fabrics, a large amount of synethetic fabrics, and some other surprises. The original owner of these was probably a Catholic school teacher; these beads, crosses and medallions are the kind of rosary kits for kids to make at Sunday school or Bible camp (and s...
Post a Comment
Read more

Love Means This

Invested in a couple of hand-dyed bundles from one of my favorite fabric artists. This one said "Make me into something for Valentine's Day." So I went for a quilted and embellished tote. I kept thinking about what love means to me as I worked on it. Here's the finished tote. Although I was tempted to embellish with beads and pins, I got sick and only felt well enough to do a little stitching every night. As I worked I thought about how often love seems disappointing to us, especially when it fails to live up to our expectations. But now that I've experienced love in many forms, I can say that it's made me a better person than I might have been without it. Love is a precious thing, and should be appreciated in all its forms. I am very grateful for the love of my guy, my child and my friends who have stuck with me all these years. That's you two, in case you're wondering. :) Also finally found something to do with a ve...
Post a Comment
Read more