Confessions of a Short-Arm Quilter

Quilting in a straight line…HOW?  

Quilting on a frame is a nice change from pushing and shoving the quilt around, but one quickly realizes that to quilt in a straight line it isn’t so easy!  The machine carriage is so sensitive to every bump and seam in the quilt that when you move the machine  in a straight line it becomes difficult to keep perfectly straight when going over multiple seams.  Moving in a diagonal line is even more difficult! 

So what can you do?  Grab a Long Arm Ruler.  Long Arm Rulers are thicker & stronger than the rulers used for rotary cutting.  They come in may different shapes and sizes.  There are round, curves, feathers, straight, wavy, clam shell, and many templates shapes such as leaves, moons, hearts & stars…

How do you use these ruler?

You need to be sure you have a RULER FOOT on your machine… to create one simply use the Teflon Adaptor by Swiftquilter,New Zealand.  It easily pops into the round ring of a free motion foot and is held in place with a little metal c clamp.  Now you are ready to begin quilting with rulers!

Teflon Adaptor, bottom edge up

Then you will place ruler on the quilt, with a little pressure down to keep the ruler in place, and move the foot along the edge of the ruler.  Remember the stitching line will be 1/4″ away from the edge of the ruler because the needle is 1/4″ from the edge of the ruler. 

moving the foot along the edge of the ruler

here’s a video that may help… ( use your browsers back arrow to come back to the blog when video is done!)

http://www.facebook.com/v/1198351561581

My favorite ruler for beginners is the Line Tamer ruler.  It has an opening in the center of the ruler.  Place the ruler over the area to be quilted, place the machine foot into the opening, and stitch along this path.  The foot stays inside the path, keeping the stitching nice and straight.  Once you are good at this, use the outside edge of the ruler for straight line work too. 

The Line Tamer ruler

Now you are ready to do cross hatching, x’s, and many traditional quilting designs!

Well I am home once again from my traveling adventures to MQX in Rhode Island and MQS in Kansas.  Wonderful events and wonderful classes! 

While I love educating and sharing all about the stuff you CAN do with a home frame system, I want to be sure I am giving you what you want… soooo….

What are your questions?  What are your concerns?  Believe me you aren’t the only one with these questions… many others share the same problems.  I want to be sure that I address the needs of my audience…

So let me know…

thanks!

Wenda

Dueling quilt frames!

Lately I have been spending my days getting ready for my Spring workshops!  Two quilt frames in the living room surrounded with lots of tools, cleaning equipment, and more quilting tools! 

I will be teaching at MQX in Providence RI on April 13-17.  And I will be at MQS in Overland Park (kansas city area), KS  on May 12-16. 

All the classes are the basics on a home quilting frame.  It is awesome to be able to SEE how this type of quilting actually works!  Also to talk to someone whe ACTUALLY has been successful on the quilting frame!  Yes I really do quilt on it! 

My travel frame. All cleaned and ready to go!

I keep it basic, but I include information on troubleshooting, tension, leadercloth, loading the quilt in 15 minutes, and turning the quilt.  Then I move into Pantographs, patternboards, and ruler work. All directed to the quilter who works on a home quilting system with a smaller machine. 

I believe in education, but we are such a visual society that we need to SEE how the system operates! 

I took classes 5 years ago looking for education and could not find any directed to the small systems, so not I teach to help those who were in my shoes then!  I never regretted taking the classes I could take, even though they were on the longarm system.  But had I had classes on my specific system I would have jumped at the opportunity! 

So, here is your chance!  Don’t miss out on classes where you can SEE how the home quilting frame works.  And be sure to say HI! I found you on your blog… if you do I have a special gift for you! 

Juki baby... happy again after a nice cleaning and oil bath.

Hmmmm… Oh NO what happenend NOW!

Every have one of those days?  Everything seems to go wrong.  The bobbin runs out, the thread breaks, the needle breaks, the cord comes unplugged, and the dog pees on the floor and I step in it as I am quilting!!! ARGHHHH!

Well some of these things can be prevented and some can’t.  sometimes it is just that day. There is a simple checklist to ensure that we will have a good day quilting.  (I can’t control the dog though).

1. Quilt table: Look over your frame each and every time you approach it to quilt.  Wipe off dust, threads, and other debris that may be on the frame table.  Keep a small waste basket near by to throw the threads and other trash into.
2. Carriage wheels:  Check out the wheels of the carriage.  Be sure they are clean, no threads caught in them, and they are moving well.  Also check out the stitch regulator wheels for the same.  Check screws to be sure everything is on securely.
3. Machine: Look over the machine for dust and debris too.  Clean lint off the needle area.  Check the thread path to be sure there is nothing keeping it from moving easily.
4. Connections:  Check all the cords in the back of the machine.  All the connections should be tight and secure.  The cords should be able to move easily as the machine moves along the table.
5. The floor area:  do a quick check to be sure there is nothing that will cause you to trip as you quilt.  Do this in the back of the frame too if you are quilting from the back with a pantograph.

Favorite tool:

Bundling straps  for keeping all those cords in check.

New Year, New quilts…

Before we begin with a quilt we must place the quilt top, batting and backing onto the frame.  Do you feel like you need to stand on your head to do this?  Does loading take you hours to leave you exhausted before you even begin quilting?

Think about loading just like you as if you are to baste a quilt on a table top…

1. Lay the back right sides down.

2. Place the batting on top of the backing.

3. Lay the quilt top right side up on top of the batting.

Let’s begin with the backing…

Lay the backing right side down over the quilt frame.  I drape it over the take up bar and the backing bar.

loading the backing of the quilt

Pin the backing to the Leadercloth at the take up bar and on the backing bar. Roll the bars until the backing is smooth, but not tight.

Pins are placed parallel to the bar, head to tip, with few spaces in between.

backing is rolled gently on the take up bar and backing bar

Place the batting on top of the backing.  Just below the line of pins.

Smooth it out.  Tuck it between the backing bar and the quilt top bar.  No pinning is necessary.

Now the quilt top…

Place this right side UP on the batting. 

Pin this to the quilt top Leadercloth only. 

Roll it onto the quilt top bar until it is almost tight.  The top edge of the quilt top will lie just below the line of batting.   At this point you can pin or baste the quilt top.  I find it is easier to baste a nice straight line with my machine.

Now you are ready to begin practicing!

My favorite notion of the month:

 Flower Head pins:  long, straight, and flexible.  I don’t need as many pins for loading because of the length.  The flexibility & the flower head helps them to lay flat against the poles of the frame.  Check them out!

 Magnetic Pin Bowl:  I wouldn’t quilt without this!  It holds my pins, screwdriver, snips, seam ripper, bobbins, and more!  It is strong enough to stick to the poles of my frame while I am pinning my quilt to the leaders!  Wonderful!

Be sure to check my website for special on the pins & bowl! 

Happy Quilting!