Friday, May 7, 2010

1st Quilt Ever -- Quilting Q&A Again!

More questions! :o)


No free-motion or darning foot!

A couple of you have said that there seems to be no hope of finding any kind of free-motion or darning foot for your machine. I have heard that it is possible to free-motion quilt with no foot at all -- although the thought makes me very nervous! How will you have any kind of precision without a foot to show you exactly where your needle will hit? And what about protecting your hands? And... really... DOES it work??

Being curious as I am (and not wanting to recommend doing something without trying it), I made this little video:




As you can see, there are some SERIOUS skipped stitches going on here.

Not being willing to give up, I gave it a couple more tries -- I tried going slower, I tried holding the quilt down a little closer to the needle (yikes!), I tried making even smaller stitches. Nothing I did prevented those skipped stitches from showing up.


Do you quilt over the border as well?

Yes! The meandering quilting "pattern" is great as an all-over quilting pattern. Go to town! Cover the whole quilt!


How do you stitch in one place for the backstitching?

Feed dogs down, baby! :o) You are the one controlling where the quilt moves, and therefore where the stitching goes!


Are you planning to do another quilt-along with one of the other Disappearing Nine-Patch quilts from this post?

I am planning to share how I made my I-Spy quilt (easy!), including fabric and cutting requirements, and block layout. The rest of it is going to be pretty much the same as the current quilt-along!


And, last but not least!
PANIC!! I don't think I'll be ready "later this month" for the 1st Quilt Ever Quilt Show!

No worries! I certainly can't have a quilt show with no quilts to show, now can I?
I may end up doing more than one "show!"

10 comments:

Brianne said...

I have a Brother machine and the low shank Janome foot fits on it. The foot wasn't very expensive, under $10 I think.

Catherine said...

Thanks for testing out quilting with no foot. I REALLY didn't want to try that, and now I won't. I got my MIL to do this too so I'll have to use her machine I guess.

Emily said...

I actually just got my darning foot used at my local sewing machine dealer. Maybe others would have luck finding a darning foot going this route. My machine is older too, so though I was tempted to just try and order one online I learned the ones for newer machines wouldn't have fit my trusty old machine. Just FYI, in case anyone was thinking of doing this too. Plus, I got the instant gratification of being able to use it right away. It's alot of fun!

My Handmadehappiness said...

so glad there's more than 1 show!!! i'm waiting for my foot to arrive... now to get on with cutting :) x

willow and moo said...

Care, I'm not at all a quilter, but you are making me seriously want to have a go at it. When I am ready, I'll be back to use your fabulous tutes!

The JNJ Hasleton's said...

I use gardening gloves to protect my hands, it also helps to grip the quilt. Thanks for sharing your gorgeous quilt!

Denise said...

Is there a reason not to start quilting in the middle or is it your personal preference to start on the edge? Just wondering cause I thought you were supposed to start in the middle but maybe that's just hand quilters.

Catherine said...

I found a foot for my machine!! Now I just have to wait for it to come in...

rhinsey said...

I got my new foot yesterday, just have to practice with it then I am off and running! :D

Wendy said...

Possibility--I was able to get an adapter foot for my beloved old machine, and now I can use my pile of old, standard low-shank feet and attachments. Maybe adapter feet are available?