I am often asked "How do you make your Quilts, and How do you get that huge pile through that small gap on the machine?"
Here then is how I do it, I hope it is of interest and possibly, help, to you. There are other things of interest along the way, you may find useful too.
Here then is how I do it, I hope it is of interest and possibly, help, to you. There are other things of interest along the way, you may find useful too.
1. Smallest machine I could find!!!...
2. The design - Single Wedding Ring or Crown of Thorns, plus the squares cut ready to sew...
3. Making half square triangles...
4. My 'real' machine, this is the only one I have, this makes all my quilts whatever the size...
5. Making a half square triangle, using the 'thread savers'...
6. Stitching second seam of half square triangle...
7. Chain piecing the squares, they always fall into a neat pile behind the machine, how helpful...
8. Still chain piecing, but the second seam now...
9. Streamers are us, note they are all linked together, see the thread saver too?...
10. Now they have to be cut through the centre line to produce the two squares,
11. Chopping off their ears!! ouch!!!.....this is the way I do it, you don't have to...
12. What a waste of fabric!! Anyone want these triangles? JOKE!...
13. Pressing the finished squares and look the squares match...amazing!!!!...
14. My homemade mini pressing table;...
15. Its just one of those boards from a bolt of fabric, ask at your shop, they chuck them away...
16. Tada! Yep, looks like the picture, always best to lay it out...
17. Pick up the first two squares from top left hand side...
18. Flip over, take to your machine....
19. Stitch to end, do not remove from machine...
20. Pick up the next pair, flip over, take to machine...
21. Just continue stitching, this is called chain piecing...
22. Stitch to end...
23. Go back, pick up next pair, keep stitching like this, use thread saver when at end, then...
24. You should have this, two rows linked with a little thread, DO NOT CUT APART, can you see the little bit or orange fabric pinned to the top of the left hand square, that is to show you it always has to be in that position, that way you wont turn your quilt by accident, Handy Hint...
23. Go back, pick up next pair, keep stitching like this, use thread saver when at end, then...
24. You should have this, two rows linked with a little thread, DO NOT CUT APART, can you see the little bit or orange fabric pinned to the top of the left hand square, that is to show you it always has to be in that position, that way you wont turn your quilt by accident, Handy Hint...
25. Do as before but now you are only picking up one square an attaching to previous row...
26. Four rows done...
27. All rows done...
28. Now pick whole thing up, and stitch rows together, across previous stitching..
29. Two done..
30. Three done..
31. All rows joined both ways and pressed..hm mm...
32. That's better give it some borders...
33. Sides stitched on...
34. Cornerstones stitched to the green bit, ready to attach to quilt...
35. Pressed ready to Quilt...hm mm...
36. How the heck is this big thing gonna fit in that little space?....aha...
37. Get your HUGE piece of wadding and mark it into thirds, see pencil placements...
38. Cut long gentle wavy lines one end to the other, DO NOT MOVE THESE...
39. Pin on some coloured markers to the tops of the edges of the wadding, different colours, so you will know what piece goes next to what later on, DO NOT FORGET THIS PART...
38. Cut long gentle wavy lines one end to the other, DO NOT MOVE THESE...
39. Pin on some coloured markers to the tops of the edges of the wadding, different colours, so you will know what piece goes next to what later on, DO NOT FORGET THIS PART...
40. Lay the backing of quilt down and place centre portion of wadding on this...
41. Lay your Quilt on top again, see the wadding in the centre...
42. Pin or tack your quilt to within a couple of inches of your wadding, then roll the sides up, tightly, you can, no wadding there, no bulk...
41. Lay your Quilt on top again, see the wadding in the centre...
42. Pin or tack your quilt to within a couple of inches of your wadding, then roll the sides up, tightly, you can, no wadding there, no bulk...
43. Quilt as desired the centre portion, then take pins out, unroll the sides, flip quilt top back,
lay wadding on, put quilt top back, repin, then quilt away...
44. Unpin second side, flip quilt top over, put wadding down again, put quilt top back, back to
machine and quilt to hearts content...
45. Your Quilt is now quilted all over, you didn't have to struggle with it in the small gap, easy
peasy eh?....
lay wadding on, put quilt top back, repin, then quilt away...
44. Unpin second side, flip quilt top over, put wadding down again, put quilt top back, back to
machine and quilt to hearts content...
45. Your Quilt is now quilted all over, you didn't have to struggle with it in the small gap, easy
peasy eh?....
46. Now you can easy Quilt your borders, if they are huge too, quilt them before you move the
sandwich about, I like to do my borders in a continuous line though...
47. Hubby took these piks as I was sewing, not bad are they...
48. Pattern out of my head, no measuring here, no plan, just go for it...
sandwich about, I like to do my borders in a continuous line though...
47. Hubby took these piks as I was sewing, not bad are they...
48. Pattern out of my head, no measuring here, no plan, just go for it...
49. 50. 51. All as I was sewing... Yes the petals are all different, I don't mind, do you?...
52. All quilted...
53. I always do a narrowish zigzag around the edges so it stays put for the binding part...
54. Oops, not quilted these squares, don't forget them Janet...
55. That's better...
56. Quilted and trimmed ready for the binding, can you see I always cut it 1/4" away from the
edge of the quilt, leave a little of the wadding there, it helps to 'fill' the binding, nothing
worse than 'empty' saggy binding...
57. This is pointng out to you I joined the backing, I did it so I could show you, if you have to do
that, NEVER EVER have that join across the centre of your Quilt, too much strain for it,
always offset it a bit...
56. Quilted and trimmed ready for the binding, can you see I always cut it 1/4" away from the
edge of the quilt, leave a little of the wadding there, it helps to 'fill' the binding, nothing
worse than 'empty' saggy binding...
57. This is pointng out to you I joined the backing, I did it so I could show you, if you have to do
that, NEVER EVER have that join across the centre of your Quilt, too much strain for it,
always offset it a bit...
58. Yes, I cut the wadding with my rotary cutter, an old one, but look at the messy board...
59. Good old sellotape, press it on the wadding, rip it off, and...
60. Voila, nice and clean again...HANDY HINT...
61. Not sure if you can see the line of stitching, I am adding the binding now, putting it on the
back first, remember this is the way I do it, you don't have to; I am stitching about 1/4"
from the edge...
62. and 63. Here is the corner, stop 1/4" from it...back first, remember this is the way I do it, you don't have to; I am stitching about 1/4"
from the edge...
64. Hospital corners, girls, up, down, carry on sewing...
65. This is how I join the binding together, some people mitre it, sometimes I do, not very
often though, OH I also never use bias binding, I always cut on the straight of the grain,
saves a lot of hassle I find, and contains the edges, I never get wavy edges using it
straight, and I always cut it 2 1/4", then fold in half...
66. Binding joint ready to finish off...often though, OH I also never use bias binding, I always cut on the straight of the grain,
saves a lot of hassle I find, and contains the edges, I never get wavy edges using it
straight, and I always cut it 2 1/4", then fold in half...
67. More ears trimmed off...
68. Can you see my binding peaking over the wadding?...
69. Mitreing the corner...
70. Don't forget the label on the back...
71. One finished Quilt.
OK, so the quilt wasn't sewn with that little machine, I placed it here to show you the size ratio to the machine and the quilt, and no, it's not really a quilt either, it is just a block, but, up against that little machine, it looks like a quilt. Anyway, I didn't fancy getting a huge quilt done in a short space of time for this demo, so hope you will forgive me. This is done for you to see you CAN quilt a HUGE quilt on your domestic machine, just split the wadding, any Quilt, any size, process is the same.
Give it a go, let me know how you get on. Just Quilt it.
This has taken me three days to do, from cutting the fabric to getting it on the computer. WHEW!
Give it a go, let me know how you get on. Just Quilt it.
This has taken me three days to do, from cutting the fabric to getting it on the computer. WHEW!
8 comments:
Wow! That is amazing. You make it look so easy. How many quilts have you made?
Wowowowowowooww WOW!!!! Oh Janet thank you. I have shoved, pushed, rolled, scrunched and bought every gadget under the sun to get my quilts under my Bernina. Now I know what to do, you are such a clever lady. Love Susan xxxx Ps will e-mail ya soon xxx
Jan It would only let me post my comment under Anno So to let you know its your friend Susan from Liverpool xxx
You lucky person, Janet. Am full of envy.
Can I borrow your husband to take my pictures when making step-by-step instructions for my Singing Garden BOM on Popularpatchwork.com???
Doing a balancing act, clutching camera, machine and fabric is no mean feat!!! Aaaargh!
Babs
Aaah I see, it all becomes clear!!!
I will try it on my Boxy Stars. Bet mine doesn't end up as neat as yours!!!!
Hi Phyllis,
I dread to think, it must be near the 4 - 500. That is counting all the tinies too. Couldn't honestly say the real amount, too many years, too many quilts, can't stop making them though. They are in my blood. I am one of those boring old farts who just lives, eats, sleeps, patchwork quilting and applique. lol jan xx add computer to that list now. hahaha
Hello Susan,
I wondered where you were, I do miss you, have been sending you messages but I know how tired you get with the shop at this time of year, very hard work, been there done that. Look forward to hearing from you though, when you can find time. xx :-) I guessed it was you my lovely Susan from Liverpool. You take care now.
Hello Babs,
Hmm the photos, most of them I did like that, a balancing act, dodgy init!! but where you see two hands, I had to drag him away from whatever he was doing, !!!! and take some for me. I was surprised they turned out as well as they did, not that he is a bad photographer, au contraire!!! Just I was speeding away on the machine, thought they would be all blurry. If I could work out how to do a movie I would do that, as it would be better. Anytime you want him, hahahaha. Hope you are bearing up with everything, thinking of you. :-)lol
Hey Di,
Everyone has to start somewhere, so what if its dodgy so be it, you know full well none of my quilts are "perfect", heaven forbid, they all get done - eventually - to my standard, which is not, top as I am only an ordinary bog standard quiltering housewife like yourself. I've just done more, so they 'look' good. Up close you know it isn't so. But don't tell everybody, they wont believe things I say anymore. :-) Have a good break for a few days, r and r is in order methingks. [[You and Babs have a lot in common.]]
Janet, I loved your tutorial. I picked up a few tips for my quilt making. I never thought to sew the binding on the back first. How very interesting. And I like how you sew down the edges to make the binding go on smooth. That will be something I will doing from now on. Thanks for the tutorial! Hugs, Leah
Hi Leah,
I am so pleased you have found something that will help you with your quilts, that was my idea, if there is only one thing here to help people to make their quilts, I do hope they will use it. That is why I have done this. It took forever to do, but I think it is worth it! :-)
Nice to hear from you. I love your Notebook on your Blog you made too, the Frog is great fun. :-)
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