Use your hands to frame your work.
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Quick Tips for Successful Machine Quilting
QuiltingCoach Penny
Machine quilting takes practice and good technique. Here are a few quick tips that will make your machine quilting easier and more successful: To control your stitches: Put your hands down on the area you are quilting, like a frame, with your thumbs touching. The area between your hands is the only area to pay attention to as you work. Have in your mind where you will be stitching, and what kind of shape you will be making. Then watch the fabric where you want to stitch - not the needle as it is stitching. Practice stitching on a fabric sandwich (2 layers of fabric with a piece of batting between) about 24 inches square. Practice stitching various shapes, and pay attention to the sound of your needle. The goal is to move your fabric about 1/8 of an inch as your needle goes up and down. About thread: As a beginner, it is better to use light thread on light fabric. As cool as it sounds to use dark thread on a light fabric, every stitch will be magnified - and every mistake will look worse. If you want your stitches to show, you could use light thread on a dark fabric. For some reason, that
combination does not show the mistakes. A lot of thread for machine quilting comes on a cone. That saves money and time (having to re-thread your machine). If your sewing machine does not have a built in thread stand, you could put the cone in a glass measuring cup, and let it bounce around in there. Be sure that the thread is coming off of the cone from the top, not un-rolling from the side. (I use this method, and have found that I need to place the measuring cup on the side of my machine, instead of behind it. For some reason the angle that it feeds into the machine makes a difference.)
Happy Quilting!
Penny Halgren
TheQuiltingCoach
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