quilting_business Posted May 3, 2006 Report Share Posted May 3, 2006 I'm a newbie. I have been practicing on meandering & I feel comfortable doing this. My circles & diagonals are a bit "jerky" looking. But I'm sure with practice I'll get better with them also. What I would like to know is--what would be a typical progression of things to learn from the front of the machine? (I'm not wanting to do pantos yet) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myrna Ficken Posted May 3, 2006 Report Share Posted May 3, 2006 Take some classes, buy books and practice designs on paper( very important) Starting out you will be doing more simple things and you will just start adding to your skills with every quilt. Look at others quilt photos to get ideas. Myrna Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudyL Posted May 3, 2006 Report Share Posted May 3, 2006 I was never able to take classes but what worked for me was to spend a lot of time looking at quilts on webshots. You can go to http://www.webshots.com and find a longarmer you like and look at her quilts, look at the quilts of the members she has marked as favorites. Load muslin and go to town! Practice what you want to learn to do. If you're anything like me, you will be very surprised at how awful your first attempts look but with just a little practice, you'll be thrilled with your results. The other day at longarmchat.com, someone posted a whole string of photos of feathers she had been practicing. The first ones were pretty sad but by the end of the day (I think she did all the practicing in one day), her feathers looked like award winning quilting. It was really hard to believe. I found that practicing one technique til I got it down was best for me. Instead of trying bunches of things, I'd practice one thing and when I felt that was decent, I'd go on to something else. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CLRtoQuilt Posted May 3, 2006 Report Share Posted May 3, 2006 I have taken Myrnas' suggestion of designing on paper. I bought a cheap kids sketch pad from walmart and work on one design till I have it down pat, its stuck in my head and makes it a whole lot easier when I practice on the machine. This is something I do at night when we are chilling out for an hour or so watching a favorite TV show. Good Luck! Char Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ramona-quilter Posted May 4, 2006 Report Share Posted May 4, 2006 Hi Q-B, I agree with all this advice. Practice, practice, and well, you know, practice. Until you can get into a class, you can doodle. You are training your brain whenyou create designs on paper or etch-a-sketch or whatever. My progression started with getting comfortable moving the machine from left to right; getting used to the weight and listening to the machine. I had to figure out when to slow down, when to speed up. Then I moved onto wiggly lines, simple stars or leaves or hearts; anything simple. Then I took a couple classes that showed me how to draw designs on paper and then transfer that drawing to fabric. At first, I had to draw with a chalk pencil to know when and where to start and stop a design within a block. Now I am trying pantos. Just a few. The designs are good practice to learn how to do curves, flowers, etc. I am working on freemotion stitch in the ditch (SID) but it is not pretty:(. Need lots more practice. I have not tried rulers yet but that is mostly because I don't have a stitch regulator. I'll get to that in time. I think we all find the practice method that works best for us. You will too. And if you have questions or need inspiration, this is the place. Happy quilting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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