newmillie2010 Posted September 11, 2010 Report Share Posted September 11, 2010 I am lightly custom quilting a quilt for a customer. Really planned this out and knew that it would take some time to do. So glad I did the planning - spent 6 hours today ripping out stitches because I don't like what i did. problem is I don't want to do anything else except what i did originally. so i'll put quilt back on and proceed again and hope that my stitching is better. The machine stitches are tremendous - it's operator error making the stitches run all over the place! LOL! So how do you handle getting that pattern down "just so"? I'm free-handing it and I've practiced on practice quilt and did great ... got to real thing and i'm just not liking what I see. So rrriiiiipppp ... just needed to vent some of the frustration. have a great evening! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Linda S Posted September 11, 2010 Report Share Posted September 11, 2010 I can tell you one of my biggest secrets. Generally, if I don't like what I've quilted, I walk away and leave the quilt overnight. Magically, in the middle of the night, the quilting faeries come, and the next day, it looks just awesome! I think sometimes we are our own worse critics. We see each little bobble and twitch as glaring. If you leave it be for a bit, you won't see the errors, and neither will anyone else! Linda Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anniemueller Posted September 11, 2010 Report Share Posted September 11, 2010 I do some dry runs to warm up. That's moving the machine over the quilt without the needle moving up and down. I do that until I feel comfortable stitching. I do that for free motion and pantos. I also love the micro drive handles for better precision. I have not upgraded to Bliss yet but I expect that will help too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anniemueller Posted September 11, 2010 Report Share Posted September 11, 2010 Originally posted by Linda S I can tell you one of my biggest secrets. Generally, if I don't like what I've quilted, I walk away and leave the quilt overnight. Magically, in the middle of the night, the quilting faeries come, and the next day, it looks just awesome! I think sometimes we are our own worse critics. We see each little bobble and twitch as glaring. If you leave it be for a bit, you won't see the errors, and neither will anyone else! Linda Oh Linda, I totally agree with you. I've done that too. It's amazing how much better a quilt looks after you leave it alone overnight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tamarack Posted September 11, 2010 Report Share Posted September 11, 2010 If you use thread that matches the fabric you're quilting on it is really forgiving too. I agree with what has been said already..... definately sleep on it before you deside to rip it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newmillie2010 Posted September 11, 2010 Author Report Share Posted September 11, 2010 i did sleep on it. i spent a day just thinking about the issue and then decided that i just could not let it go the way it was. if i'm going to be professional my work needs to look professional. 6 hours later i'm back to square 1 but not in a panic because at least i started this project early. thanks for the suggestions ... appreciate all the support ... so darn envious of the beautiful work everyone exhibits! one day ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quilting Heidi Posted September 11, 2010 Report Share Posted September 11, 2010 I find that I have to tell myself to relax when I actually get to the real quilt. When you tense up you can't quilt straight! try to relax and be confident in your skills and your machine will follow your lead.:P:P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
o2b Quilting Posted September 11, 2010 Report Share Posted September 11, 2010 I agree with Heidi. Stay relaxed!! I find that I am better at relaxing if I am a little bit distracted. I play country music, which I will sing along with, or better yet, I listen to books on CD as I am an avid book reader. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RitaR Posted September 11, 2010 Report Share Posted September 11, 2010 Is there a particular maneuver that you feel is bad? If so, get something like the dry erase board, or scrap paper, or a pencil tablet from the Dollar Tree... and practice for several pages, on both sides.. Once is is quite accurate on paper, switch to the machine, and as others have said already, do a dry run until you feel more comfortable doing it.. then switch to needle and thread. It's amazing how much it helps.. Good Lucky and happy, relaxed, beautiful stitching. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IBQLTN2 Posted September 11, 2010 Report Share Posted September 11, 2010 Another question would be is your thread a match to the fabric or are you trying to use a contrasting thread. It seems when you use the same color thread your bobbles seem to disappear into the fabric, but if you use a contrasting thread every little wiggle and wobble show up like an very loud advertisement the kind that wakes, you up when you have fallen asleep watching tv, you know those. I am taking a feather class and the instructor stitched out a sample feather in contrasting thread color, now it looked pretty good but you saw where she missed her backtracks and the little imperfections, then just to show us the difference she stitched the same exact feather (because it was a recorded stitching with the computer) the feather was perfect or at least it looked to be perfect. It was exactly the same in every way except thread color. Personally I want my quilting to show only in design not it's color as I feel it takes away from the quilt if it draws more attention than the quilt itself. So you may want to think about that if you are using too high of a contrasting thread color at least until you are happier with your control in the design. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newmillie2010 Posted September 11, 2010 Author Report Share Posted September 11, 2010 yes, i am in the living nightmare of dark backing and light quilt top, and i am using dark bobbin and light top thread so there are some issues ... my tension appears to be good; however, i'm 'seeing' dark points and i'm not sure whether it's actually bobbin thread on top or just the 'natural' stitch which is allowing me to see the bobbin thread in it's natural state. In other words, I believe the stitch is about as good as it's going to get but ... so i'm playing with tensions. did i mention that i gave myself plenty of time to do this project? whew ... and i don't believe using invisible thread in the top would help the situation. i'll still see that pesky dark point of dark. btw, the back looks great! thanks again for suggestions. i think i just need to bite the bullet, go for it, and pray a lot! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DB Posted September 11, 2010 Report Share Posted September 11, 2010 I agree with all of the above but also if you did your design on a practice and it came out fine than you know you can do it. You are probably just so anxious about getting it right on this quilt that your not letting yourself relax enough to do a job that's good enough to your specifications. Take a breath, tell yourself "OK I've done this before and had it come out great so I know my brain and hands know what to do" than step up and do the great job that you know you can. Dianne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckeindl Posted September 11, 2010 Report Share Posted September 11, 2010 Hello New Millie: my 2 cents - make sure your quilt sandwich isn't too tight - doesn't even have to be "taut". This has solved 99% of my personal issues (well, in quilting anyway) and I find with contrasting bobbin and top thread - the looser sandwich helps the stitches lock in the center. Must see photos when done! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newmillie2010 Posted September 11, 2010 Author Report Share Posted September 11, 2010 thanks, cathy. i will loosen the sandwich - i haven't tried that yet. As far as pictures ... hmmmm ... not this one. i'm so intimidated by all the beautiful quilts you put up here. i'm just not in your league, but i love looking at all the eye candy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheri Butler Posted September 11, 2010 Report Share Posted September 11, 2010 One question...what "design" are you working with that you are having issues with. In other words...are you trying to freehand feathers...Continuous curves...etc. Try drawing your design on with the purple air-erase markers (the ones that disappear over a few hours) and then quilt those lines. If your top (future info) is darker, you can use the sewline pens with the white chalk to draw those lines on and quilt on them. Also, pounce powder & pounce pad...using stencils. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newellyn Posted September 11, 2010 Report Share Posted September 11, 2010 Our fellow Moxie, Jim, made a good point last month. When looking at a painting do you look really close to inspect every brush stroke? Of course not. We need to stand back and see the whole work of art not every detail. Since we are so close to the work we forget that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LadyLake Posted September 12, 2010 Report Share Posted September 12, 2010 Sometimes I have to spend a few moments focusing on the energy I want to portray in the quilting design, before I start stitching. I firmly believe you can tell how a quilter is feeling by their work. There are also ways to distract the eye from imperfections in the quilting. Could you add some background quilting to the design? Or switch to matching thread color?:cool: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferret Posted September 12, 2010 Report Share Posted September 12, 2010 I generally match my bobbin thread colour to my top thread colour. It solves a lot of problems and makes for some amazing reversible quilts. Ferret Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrandmaLKB Posted September 12, 2010 Report Share Posted September 12, 2010 I recently quilted a quilt for our Guild and I was NOT happy with it. But when I took it to the meeting Thursday, everyone thought it was just beautiful ! I think when we are quilting, we are "up close and personal" and see everything, but looking at the big picture all the little boo boos don't show up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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