Which Direction on Pantographs

[grammydiane]

Good Morning All....

I know this subject has been discussed, but I can't remember exactly what all was said.

I have been told and I believe APQS says you should only go one direction on Pantographs...right to left. A friend recently purchased an A-1 machine and was told to go both directions. Do the first row from right to left and then come back from left to right on the second row.

Just wondered what the reasoning was for just going one direction. Is it a mechanical thing or is it just easier to follow the pattern? I would think an involved pattern would be difficult to do both directions...(not that I have done anything too difficult. Ha)

Thanks much. Have a great day everyone.

[Bonnie]

Diane,

This may not still apply, but when I got my machine a bazillions years ago I was told to go only one direction....Didn't matter if I went from left to right or right to left, but to ALWAYS go in the same direction.

The reason then was because the quilt is being gently pushed towards the way you are going and if you switch the direction you get waves down the quilt.

Now is this true...I have no idea...I have just always done what I was told to do...I start in the left hand side and go across to the other side...and make the next row from the same direction....don't get waves but is this the reason why not....don't have a real clue.

[GERRY]

Hi Diane:) Good question,

I havn't been doing this for very long, & I haven't had any training, so I may be wrong, but I go both ways, & I have not had any Q-tops shifting to one side or the other.

[Charlene]

Hi

I have done maybe a dozen pantos but always go both ways. Can't say that I have had any trouble with the quilt shifting. I do baste down the sides before stitching the panto.

Char

[Katydids]

I was told to go right to left from the panto side and left to right from the front.

It doesn't have anything to do with the quilt shifting. I'm sure I won't explain it correctly, but it has to do with the rotation of the hook in relationship to the stitch direction and getting the best possible stitches.

I recently had to stitch a feather border freehand and could not do it from left to right when I got to the bottom border. When I looked at the back of the quilt in this area, you could see obvious differences in the stitch quality. It was almost as if the tension was wrong.

Patty

[Stagecl]

I was told to go left to right...always go the same direction. Do I follow this...no, I do not on some pantos. I haven't had any problem with tension or waves or the quilt hanging wrong. I only go both ways on a few...chantilly lace (I drew out a double pattern...I know person who has three rows on her pattern...this saves from rolling the quilt every row)...Blossom...Feathered Scroll...Waterworld...I think that is it. I freehand feathered borders usually one side of the feather I quilt going up the spine and the other down the spine with no problem in tension.

One advantage of going one direction is muscle memory. Also, you develop a rythym or flow to your quilting by going in the same direction. For fun, sometime, try going the opposite direction on a panto you have quilted to many times to count. It feels very odd and the fluid movement isn't there (at least at first).

Cheryl Mathre

Stone Creek Quilting

Sandy Hook, VA

[Myrna Ficken]

When I teach how to do a panto and it is a double row. I teach to do the first row, then stitch down the side and do the next row back. IMOHO it saves time. Our machine stitches all directions. But I don't think there is a right or wrong way. Whatever works for you, have fun.

Myrna

[barbann03]

I have practiced on quite a few pantos, which I absolutely love doing, and I have done both. I have started on one side and then moved backwards the other way, and I found that it's harder to stitch going from right to left, so I have started just doing left to right. My pattern comes out smoother by not changing directions! Make sense? I think I'm trying to say, my brain does better going left to right.

Barb

[grammydiane]

Thanks for all your input everyone. At least now I know the pantos police won't come and get me for going the wrong direction. But I agree that my brain does better going from right to left on pantos. Maybe that is the reason it is better to go just one direction. I just wanted to make sure the machine was OK with it I guess.

[Giftedhands]

One of the most recent pantos (the ribbons and hearts) was interesting in that it went from the bottom right up and down, then back the the lower right, then across, then back up to the top. Wierd.

I go in both directions...

Cynthia

[DawnCavanaugh]

Hi all,

When we teach new machine owners about pantographs, we suggest moving from right to left on the pantograph side. There are two reasons for this:

1. The hook on long arm machines rotates in only one direction. As you move from right to left (panto side) the hook is meeting the needle at the best possible point to get a good, quality stitch. When you move in the other direction, however, the needle flexes away from the hook more often, resulting in more frequent thread breaks and tension changes.

While the machine can certainly move 360 degrees, you'll get the best quality moving right to left on the panto side. That would mean cutting off the thread at the end of a row and repeating again. On the freehand side of the machine, we encourage you to move generally from left to right to get the best stitch possible.

2. Depending on the batting, pattern and the quality of piecing in the quilt, you will notice shifts in the fabric if you quilt one row in one direction, and then the second in the other direction. The thicker the batting, the more noticeable this will become.

One way to test whether a particular quilt "sandwich" will handle moving in both directions is to quilt the first row of the pantograph, then walk around to the freehand side of the machine and move your hand lightly across the quilt's surface in the opposite direction. If your hand shifts the fabric and causes blocks to go "out of square," then quilt in the same direction to prevent distortion.

Most of all, have fun!

Dawn C.

[grammydiane]

Thank you Dawn. I was concerned about the mechanical end of it. I appreciate everyone's input. I have been just going in one direction and I think I will continue doing so. So much to learn.

But I AM HAVING FUN!!!!!

[scq]

I find that my stitching looks SO much better if I go left to right....but I always thought that was because it is more like the way we write and I am just not coordinated/skilled enough to go right to left....my curves are curvier and my loops are loopier etc etc going left to right.....I also go generally left to right on the front of the machine when I am freehanding/meandering and it looks better and that would be right to left from the back....so it must be me and not the machine! I was told in my beginners class by the dealer to always go right to left from the back and vice versa on the front....but it doesn't work for me so I don't do it!