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Quilting a pantograph with a separate border design.


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I'm wondering if anyone can offer any advice on how to quilt a border design with a pantograph in the main section of the quilt? How do you stop a panto right at the border without running into the border? Especially if you are working from the back of the machine and can't see where you are at?

My customer and I discussed this. She wants the Novaya Zhizn design, but maybe some leaves running up a spine in the border. I'm not sure if it is worth the extra effort.

Any advice? Maybe some photos of quilts done like this? Thanks so much!

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Hi Caroline,

I have done this, in fact I just did one today. I use plastic see through rulers to mark where the edge is I want to start/stop at on the quilt. I place plastic see through rulers such as the ones used for cutting with a rotorary cutter, on the Panto at least a half an inch before I should start/ stop, then when I get to that point I do the remainder free hand to make sure I end or start in the seam line. It takes just a little more time but well worth it. Starting is much easier than ending because you can see where to start if you walk to the front of the machine to begin, you can end from the front as well whenyou tie off. I hope you understand what I was trying to describe. Good Luck.

Shar

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I do think it changes the look of the quilt. A border acts as a frame and sets off the interior. I have done this a few times with a panto, more often I do it with a freehand overall in the center, which is much easier to control because you are working from the front of the machine. When doing a panto with separate borders I try to connect the design on each end rather than running it to the border. I use dry erase markers on the pattern to draw the connecting lines. Good luck!

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I have done this several times as well. I do have a plastic grid that lays over top of my panto and I can mark on it with a wet erase marker to mark my start and stop points. I have done this when there was a panel in the middle of the quilt that needed custom attention and the rest of the quilt was a panto.

It really isn't that hard to do and does add to the over all look of your quilt.

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I do think it changes the look of the quilt. A border acts as a frame and sets off the interior. I have done this a few times with a panto, more often I do it with a freehand overall in the center, which is much easier to control because you are working from the front of the machine. When doing a panto with separate borders I try to connect the design on each end rather than running it to the border. I use dry erase markers on the pattern to draw the connecting lines. Good luck!

What do you mean by "I connect the design on each end?" Do you stitch from the right to the left, connect your design near the border and go to the next row and continue from the left to the right? I'm trying to picture how you are doing it.

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With every panto there are moving/connecting lines...On plastic with a dry erase marker I connect those lines (shortcuts if you will) so that it looks like the whole design was made to flow within the space. When I'm quilting that area, I follow my new drawn lines rather than the printed ones. I only do it on the two ends of the panto and keep it within about 1/2" of the border. If I had one of those Handy Dandy machines that the forum is chatting about in another post, I could show you!! I hope that helps!

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Siince I bought the Panto camera From R & S designs, it is waaaay easier, i work entirely from the front of the machine and see when I am getting close to the seam line you want to stop at. Laura has a great advantage with her gridded plastic. I still use the rulers to let me know whenI am getting to a stopping and starting point. I use colored dry erase markers at the end and beginning of the rows to "redesign" at those points for a smooth looking finish or beginning, this gives me a warning letting me know I am getting close in case I just space out about my see thru rulers! I just charge the usual for the panto and add a charge for a different border design as I would if I were doing a free hand overall with a different border design. If the border design is very simple I just use the overall charge for the entire quilt and skip the extra, if the border is very involved then I charge the extra for the border according to my charge sheet.

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Charlotte, I think it makes sense now, but one more question. Working on the panto side, do you stop at the end of a row (on the left side) and re-start a new row (on the right side), or do you just continue working from the left side and work towards the right hand side?

I would stop at the left side and then move everything to restart again on the right side...that all remains the same.

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I've done this, too. Depending on how big the panto is I connect the first row with the second and just quilt back to the beginning. I just freehand it so it joins. Sometimes I go to the border and then make up a design to the next part so it still looks good.

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I usually start on the right end, go across the quilt, stopping at the left end, break thread and re-start on the right end again doing this process over and over until quilt is done.

There has been times when I start on the right end towards the left end then follow up the seam or edge of quilt to start the design again following it to the right. However, when I do this it seems like my stitches are not as uniform...maybe because my muscle memory gets confused?? Since I feel more comfortable "pulling" the machine as I go from right to left, rather than pushing the machine from left to right, this is the main way I do panto's. I think my machine likes it better too.. :P

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I have one more small question - when you do this, do you quilt the border first, then the panto? I'm thinking about the side borders. Or do you quilt the panto in the main section of the quilt down to the bottom of the quilt and then do the side borders. Do you turn the quilt for the side borders??

Boy, I have a lot of questions!

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