First quilt

[Joans]

Just finished my first quilt on the millenium. What a disaster, but I hope I can retain everything that went wrong and not repeat them. It was a baby quilt so thankfully wasn't too big.

First mistake was using what I thought was an easy pantograph, but turned out to be very difficult and I had a lot of trouble following the lines. What a mess.

Anyway, the machine performed beautifully, in spite of everything I did wrong, except was a little jerky when I tried to go slow. Oh well. I have three queen size quilts ready for me to put on the machine and have absolutely no idea what pattern to quilt. Hoping my husband will see that I need a computerized program to quilt for me!! :-)

[Quilting Heidi]

Don't beat yourself up! On pantos I find that if I go through the panto 3 or 4 times before I start to stitch I am more successful, just gives you some muscle memory. Go through as many times as you need to feel comfortable. We all started off feeling just like this but if you stick with and learn from your mistakes you'll build your confidence too! One thing that really helped me was to do a circle as fast as I could going clockwise. Just keep going round and round and round and before you know it you will be hitting the same line. Once you have that go counter clockwise. Dave Jones, Deloa's husband, shared that with me and he was right it really gives you a good feel for your machine and how to control it.

[Joans]

My problem was it was baby bottles, pacifiers, and diaper pins repeated over and over across a row and I got worse instead of better the more I did it. Guess my memory bank isn't what it used to be!

[Quilting Heidi]

LOL no I'm just sure the more you missed it the more worried you got. Remember the receiver will never know exactly what the lines looked like on the panto and cut yourself some slack. Sometimes adding lines to the panto or color coding will help you.

[CindyT]

Congratulations on completing your 1st quilt on your Millie!

I thought I was horrible at pantos in the beginning, too. Then someone on here (sorry I don't remember who to give credit to) had mentioned they used their left hand on the handle and their right hand grasping the back of the machine for more control, and IT WORKED for me! If you haven't tried this, it might help you, too. Heidi's right, don't beat yourself up. We can't all start out as experts on our long arms even though we wish we could. Hang in there!

[JudithWashburnQuiltStudo]

I did the same thing on my first panto. I hated, felt so bad, thought I needed the computer. Not true. I kept practicing, slowed down a lot and practiced the stitches like Heidi suggested. I just don't load my machine before I practice, I just a blank canvas and no thread. I turn the machine on so I can get the feel. But I had to learn to slow down. And not be too hard on myself. I love panto's and free had now - still no computer. I will wait until I have mastered perfect feathers and filler freehand. That is the real reason I purchased the machine to start with, so I could horn in on my creative designs.

Joans, hang in there and keep practicing. It gets easier.

[Heritage Keepsakes]

I see no disaster here, but success! You quilted your first quilt on a Longarm machine, which requires a different skill set than quilting on a domestic sewing machine.

All of the above suggestions are fantastic. You could also perhaps next time try a pantograph that has a more open design to it. Very busy designs can be a little technical/tricky to do, when your new at it. (Ask me how I know! )

I'm sure before you know it, you'll be zipping through a panto and not looking back!

[Liam]

Congrats on finishing your first quilt! My first panto was pretty much the same as yours. Then a friend suggested that I put on some music. They also suggested that instead of holding the handles with a whole hand grip (death grip) to just use the thumb, middle and index fingers around the handles; and fold the ring & pinky into your palm. This helps to avoid the death grip on the handles. Give that a try and see if that helps at all. The most important thing to remember is to relax!

[WestieMom]

Congratulations on completing your first quilt! I still use the laser only to practice a panto before quilting and it really helps the brain and muscles remember. As Liam suggested it does help to keep a lighter hold on the handles, remember to breathe and have fun! You're on your way!

[Butterfly]

Practicing and relaxing will turn you into a master. It just takes some time but you will be fine. I still have to consciously think about relaxing my shoulders when I do a panto.

Jess

[Enchanted Quilting]

Make sure to take pictures of your 1st quilt...it will be a very pleasant reminder of how far you have come. And...that will be in a very short time.

[jandcembroidery]

I started out using my DM on a grace frame. It used a sytlus instead of a laser and the only way I could get the quilting "close to perfect" was to use the stylus as a pencil and draw it with my hand. After three years of using it I just got my APQS Freedom. Now I'm learning all over. I took a couple of easy pantos and practiced with them only to be disappointed in the results. My wife (same as a quilt receiver) saw it and thought it looked great. The quilter is always harder on themselves, the receiver just sees something great. I refuse to get a computer program. I'm self taught on everthing from piecing to needle turn applique. I'm going to learn free hand. Heidi thanks for posting the Circle practice. I know what I'll be doing today.

James

[Primitive1]

I think we all started out feeling the same way. I learned two things that helped me besides practice practice practice (PPP), I ended up using both hands on the left handle when doing pantos, it just feels like I have more control and the other is to keep your elbows tucked into your body and move your whole body when quilting, your machine then becomes an extension of you and believe it or not it gets easier.

[delld]

Wow you did the what I think is the hardest step, THE FIRST QUILT!!!! PPP and more PPP will help you. Relax too and have fun. It took me FOREVER to get to where I am today. I felt like it was when learning to drive a car. Remember how you would try the line the hood of the car up with the road???? LOL it never seemed to work and then all of a sudden you learned to just look ahead the drive and somehow the car just went where you wanted to go!!! Well that is how I think when I'm doing my panto. I don't a stare at the laser light but at the panto in general. When I started doing that and going from one point to the next it all of a sudden my qultling become so much better. Please be sure to post picture so we can see your "wonderful" work and giant steps in improvement on your journey!!!!

[Quilting Heidi]

I think we all started out feeling the same way. I learned two things that helped me besides practice practice practice (PPP), I ended up using both hands on the left handle when doing pantos, it just feels like I have more control and the other is to keep your elbows tucked into your body and move your whole body when quilting, your machine then becomes an extension of you and believe it or not it gets easier.

That's how I do it too. I also roll along on my chair.

[Sharon M]

Hi Joans, and welcome to the forum!

Here's a little tip for easy panto's.... leaves and/or flowers! They come in all kinds of irregular shapes and sizes in nature, so when you slip outside the lines of your panto, no one will ever know! Here's an easy one called Falling Leaves http://www.sewthankf...eavesPanto.html

The lines are fairly short from "point to point", so you can always stop on a point, take a breather or readjust your feet before you start stitching again. (Seems I can't walk and stitch at the same time! ) I made a few fall themed quilts when I first started, and did that panto on all of them. Was a great confidence booster for me... and they looked great, even though I had trouble staying on the line.

All of the above suggestions are great too... especially having a light touch on the handles. And I too, hold the left handle with my left hand, and use my right hand on the back of the machine. I never could get used to holding the handle on the right side of the machine.

Good luck! and don't give up!

[Bonnie H]

Congratulations on your first quilt! It sounds like that was a tough panto for anyone so it is no wonder you had a bit of a hard time of it! It really does take a bit of practice to do a decent panto and some pantos are just plain hard to do! It is all in the "flow" and relaxing as best you can, and remember that you don't have to stay exactly on the line, just try to be smooth in your movements.

Just a couple of weekends ago DH and I cleaned out our storage shed and I found a box of my first quilts. In there was the first panto quilt I had ever done on my Pfaff Grand Quilter and the Proflex frame with the Quilter's Cruise Control. It was pretty badly quilted and I never did a panto very well on that setup. The Quilter's Cruise Control made it hard to control the machine.

I have a different machine now (a Nolting 24 Pro) and I think it is possible you may find it a little easier to control your machine when it is not in stitch regulated mode. I had to work a little harder in controlling mine when it was in regulation and I was learning pantos on it. Just a thought. Practice both ways and see what you think.

Practicing with the machine off is another good way to get in some practice time. I have found that my machine moves a little differently when I am not stitching on a fabric sandwich, so if you practice with your machine turned off and no quilt sandwich, it may be a little harder to do, but still good practice.