Meandering

[nora123]

Hi, I am a newbie but I just want to say HOW MUCH FUN IS THIS!!!. I just finished my second quilt. It took longer to load the quilt than it did to quilt it.

ANYWAY!!! does anyone have a method for meandering where you dont cross over work you have already done. Like start at some point and go this direction. I know good lighting is essential and I have thaT. I know machine height is critical for your back and also to see properly. I have that. Any tips would be greatly appreciated. I know I'm the only one who knows there are some small mistakes but I want to learn it right so each quilt will get better. Thanks a bunch.

Nora

Washougal, Washington

Millennium

[ffq-lar]

The newbies best friend is a meander that DOES cross over the previous work!!! Do a swoop to the right, a loop (any size) counterclockwise, another curved line and a loop clockwise. This is the old stand-by loop meander. If you accidently cross a line, it all matches!

Get a dry erase board and practice drawing everything. Or use copy paper or a newsprint pad and a gel pen. Practice the classic stipple in every size and soon you will have it down.

Draw with your whole arm by holding your arm above the paper. This trains the muscles in your arm to draw, instead of your wrist--just like when you are steering the machine.

Darlene Epps Pocket Guides are an invaluable tool--order them if you can afford to now.

There are lots of hints on this chat--search for a specific topic/problem/question and you should find an answer (or two, or three!!) Have fun and a year from now you will be guiding newbies through this happy journey!

Linda Rech

Also a Washingtonian

[chickenscratch]

Here's what I do for meandering. Start in the upper left hand corner. Move to the right for a bit, then move down and then to the left, go back up toward the right then kind of loop back to the left. You are moving across the quilt, but in little blocks; and you won't cross your own lines. Practice on sheets of paper, the bigger the better. Even old newspapers work if you use a marker that shows up.

[dtreusch]

Here's what I do for meandering. It starts in the upper left and ends in the lower right and moves back and forth across the quilt making "half dog bones" as you go. Hope this makes sense. I'm with everyone else, PPP on a dry erase board.

Debbi

[Bekah]

Debi, thanks for the picture.

Have fun Nora. Just remember to move your arm. I practiced for a whole month before my machine came, but I had been using my wrist, so I had to start all over.

[Judi]

Welcome to the forum and all this great quilting advice!! I do as Teresa

said - moving in a "block" like way, but never in exact squares...... similar

to the picture Debbi shows - but I do not go all the way across the quilt at

the top. My machine - as most I think - has the best tension going from the

left side to the right... just like you are reading a book.... one section at a

time. Good luck - keep breathing and playing - it will come to you!

[quiltmonkey]

I'll add on my little part about meandering: After you've tried meandering in small sections, such as the half dog bones, go to the next level and meander out and around (out to the right, down to the bottom, do a little diagonal) in a square foot section and then fill in that area with small meanders and then start again by meandering out another square foot section (out to the right, down to the bottom, do a little diagonal) and then filling in that area. Your meanders will be more random-looking and not so much a confined pattern. After while, you'll develop a good rhythm and a design and it will get real easy. Just have fun and don't be afraid to move big out and around and then fill in.