quilting "order"

[qwltnldy]

I'm wondering if there is a general "order" that custom quilts should be done in. What I mean by that is, let's say you are doing all the following on a quilt: stitching around applique, special motifs, background fillers, ditching (as in log cabin blocks) and 2 separate border treatments (freehand or not), you are also changing thread colors here. A friend of mine who has been quilting a long time (8 years or so) is able to do her quilts "as you go", but I find that to be too disjointed and I feel like I take a lot longer to get things done. I'd be interested to find out how others do it.

Robin

[Bonnie]

Robin, you will find that each of us do it JUST a bit different...so you will need to figure out what works for you.

ME....I start at the top and do everything that will have that one color in it and then when I get to the bottom I start back up with the next color. There are times you will need to flip the quilt to reach the sides and quilting areas....so you will work out what works for you.

But since I don't often offer multi colors in threads I try to match a color that will be neutral for the whole quilt and then again start at the top and work my way down the quilt and when its done, its done.

[lyonden]

Robin - Bonnie is right. We all do it differently. When I do custom, I usually try to do all the stabilizing first. For example: Starting at the top, I do all the SID I can. I outline the squares, sashing, borders etc. Then I go back and do all the squares. I find I get a rhythm going and all my squares will look alike. Same thing with sashing. Usually I do a lot of freehand and I find that once I stop a design and go to something else, when I come back to the original design, it isn't quite the same. Like I said, we all work differently.

[annlittle1]

On custom work I do the top border(s), stabilize the blocks and the sides, and then do the bottom border. Then I turn the quilt, do the new top border, do any design work, and then do the bottom border. Then I go back and do any background fill. But, I did find out the hard way, that you may need to turn the quilt a second time to do the design work and background fill. I had a quilt with stars in it and I realized after I got it off the machine that my stars all looked like they were sideways.

Hmmm...Just dawned on me; you could put the quilt on sideways, do the top and bottom borders, stabilize it and then turn it. That way when you turned it your designs would look right and it would save that second turning. You just have to do some thinking before loading it the first time. That's my problem, I need to think first.

I usually change colors as I do each section, but sometimes I'll do all one color and then go back and do the next color. It depends on the quilt....and my mood.

Phyllis

[sewingupastorm]

From the looks of all the others that have posted it seems there is no right answer to this question. Each of us does it a little different. I think that there are a few other factors to consider as well in how do you load your quilt on the frame and what kind of frame do you have..........................I know that my frame is not the same as that of other companies.

Now that said I usually save my borders for last. I will stabilize the top, bottom and sides of the quit as it is advanced. I also lift the top as my frame allows me to do that and make sure the batting is nice and straight and flat as I go. I usually try to work in one color and go down the quilt. I choose the color that I need to use the most in order to stabilize things. I know that Sharon Shamber actually does some large basting stitches that she later removes and I have done that on occasion to keep things in place till I come back. Now for a given block I do SITD first to get it all stable and then will do the detail work. On some custome quilts I will roll it back and forth several times.

The bottom line is that each custom quilt is different and I try new things so I vary my routine for what works on the particular quilt and what I think will work best.

My advice is to read everyones posts and try the things yourself and you will come up with what will work best for you.

[qwltnldy]

Well, I try to avoid turning at all costs, but it sounds like the general consensus is to stabilize first. I tried doing my borders first once (without stabilizing in the middle) and got a huge bulge in the middle! (I was REALLY new). Spent 2 weeks ripping. This time I have done SID in middle first. I have only done the top borders and find that the rest of the borders, while they laid straight at first, now look rippled, ARRRRGGGH. I think they will end up flat anyway, once I do them, but I sure don't like how they look right now.

Thanks, you guys!

Robin

[JudyL]

Robin, from the responses you can see that we all do it different ways and whatever works for each individual quilter is the best way for that particular quilter. I've tried several ways and what I now do is start at the bottom and do whatever needs to be done as I come to it. It means changing threads a bunch but this way seems to work best for me. Once I get the bottom border (or whichever one it is that needs to be worked first depending on how I have the quilt loaded) quilted, then I roll the quilt and start in the middle of the next section and work to the left, then work to the right, then do those two side borders.

In the attached picture, I would do the bottom part of the border, with the stars, then I would do the next border with the loops, then I would do Block 11, then Block 10, then Block 12, then I would do the left border with the loops, then the right border with the loops, then the left border with the stars, then the right border with the stars.

Then, I would do Block 8, then 7, then 9 and continue like that, doing all portions of each block as I was working in that area unless there's just some little bit of something in a particular color. Say each block has a very tiny triangle that I'm going to quilt in red and that's the only red I'm using on the quilt. I will wait til the end and go back and do all the red at one time after I've finished everything else.

It seems that every time I leave any big chunks at all unquilted, when I go back to do them, I get tucks or puckers. And, I *never* turn a quilt. I think I've done it once in almost 10 years of quilting.

Thankfully, I quilt better than I draw!

[Georgene]

Judy,

You actually quilt from the bottom of the quilt rather than the top?

Do you have an APQS machine?

Does this entail rolling all the quilt on the takeup roller then rolling toward you as you quilt?

[qwltnldy]

Ok. doing borders first then blocks explains why when I did blocks first, then borders, my borders became rippled. Now I'm screwed, because I just got to the bottom of the left hand border and have to ease. I have done the entire middle of the quilt, then the left outer border, all the way down and now I will be rolling it back up and doing the right outer border all the way down, then the bottom border THEN rolling back up and doing the inner border last. I am changing threads on the inner border so I wanted to do the outer one first. The inner one is only about 2.5 -3 inches wide. I can tell right now this was the wrong way to do it. I feel horrible now bacause the customer gave me a very well pieced quilt. I am a little worried now about the borders.

Robin

[BarbWetzel]

I agree with everyone... just remember when you leave an area and come back to it, everythings seems to stretch and you get puckers.

Good luck...Barb

[JudyL]

Originally posted by Georgene

Judy,

You actually quilt from the bottom of the quilt rather than the top?

Do you have an APQS machine?

Does this entail rolling all the quilt on the takeup roller then rolling toward you as you quilt?

I probably confused you. I do have a Millennium. I'm doing custom so I'm working from the light side of the machine but I try to load the quilt so that the bottom is the first border I'm doing. It doesn't always work that way but I find that when I'm making stars or hearts or anything directional, it works better for me to be working from the bottom up.

If you took that drawing and turned it 180 before loading it, that's how I do the quilting . . but pretend you're looking at the quilt as it would be on your bed, not how it is on the machine.

[qwltnldy]

I found a suggested sequence in Linda V. Taylor's book entitled "The Ultimate Guide to Longarm Quilting". It is covered on pages 48-49. The first paragraph under the heading "Stabilizing the Quilt, Setting in the Border Design" says: "There is a natural progression when custom quilting on the quilting machines. It is different from hand quilting but similar to methods used by other machine quilters. The quilt must be stabilized before much of the design work and heavy quilting is applied. If this does not occur, the borders and outside edges of the quilt will be ruffled. This is because as the quilt is stitched, it shrinks" (this is what happened to me). I won't type the whole thing here, but she does cover both turning and freehanding (not turning) for borders. Wish I had read this first. However, the good news is I finished the quilt this am and it looks OK. It looks better at the top than the bottom, but you can't really tell unless you do this for a living that there were "issues".

[Georgene]

Thanks Judy, Now I understand.

And Robin, thanks for the reference pages. I will go read that chapter.