separate borders

[barbann03]

Hi everyone,

Vacation is over!!! I had the whole weekend to myself!!! What a treat, but everyone is home and it's time to go back to life. It was so quiet here. Couldn't decide if I liked it or not. Our puppy Rosey got spayed, and it was good to have some quiet for her to recover as well. But she's bouncing off the walls now, and I keep waiting for the stitches to open. It's been a week now, I think she'll be alright.

Anyway, I am doing a panto with separate borders. I have a question about what to do when I get to the bottom of the central body of the quilt. Obviously the panto won't match all the way to the bottom. How do you ladies finish it off. I could use some advice.

[ramona-quilter]

Hi Barb,

If you re referring to the bottom of the quilt where it meets the lower inner border, this is how I do it. I'm sure there are other methods.

If the quilt has 3 or more borders then the inner border is probably pretty narrow. I usually use that inner border as a resting border so that the eye rests between the quilt body and the borders; makes a nice frame. My point is, if it is a resting border, then I don't quilt it so I don't want to accidentally stitch into it.

My panto is under plastic (Pattern Grid). Before I start quilting the bottom pass, I line up the needle about 1/2 inch away from the inner border. Then I look at my laser light and mark (wet erase/dry erase) the plastic. If the quilt is straight then I know that is the bottom of my panto space all the way across the quilt. I usually mark the plastic all the way across so I remember not to cross this line.

I use that same marker to draw in whatever I can that looks like the panto pattern. A flower may only have 3 petals instead of 5; or a big curve may get replaced with a shorter loop. But I never pass that line that I drew.

I'm curious to hear other methods. Good luck and happy quilting.

[quiltjunkie]

Hey Linda,

You just give too much service..how about quilting over all the borders..I think that's why it's referred to as Edge to Edge. Anything different falls into custom work. I have had customers who only want the main body done with a panto and them custom borders..Fine with me..but extra work and $$$$.

[epprog]

Hester, when you do a panto in the body of a quilt are you just very careful when you get to the border that you don't want to quilt into and then SID until you get to the next pass of the panto? I had a choice to panto the body of this last quilt I did and then do some fancier work in the borders. I opted to just freehand the body of the quilt because I thought it would be easier than trying to make the edges of the panto line up and not go over into the borders? Am I right or did I make myself more work?!!!! I ended up doing feathers in some of the designs on the body of the quilt and I'm sure spent much more time on the body than if I had just pantoed it!

Cher

[diane Bevans]

I guess I will jump in.. I often do different borders, usually feathers or meandering leaf and flowers.. and a panto in the all over middle.. I consider this custom pricing and I too mark my acrylic overlay of the panto paper with masking tape to start and stop my panto. Its a little more back and forth, as I work the borders from the front of the machine and do my panto from the back, but otherwise not a problem and I don't think its that much extra work.. just an opinion.

[mrsbishwit]

I charge more for this type of work as well but not as much as custom. Any ways the way I handle the bottom of the panto design when it reaches the bottom border is the same way Linda Taylor describes fow to do it in her book "The Ultimate Guide to Longarm Machine Quilting"

In the book she tells you to mark off the panto with masking tape (panto under the plastic cover of course and the tape on top of the plastic) across the design where the edge of the border would be then you travel in the ditch from one spot to the next to fill in the partial panto row. Alot easier than it sounds.

Joann

[Grace]

I'm curious how the backing will look if you SID between rows so as no not need to start/stop with the thread ends. Seems like the backing would show the stretches of straight stitches. I try to encourage my customers to use the 3 B's on their backings: Big, Busy, is Better.

[barbann03]

Oops, I guess I left out a very important piece of info. The reason she wanted separate borders is because her inner border is one of those borders that I think are called double fold. It stands up. I can't think of what they are called, but she didn't want me to stitch over that at all. I am doing a meander on the outer borders and a leaves panto on the inner quilt. I settled on the meandered borders because I don't have to turn the quilt! The backing on this quilt is very busy too, so no one can see the stops and starts at all!!! And I am finding that my stops and starts on the inner panto can be hidden under the double fold border. I'm sure it's nothing new, but I am feeling very clever, hehe!!!!

[quiltjunkie]

Cher, I just mark the edge of the main body on the table with masking tape and I tie off and bury the thread and then start the next row at the body which means tie off and bury at both sides. Being careful and having to tie off is what makes it a pain and more $$$. Doing a freehand in the main body and then doing your borders does make it a bit easier as you are working from the front..but that constitues complete custom to my way of thinking. When I do the panto in the main body and then custom borders I do a blended rate.