Machinequilting
AsI discussedlastmonth,myfirstattemptat quilting
wasbyhand.ButonceI realisedthatyoucouldmake
a wholequiltusinga sewingmachine,myquilting
journeyproperlybegan.Myfirstquiltsweremadeon
mychildhoodNewHomesewingmachineandquilted
withthesimplest‘stitch-in-the-ditch’straightlines.
It tooka fewyearsbeforeI startedexperimenting
withfree-motionquilting(FMQ).Thiswasinmy
artquiltphasebackinthe1990s,andso,thequilts
wererelativelysmallandeasytohandlewithmyold
machine.Thefree-motionquiltI producedwasvery
improvisationalandcreative.
Fornearlya decadeI driftedawayfromquiltingas
mymainpassionandproduceda bareminimumof
quiltsforfriendsandfamily.In 2009 I discoveredthe
burgeoningonlinequiltingcommunityandbecame
inspiredagain.ModernquiltersseemedtoloveFMQ,
especiallythemeandering‘stiple’pattern,andbefore
longI haddecidedtoattemptthismyself.I boughtthecorrectfootformymachineandsoughtadvice
aboutbastingwithpins,thread,etc.It wasonlywhen
I gotmyoldmachinereadyforthisnewactivitythat
I discoveredI alreadyowneda free-motionquilting
footandrememberedthatI hadtriedFMQbackwhen
I madeartquilts!I hadcompletelyforgottendoingit.
Thismethodofquiltingcamebacktomeveryeasily,
evenonlargerquilts,andI putthisdowntoretaining
themusclememoryfromthatearlierperiod,evenif the
brainmemoryhadn’tworkedsowell!TheartofFMQ
Freemotionquiltingis handsdownmyfavouriteway
toquilttothisdayandI alwayspreferit tostraight
linequiltingonlargequilts.Onereasonforthisis that
I amverybadat stitchingina straightline,andI’m
justtoolazytomarkthemout.I alsofindit reallyhard
tomanoeuvrethequiltwhenyoucan’tturninany
directionyoulikeasyoucanwithFMQ.I teachFMQ
frequentlyandfindthatsomanystudentsseemtobe
afraidofthe‘freedom’thatcomeswithit,asit makes
themfeeloutofcontrol.I alwayspointoutthatthey
havetheultimatecontrol– theycanjusttaketheirfoot
o thepedalandthemachinewillstop!
I nevermarkdesignsonmyquiltsasI feelthatif you
cancontrolthemachineenoughtofollowa drawnline,
thenyouprobablydon’tneedit.Instead,mystudents
startwitheasypatternslikeloops,leavesandflowersand
areencouragedtopractiseat homebymakingscrappy
quiltsforcharityuntiltheyfeelreadyforthenextlevel.
It’sjustlikedoodling,butwhereasyouusuallydothis
witha penthatmovesoverpaper,hereyouaremoving
your‘paper’undera fixedpen.Learningtofree-motion
quiltis a bitlikelearningtoflya plane– youneeda
certainnumberofhoursunderyourbeltbeforeyoucan
doit properly.Unfortunately,there’snoeasyshortcut
otherthantopractise,asboringasthatsounds!
Onceyoufeelmorerelaxedandconfident,youcan
trysomeofmyotherfavouritepatternssuchasspirals,
musselsandrainbows.I makea lotofquilts,butrarely
repeata design.Instead,I addmanysmalltwiststoFREE-MOTIONQUILTING
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CREATIVE CORNER l free-motion quilting
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Jo tried her first FMQ on
this art quilt from the 90s^Wavy lines achieved with the walking
foot on one of Jo’s landscape mini quiltsCREATIVE
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