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It takes time and practice to build your skills with regards to free-motion quilting. Why not let an expert guide you along the way. Having taught hundreds of quilters over the last ten years, Don Linn (Episode 910) has found practical solutions to many of the problems students continually exhibit when learning to machine quilt. We found a number of great tips in his book Free-Motion Machine Quilting.
- The foot control of your machine should be able to smoothly control the machine speed from very slow to fast. If your machine tends to groan and take off all of a sudden as you press harder on the pedal, Don recommends getting another machine for machine quilting.
- Don prefers using a small oval plastic hopping foot to others out on the market. He uses an X-Acto saw to cut away the front to allow better visibility when stitching.
- Using a single hole throat plate will go a long way to help improve stitch quality. The single hole helps guide the thread straight up and down as you move the fabric in all different directions.
- Don suggests that you always machine quilt with your shoe removed to allow for more speed control.
- Avoid the temptation to spin your practice piece. This might work with a small practice piece, but will prove to be a problem when working on a larger project. Practice moving the quilt in a circular motion without actually spinning the quilt.
- Don't lift your hands while the machine is still running. Let the machine stop before moving your hands to avoid off track stitches.
To find more advice as well as practice projects, check out this great 'must have' reference book on Don's website here.
.jpg "2019 Sponsor - BERNINA Q 24")
