My 1st Free Motion Quilt Project

What I learned the first time I tried free motion quilting.

For this Christmas Table Runner PDF Instructions - see my shop above or my Etsy store at Atticarts

I didn't even know what free motion quilting was till a couple of months ago. But I've managed to complete several Christmas table runners, just in time for Christmas. (see previous post for more info on these runners) Here I will share how I did it.

Like anything new that I try, I do spend a bit of time brainstorming and even more time researching. I now have books now on the topic, and my Pinterest board is getting full. I have no problem talking to people and asking lots of questions even though I'm sure sometimes I get and eye brow raise or two. This post is about what I learned and then my experience as I try it for the first time.

Firstly I should note that I am a quilter beginner. Other than doing flannel button quilts many years ago I have never attempted something like this.

In this post I'm only going to discuss the free motion quilting I did here. From knowing absolutely nothing about quilting to this level of competency. I haven't sewed in years and didn't even own a machine till this past summer, which has gathered some dust, I am not going to lie. I only say this to highlight that you don’t need to be an expert quilter or frequent sewer to accomplish this level.

As I already discussed, I researched. I always do this and I think it can be really helpful to know what others are doing. But after awhile it does get boring and can even get overwhelming, so I began doodling. I have been graced with this insider tip from the nice ladies at my local quilt store. Doodling allows you to understand flow and build that second nature needed when you finally get in front of your machine. You can doodle on paper with anything you want but I found I really liked to use my tablet and apple pen. Zero waste and I could erase lines to try different combinations. This allowed me to see what worked and what doesn’t pretty quickly.

For examples of how to draw these shapes, see my next blog (video included)

I started practicing my doodles as see above, with curls, because everything I read said they were the easiest. I'm still not sure about that though, I still think my curls look weird. I knew I didn't want to do curls and swirls on my runner because I was hoping to master or at least be satisfactory at something more christmas themed. I started to look around at what others were doing that was christmas like and worked as an all over design. Note that this beginning stage is not about precision quilting with exacting shapes, rather an overall filler to used in specific areas.

After see different kinds of designs I was never able to settle on one that I could duplicate with ease. So I opted to come up with something original by combining curls, Holly (which for some reason I was good at), berries and mistletoe. I thought the pine sprigs where good and worked well for fillers in blank areas when you're stuck, but harder for me to achieve a tidy look when actually quilting. This is a sample of some of my progressions. This is a sample of a fraction of what I actually drew so that gives you an idea of how much drawing I needed to do.

things to note - you will need a machine that allows for free motion quilting. That means (1) feed dogs can be disengaged, (2) already has or can have a floor pedal, (3) can take a free motion needle.

I began actual quilting on practice sandwiches (mini quilts in photo below). I this not only is necessary when learning, or learning a new design but should also be done before beginning any project to determine that the tension is correct for both bobbin and upper thread. (more on tension and my trouble and how I solved it below)

I surprised myself that after this amount of practicing, moving onto the actual runners wasn't too difficult. The 3rd runner, mind you, was a definite improvement from the first but not drastically so. I noticed my berries weren't neat and tidy so I problem solved by watching a YouTube video of how others managed tidy circles (pebbles as they are called) and learned that I needed to slow down and be careful to run my stitched directly over previous stitches between each berry. Slowing down is helpful but not always, because the objective is a even relationship between movement of the needle and movement of your hands, and getting all the stitch lengths to be as consistent as possible.

Stopping, is necessary. Especially as a beginner. I often found things would move too quickly and my brain couldn’t keep up with always knowing where to go next or how best to fill in gaps, the objective being consistent coverage. Also, sometimes you need to move the quilt to a better position before beginning next movement. However, I quickly learned not to stop in the middle of a line. Rather to wait till the end of a line when the shape is taking a different direction. In other works at points and corners of a shape. Note - Make sure to set your machine so that when stopping the needle stops in the down position. I found that if I stopped in the middle of a smooth line it was nearly impossible to continue that line when starting again and not have it show.

Surprisingly enough the learning came fairly quickly and with decent results. However, most time consuming and frustrating part was not the finesse of free motion quilting, but instead it was the mechanics and the DREADED TENSION!!!

Thread tension, I have learned, is something we all have to deal with and find the secret settings for our own machine and project. The variations between thread types, needles, free motion feet, machine and materials all have an effect on tension. This I researched and fussed and researched and fussed, over and over to find what combinations worked best for my machine. I'm not going to lie there was a lot of trial and error and once or twice I nearly threw in the towel altogether. I started with very little knowledge of sewing machines. I didn't know you could adjust bobbin tension and at one point I thought for sure I had overdone it and broken my bobbin case my messing with tension too much. I even sent away for a new one. But while I was waiting for the new one I continued to fuss with the old, and eventually I learned the secret for my machine. Now I had two bobbin casings but even this turned out to be a smart idea, because now I had one set for free motion and one for regular sewing. I don’t know if this is a normal experience for free motion quilting or if I was just my luck and my machine.

Example of poor bobbin tensions, photos - shown bottom of practic quilts.

With my bobbin on normal tension I should have been able to fix any issues by adjusting upper thread tension. However in doing this, with a proper quality quilting thread, the top thread would break. It was very frustrating to finally get the tension looking good and the stitches looking nice on the top and bottom of my practice sandwiches, even in the fast movement swirls and pebbles only to then have my thread keep breaking. I also learned that my thread lasted longer if the needle was in the off centre position. I guessed that there was tension on the needle as I move the fabric 360 degrees for different shapes and read somewhere that sometimes this will mean its bumping into the mechanics below and that could cause thread breakage. It was definitely a test of patience and stubbornness… I sure hope you have an easier time on your journey. With all of these adjustments it really ate into the allotted time I had before Christmas so I had to cut my goal to the essentials only getting runner done that I knew would be gifted.

All this being said, if you're still on the fence on whether to try free motion quilting, I hope I didn't deter you. I am a long ways from being a "good" free motion quilter, and I likely won't get there any time soon as I will only polish my skills the next time I need them. But it is fun and rewarding. If you know going in you will need the right attitude and a decent amount of persistence and to not expect perfection, its definitely doable. I found having a small project as the goal that required a filler design helped too. Also I found narrowing in on the shapes and design that came easier for me, then just practicing and tweaking from that also helped. I also found I divvying up the area I needed quilted into sections helped too. Working in columns down each side and middle. TIP:practice drawing till it gets rather easy to fill a page and have decently even spacing.

I also suggest going easy on yourself. I was reminded this after trying to teach my son to crochet this past Christmas. We forget how difficult it is to create movements that are second nature now and that they once felt terribly slow and impossible.

For this Christmas Table Runner PDF Instructions - see my shop above or my Etsy store at Atticarts