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Quick Quilting

© Jeanne Walsh

Last month I gave direction for getting that pieced top ready to quilt. After all, it isn't a quilt until it's quilted, right? If you are today's busy woman, you will never in this world quilt that top by hand. So let's explore machine quilting. This month we will be talking about grid quilting (straight line) only. Quilting on the block lines first and then on the elements of the blocks will give a lovely sturdy quilt in a short time.

Needed:

Pieced quilt "sandwich"
Round quilt clips (like bicycle clips)
Sewing machine
Even feed foot
Cotton thread
4 or 5 bobbins filled with thread
Size 80 or 12 sewing machine needles

How, you ask, can I put that huge thing through my sewing machine? Well, there IS a way.

With the pinned quilt "sandwich" spread on the floor, turn up about a 4 inch fold the length of the quilt and roll to the center. Repeat on the other side. For a very large quilt,use the round clips to keep the quilt from unrolling. Then on one end, fold the rolls up about 1/4, and again. Pick up the bundle and carry it to the sewing machine. Using an even feed foot and a moderate speed, we will begin to sew "in the ditch" at the center between those 2 rolls down through the center of the quilt to the end.(about 10 stitches per inch) Pull the seam apart slightly and sew ON the seam.

Remember to fill several bobbins with thread before you begin to sew so you aren't forced to stop quilting and fill bobbins.

As you begin to sew, hold the quilt and take several teeny stitches, thus locking the thread. Within a few more stitches, resume the normal stitch. A table or chairs placed at the front of the sewing table will support the quilt as it moves through the machine.

Gently ease the quilt top fabric into the even feed foot, easing in the fullness into the quilting seam to eliminate pleats where seams cross. Do not stretch or pull the fabric behind the presser foot as this will distort the blocks. If you can ease fullness in, the quilt will lay flat and there will be fewer puckers. At the end of the row of stitching, again hold the quilt while making several tiny stitches locking the thread. Turn the quilt around and again starting at the center, sew

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