Free machine quilting workshop

I attended a workshop today run by Hazel Williams which was all about free machine quilting. Now I have been a keen free machine embroiderer for ages and so I had assumed that I should be able to master free machine quilting without any trouble. Sadly, my attempts to date had convinced me that is not the case. Although, embroidery using the machine is useful in that you know what your machine is capable of, free machine quilting is an entirely different technique.

We started the day talking about threads. Hazel uses thin cotton bobbin thread and favours Egyptian cotton quilting thread in the needle. The King Tut Threads are very smooth, and there is a world of difference between these and many other brands. The thread I was using was not a cheap brand, but it certainly didn't produce the same results. Hazel also uses a smaller needle that I would have chosen,  a Schmetz 75(11) quilting needle rather than the 90(14) I would normally use. Once again, I didn't experience any problems.

Hazel had us drawing the designs on paper and then she demonstrated how she sewed them before we went back to our machines and had a go ourselves. We were all a bit worried about "drawing" but as the day wore on everyone got more and more confident and the patterns got more and more complicated.

So the secret is to relax, remember to breathe, don't press down too hard on the fabric and stop frequently to check where you need to go next. Oh, and don't run the machine too fast. This is all very well on small samples, and the real test will come when I try it on a bigger piece. I will give it a go though!

Here's a taster

and  this link will take you to all my little samples. As you will see the stitch length is not at all even, and unfortunately I wasn't able to get the tension right on my machine. That will teach me to fiddle about with the bobbin tension screw! Lesson, if you're going to fiddle with that, always have a spare bobbin case set up to the manufacturers spec and make sure you keep it safe!

Or you could do what I did and buy a new machine! My new Bernina 380 arrives tomorrow and my dear old 135 will be going to a new home!

Perhaps I may turn out to be a quilter after all!

Never say never

Just when you think, "I can't do this" and you're about to give up, suddenly you find that after a bit of practice, you actually can do it after all. Gives you a nice warm glow!

The Bernina BSR attachment came "free" with my Artista 640, and I tried to use it a couple of times, but without success. Now that I'm doing "ART" and free machine quilting is de rigeur, I decided that I really must give it another try at least to be able to judge if it makes any difference.

So after a couple of very frustrating afternoons, I have begun to get to grips with it. Not to say that it is without problems, but I have started to get used to the way it works.

The key is to remember that the machine doesn't start to stitch until you move the fabric and the key is to move the fabric gently and evenly so that the machine runs at an even speed.  If you stop, it stops and if the fabric doesn't move,  after a minute or so, it will switch itself off.  However, if you stop and move the fabric accidentally before it's switched off, it will start up and that's the bit that has taken me a while to master. If this happens, the stitches can go anywhere and they're difficult to unpick.

A while ago, I was lucky enough to be given an experimental pack of thread and fabric by my friend Sandra, with instructions to "play". So I did and because my pack contained shades of blue, green and purple, I chose a sea theme. This was the inspiration,  a lovely estuary on the Isle of Harris. The photo really doesn't do credit to the fantastic range of colours in the sea.

Sandra posted some images of the results from other members of the NW weekend group here  and here's a photo of my effort to date. I used the BSR for the limited amount of machine quilting, but I'm quite pleased with it. All that it needs now is some sort of binding to finish it off and I'll need to give that some thought.

Unfortunately these photos are somewhat out of focus so the detail of the quilting is a bit indistinct, but you can get the idea! Better photos when the piece is finished.

And some hand stitching including couching my handspun silk throwsters waste for the breaking waves.

My bag is finished and ready to us. It's in a different league because it's not exactly "ART", but enjoyable to make!

 So after I've taken my new bag off to the shop and had my lunch, I'm going on to try making some more samples using my BSR attachment and really get to grips with it this time. In the meantime, I feel someone is sneaking up on me....

..
BOO!

*!!!!*******!!!!

The expletives have been deleted! Well almost!

I went to my local sewing club on Tuesday and as I hadn't been for a while, it was good to catch up with some old friends. The demo was yet another quilted bag. but strangely I found myself truly interested in doing something simple that  I could then show off! 

So I bought some fabric, not that I actually needed to, but most of my fabric is packed away ready for the MOVE and I just couldn't be bothered to drag it all out. I cut out the pieces and the wadding and thought, I'll have a go at free machine quilting. As the bag does not need to be shown to anyone it won't matter if I go a bit wrong.

Out comes the machine and the perspex table but where is the free hand lever? Searched all the places I could think of but no joy. "What's it look like?" says the DH joining in. Well it's a lever. Realisation dawns that I'm going to have to go through all the boxes and the cupboard to find where exactly I've put it. Ah, here's the box with all the sewing bits and pieces and it would be logical to suppose that it's in there. No, I remembered that actually it didn't fit, and eventually I found it in with my weaving bits and pieces, but only after I had unpacked nearly all the boxes. Well they won't take long to pack again says the dear DH.

So I'm set up and ready, but then I remembered that there had been some very interesting posts on the CQ message board about the Bernina BSR system and that not many people liked it. In fact I had tried to use it a couple of times, but it's not easy and my attachment has been sitting in it's tin and of course is now packed away safely for the MOVE. Why not use it so you can then say with conviction that it's rubbish I thought? Now where did I put it? Not with the sewing stuff, obviously that would have been just too easy, and at last I found it in the box with the dyeing stuff!


There are videos on You Tube showing how the BSR system works so I decided it would help to watch a few. In fact, I just got angry with these people who just sit there and do lovely even stitches,  when my stitches are all over the place. GRRRR***** and worse!

By now the day has advanced  and my temper has become somewhat frayed. My quilt sandwhich is still in it's pristine unquilted state and the light is going!

But, after some practice here is the work in progress.

Moving the fabric smoothly is quite difficult, even with the "Supreme Slider" in place and it will take practice. It's balancing the fabric while keeping an even pressure when moving that is so tricky. but as always, practice is the key.

I've rather overdone the quilting on this piece

so I've been a bit more minimalist on the second.

So the quilting will be finished today and I hope the bag will be completed by tomorrow. The next task is to get some samples done for our next CQ regional meeting. We're using crayons, Inktense sticks, oil sticks and the like to make marks on the fabric that will then be used for our first group challenge.

Pictures to follow. It's more fun than packing!