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!