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Posts Tagged ‘Sandwich’

Can you do quilting with a Baby Lock Ellegante embroidery machine?

December 23rd, 2012 2 comments


Do you mean free motion quilting? I have an Ellegante, too. You drop the feed dogs, put on the darning foot, have your machine set on straight stitch, then start quilting. It involves eye-hand coordination. The faster you run the machine, the faster you have to move the fabric. Soon you’ll be making nice, even stitches, but it does take practice. Mark your quilt with stencils or follow the designs in the fabric. You have complete control of the fabric "sandwich" in this way. I use temp adhesive spray to hold layers together.
You also can use the walking foot for SID or echo quilting. I teach from the Better Homes and Gardens "Teach Yourself to Quilt" book. There are many books available on the subject
There are many emb. quilting designs available for quilting "in the hoop". I never hoop the quilt; I use Aqua Magic Plus (TM)-(there are other brands, too) and stick my quilt to it. You hoop the AM+, then use a pin to score the paper and then tear the paper off exposing the sticky surface. I then use the hoop’s plastic placement grid to center the block then sew it out. It’s water soluable and merely washes off the back when you’re done quilting. You can quilt in "sections". See the book "Divide and Conquer" by Smith & Milligan.
You have an awesome machine and I hope you have support nearby. My nearby dealer retired and closed her store. Now I’d have to drive over 2 hours for instruction. Support your local dealer!

How do I make a basic quilt?

December 13th, 2012 1 comment

I have some silks from color guard that I have already put together. I want to put them on a quilt for someone. It doesn’t have to necessarily have to be a quilt, but maybe a blanket. (I hope that isn’t the same thing to make me sound like an idiot.) Anyways. What is the best way to do this?

A basic quilt is easy. First you need to decide if you are going to make a lap,twin,full size. Then you need to buy material for the backing and a package of batting. Now when you say you have put the silks together-does that mean you have sewn them or just laid them out in an design. If you have already sewn them together you will need to square up the top. Then how about a border in a contrasting color. You would need to make strips about 4 1/2 inches wide by the length of the top(to sew on the sides of the top. then strips the width of the top(to sew on the top and bottom). Once you have done this you are ready to make the quilt. You would now put the material for the back down first, then on top of that put the batting and then lay the top on the batting. That is called a sandwich. the quilting is easy,too. If you have a machine you would want to use your free motion foot. I would then change my needle and put a size 10 or 11 embroidery needle in to sew with (this will not break the threads in the quilt material). For your quilt stitch use a meandering stitch.When done with this you would just turn the raw edges under and stitch all around the quilt and you are done.If you do not have a machine that you can quilt on then do it by hand. Get a large hoop and Do the same meandering stitch and finish it the same way. It will take a little longer to do but it is easy. Make sure to use quilting thread for machine or hand quilting thread. Lastly, if you have not decided on a design for the top of your quilt I would suggest that you make a crazy quilt with the silks. That would be cutting different shapes and sizes then sewing them together. You could then use fancy embroidery stitches to quilt with.