Come Stitch With Me

I have a stack of quilt tops waiting to be finished. It’s taken several months, but I’m now comfortable with Ellie’s ASR and have fine-tuned the machine settings, plus needle and thread to produce consistent results. Using spray baste and minimal pinmoors to secure my quilt layers has also helped.

Basting a quilt sandwich is my LEAST favorite part of the quilting process. I’m sure I’m not alone! Enter pool noodles, a can of spray baste and a patio table on my lower porch.

There are a number of videos on YouTube on how to baste a quilt using pool noodles. You could also use pipe insulation sold at Home Depot or your local hardware store. This method works quite well, whether you pin paste or glue baste. Personally, not having to deal with pins makes FMQ so much easier. I prefer to use spray glue outside, which is why I set up on the lower patio. I’m also out of the elements, for the most part.

Once basted, I put everything away and then run an iron over the front and back of the quilt. I lay it out on my cutting table overnight to completely dry. Yes, this is the quilt shown being basted in the above photo.

The traditional method to apply quilt binding is to attach the binding to the front of the quilt by machine, flip the binding over and sew it to the backside of the quilt by hand. I reserve this for show quilts and special quilts only. Every other quilt has machine sewn binding – meaning the binding is attached to the back of the quilt, flipped to the front and sewn down by machine.

In the above photo, I’m using the Janome Left Bi-Level foot for 5mm-7mm sewing machines. I’m also using the straight stitch with the tie-off/autolock feature (stitch #3 in the image below). I moved my needle position as far left as it would go and set my stitch length = 3.0.

I find that the Left Bi-Level foot works best on a sewing machine with a 7mm wide stitch width. However, you can make it work quite easily with a 5mm wide machine. such as the Elna 450 shown here. Rather than let the binding ride against the narrow left toe of the presser foot, simply align the edge of the binding with the left side of the larger right toe of the presser foot as shown in the above photo.

Class will still be held 10:30 a.m. – noon at the Southeastern Quilt & Textile Museum. Seven students of the original eight signed-up for the class were able to reschedule for this Saturday. There’s one seat still available. Call the SQTM at 770-301-2187 if you’d like to join the fun.

Routine maintenance is easy to do and extends the life of your sewing machine. In class, you’ll actually clean out the dust bunnies from under your needle plate, oil/grease where necessary, install a fresh needle and give the machine a good wipe down. We’ll adjust tensions and stitch out a few patterns until everything looks good. We’ll also go over how to troubleshoot and fix common sewing machine issues.

Missing your manual? I’ll help you locate a copy (preferably free). I’ll share my list of trusted repair folks and how often to take your machine in for service. I’ll also provide information on sewing technician training for those wanting to learn more.

This is not a REPAIR class. If your cam stack broke, a circuit board fizzled or the motor sparks, you’ll need to take your machine in for repair. My class is designed to empower sewists and quilters with the skills and knowledge to keep their machines humming for as long as possible. Interesting tidbit: 90% of machines taken in for “service” have issues that can easily be addressed by the owner.