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Managing to free motion quilt my name... |
Back in January, I posted about a new
FMQ presser foot
that I got, with the intention of learning how to free motion quilt the right
way.
Time — as usual — always goes quicker than one might plan, even during the
height of a pandemic where virtually no plans were being made.
It took a period of several days of being forced to stay indoors (due to
extremely bad air quality as a result of near and far wildfires) to send me up
to my sewing room again.
Armed with a discarded pair of sweatpants from my husband, I did some FMQ practicing.
Armed with a discarded pair of sweatpants from my husband, I did some FMQ practicing.
In the suggestions that I read online about learning how to free motion quilt, one is supposed to preassemble a bunch of (up to fat quarter sized) quilt sandwiches.
Huh?
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| Loop de loop de loop.... |
While I don't know if my sewing journey will ever use up what little fabric I
possess, the idea of committing a bunch of it to
practice something on doesn't sit well with me. (In truth, I'm even
rather tepid to the idea of using up my supply of thread!)
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| Attempting some freehand flowers and leaves... |
Here's the thing: I'm not likely to take up actual quilting (i.e., making
quilts). I have never purchased quilt batting and don't see that changing just
because I want to learn some free motion quilting. For the purposes of getting
used to controlling sewing machine movements unfettered by feed dogs, I only
need to have material with some thickness to practice on.
Hence the fleece sweatpants. (By the way, for any of you who might be as
perversely cheap about this whole thing as I am, just make sure that
whatever you choose is smooth on the bottom so that you can move it around
easily.)
Bernina's blog (WeAllSew.com) was helpful on several levels, with a series called Learn to Free Motion Quilt that started in March of this year as well as other posts from their archives.
A post in April described how to grip and control the surface of the fabric
being quilted. I liked how they discussed things from quilting gloves and
hoops to other household items that you may have on hand that will help
increase the grip on your fabric.
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| More loops... |
My issue is not so much the amount of grip that I might or might not have,
it's the fact that the surface of my sewing machine provides a relatively
small area to work on.
I don't have the machine installed into a flat bed cabinet, nor do I have
an extension table that deepens the sewing area. (My extension table —
such as it is — only lengthens the horizontal area by about eight inches.)
The result is that hand positioning can't vary much anyway since the flat
surface underneath is only so big.
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| Practice and more practice should eventually lead to a rudimentary skill level... |
The biggest aha moment for me during these early practice sessions
was the realization that with the feed dogs down, it really was possible
to manoeuver in all directions. That's quite a change from the "forward
momentum only" thinking that we normally sew with.
Finding the right speed is a challenge. Unlike in other types of sewing,
going slow is not going to yield good results.
At some point, I had to upgrade my materials from the fleece sweatpants. I had a couple of projects on the go at the time that I could do some actual quilting on, and I figured that if I stayed with the tone on tone in terms of thread colour, any wonky results wouldn't be easily seen.
This first one is also a fairly small item, so I didn't need to work on it
for a long time.
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| This was an actual project that I quilted on after several practice sessions... |
The stitch lengths are uneven, but overall, it's not horrible. I was happy
with it, given that the item is not a piece of scrap for testing.
This one features a slightly bigger area.
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| Another actual project that I practiced on... |
And this is an even bigger area. (You'll see what this is in a couple
of weeks.)
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| Perfection it ain't, but it'll be a permanent record of my progress... |
Hopefully, someday I'll look back on this post and say,
yowza, how bad is that! In the meantime, more practice is in order.
Do you remember when you first started sewing? What was the hardest thing to master?
'Til next...
You should see my first attempts at free motion quilting! Yours looks a lot better that mine did back then, but practice does make (almost) perfect. The experts will tell you to use a paper and pencil and draw your FMQ pattern on paper first without lifting the pencil. That way it commits the movements to your memory when you start with fabric and needle. So make your mistakes on paper first or work out the design on paper first. I applaud your first attempts! I am not an expert still, but it has gotten easier for me. I think your sweat pants fabric is perfect for practice as it has the fleece of fleece or batting, but you aren't wasting fabric. I usually practice on scraps or a bedsheet that I was going to toss because of wear. Flannel works well as a batting substitute for wall hangings and such that you want to remain flat. Flannel won't give you the dimension of batting, but the flannel hugs the fabric and you don't get the outer fabric bunching up as much. Here is a quilt that is WOW!!! I aspire to this level, but know I won't ever be this good. She used 2 layers of batting. https://www.instagram.com/p/CRcMcSIp6U0/?_kx=BDtlNeAJpp1GUOCUdtNxVWAX5X54mkg-v2aLsg9y9yB8zvWYVP4yQA13vysqrW3X.wEgjkJ
ReplyDeleteYou're picking up the skills very quickly, Rochelle!!! I find FMQ HARD, and haven't done much. Two doll quilts were my first items - practice ending up with something that could be used. The second was a zippered pouch. I'm not good with practising - I like to get stuck into a project. My stitch lengths are uneven when I examine my work, but in reality, when looking at the overall projects, that's not what you see.
ReplyDeleteDoll quilt - https://www.threadingmyway.com/2014/05/peter-rabbit-doll-quilt-fmq.html
Zippered Pouch - https://www.threadingmyway.com/2015/02/free-motion-machine-embroidered.html
When I get back to sewing, I want to do some placemats with FMQ.
I can't wait to see where your FMQ journey will take you!
ReplyDeleteEvery sewing journey is different. I made my first real item of clothing after moving from the US east coast (read: Grandmother) to the west coast when I was ten. The pattern required a turned hem and 'hem stitch' on the hem. I used the only hand stitch I knew, and straight stitch it was! And I wore it. Yikes! (I did learn to do a mean hemstitch soon after.)
There's always something new to learn, which is the fun of it!
You're so right that everyone's journey is different.(What a topic for "someday" - how did you get started in sewing?) In terms of your story, however, I'm pretty sure that a ten year old making her own clothing is pretty darn impressive in and of itself... straight stitched hemline and all!
DeleteAs for the fun of learning new things, I'm hoping FMQ will eventually be fun - and easier - for me!