Quick and Easy Tips for Successful Machine Quilting

To control your stitches:

Use quilting gloves to help control the quilt as it feeds under the needle.
Put your hands down on the area you are quilting, like a frame, with your thumbs touching. The area between your hands is the only area to pay attention to as you work.
Have in your mind where you will be stitching, and what kind of shape you will be making. Then watch the fabric where you want to stitch - not the needle as it is stitching.
Practice stitching on a fabric sandwich (2 layers of fabric with a piece of batting between) about 24 inches square. Practice stitching various shapes, and pay attention to the sound of your needle. The goal is to move your fabric about 1/8 of an inch as your needle goes up and down.
Make sure that the tension on your sewing machine is set correctly


Machine Quilting Grip Gloves -Medium	Machine Quilting Grip Gloves -Large	Machine Quilting Grip Gloves-Small

About thread:

As a beginner, it is better to use light thread on light fabric. As cool as it sounds to use dark thread on a light fabric, every stitch will be magnified - and every mistake will look worse. If you want your stitches to show, you could use light thread on a dark fabric. For some reason, thatcombination does not show the mistakes.
A lot of thread for machine quilting comes on a cone. That saves money and time (having to re-thread your machine). If your sewing machine does not have a built in thread stand, you could put the cone in a glass measuring cup, and let it bounce around in there.
Be sure that the thread is coming off of the cone from the top, not un-rolling from the side. (I use this method, and have found that I need to place the measuring cup on the side of my machine, instead of behind it. For some reason the angle that it feeds into the machine makes a difference.)

If you have chosen to machine quilt your project, you need to prepare your machine for the chore at hand. Each machine quilting technique requires a different type of presser foot and machine setting. If you have pin basted your quilt together, you must remove the safety pins as you approach them.

Do not, under any circumstances, attempt to stitch over a safety pin. Not only does stitching over them make them difficult to remove, but it's dangerous! You could easily break your needle, sending a fragment of the needle into your eye.

Tips for preparing your quilt for a machine quilter

Clip threads - you might want to clip the threads on your quilt top and back. Anything left on will be quilted inside your quilt. Plus your quilt top will be placed on a roller or other support device on the quilting machine. You don't want any loose threads to catch on any of the equipment and rip your quilt top.

Backstitch seams that might come apart - generally you wouldn't backstitch any seams on your pieced quilt top. However, you may want to secure those seams for the machine quilter. If the seams come apart, they will be quilted that way - not a pretty picture!

Press your seams well - again, however the quilt top is met up with the batting is how it will be quilted. If your seams are not flat, you may end up with a lumpy quilt. It's a good idea to pres the seam on your backing open instead of to one side - your quilt will be flatter that way.

Backing and batting - many machine quilters provide the batting (at a cost). If you are providing the batting and the backing, be sure they are about 4 inches larger than the quilt top. As with hand quilting, the backing tends to shrink up as the quilt is quilted. Plus the quilting machine needs some extra fabric to secure the quilt as it is quilted. The extra around the side will ensure that the tension is correct, and your quilt top stays

Using straight-line quilting for the beginner

Straight-line quilting is the easiest form of machine quilting. The results are always good, and it's quick, too! Begin by inserting an even-feed presser foot in your machine, as shown in Figure 2. These presser feet are also known as walking feet. If your machine did not come with an even-feed foot, make a trip to the sewing center to get one. Bring your machine's manual with you so the clerk can help you find the right foot for your model. Figure 2: An even-feed foot on the left, compared to a regular foot on the right. An even-feed foot makes machine quilting smoother and pucker-free because it feeds the layers of the quilt through the machine evenly. Without it, the feed dogs (those teeth under the needle) will only feed the bottom layer of fabric through the machine, leaving the batting and top layers open to puckering
because they're not being fed through the machine at the same rate

Practice stitching various shapes, and pay attention to the sound of your needle. The goal is to move your fabric about 1/8 of an inch as your needle goes up and down.

* Make sure that the tension on your sewing machine is set correctly

All of these tips are worth their weight in gold, but the one that made the most difference is wearing those gloveswhile machine quilting.

It's hard to believe that such a simple thing would make such a big difference, but now every time you start to machine quilt, put your gloves on and go to work.

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