Quilting crisis
I was doing the quilting on my sewing machine cover over the weekend, when I ran into an issue.
I wanted to do matchstick quilting - super dense, straight lines - in the same colours as the solids I used.
I was pottering away, thinking I was going quite nicely when I noticed the the material was being pulled into weird angles.
All my piecing, now looks a bit wonky and lame.
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| I know it looks like a bad photo, but this is the result of the quilting |
I'm really disappointed because it looked super cute before I started. Not so disappointed that I was going to go back to fix it though. I am crossing my fingers that if I wash it it will blend back in... Unlikely, but I have to hope.
I have 3 different colours of thread (pink, blue and purple), randomly spread and the quilting is randomly spaced. I tried to keep my lines straight, but they have wandered off in various places.
I've put the binding in the front and have the back all pinned.
I just need to add my side ties and this project is all finished. I was going to do super skinny bias pieces, but now I'm thinking I might just buy some ribbon instead. Try and keep it simple for myself. Also I like the satiny texture! :-)
My question for you guys is - Does this happen to you too? And how do you prevent it? I spray basted as normal and I haven't ever had to pin AND spray beofre. Could it be that the heat is stopping the spray from being as effective? Or is the smaller size more tricky to hold in shape? the only alternative I can think of is to quilt the horizontal lines as well, but this would have the same issue of pulling the vertival's out of whack. Besides! I've seen other people do this type of quilting without issue...
So what do you think? What is the cause of my quilting conundrum?
My question for you guys is - Does this happen to you too? And how do you prevent it? I spray basted as normal and I haven't ever had to pin AND spray beofre. Could it be that the heat is stopping the spray from being as effective? Or is the smaller size more tricky to hold in shape? the only alternative I can think of is to quilt the horizontal lines as well, but this would have the same issue of pulling the vertival's out of whack. Besides! I've seen other people do this type of quilting without issue...
So what do you think? What is the cause of my quilting conundrum?
PS. Check out my helper :-) He sat under my table, right at my feet, for most of my sewing time. I would have thought it would be noisy with the machine going right above him, but he didn't seem to mind. It did get a little tricky when I needed to use the foot peddle...
Yes! This absolutely used to happen to me too. I was sooo mad about it mushing up my lovely piecing. I did some research and found that it might be due to a presser foot that is too 'tight'. On some machines there is a presser foot "pressure" lever or button and you can lighten its pressure - if you are so lucky to have this feature, try this. My machine does not have this feature and I solved my problems by going from pins to spray baste. The only time I have troubles now is if I use heavier materials (like fleece backing) or spray to lightly with my baste. Maybe you used a heavier or thicker backing fabric? Good luck, Erin - I hope you can find a solution that works for you!!!
ReplyDeleteI have not heard of this pressure foot thingy. I'll have to look into it. I know my machine does not like sewing fleece, so maybe that's it.
DeleteThanks for your tips, Lisa!
E xx
This has happened to me, too! I don't have a solution though, other than I think I've gotten better at spray basting over time? It's definitely caused by the fabric shifting. I will sometimes also hold the fabric taut as I feed it through. I wish I had more sound advice for you. :(
ReplyDeleteIt's just a pain in the patootie!!! And I've always been a spray baster, so I don't know what I did wrong!
DeleteAt least it's still pretty :-)
E xx
Oh what a shame you are so diappointed after all your hard work. It does still look lovely though. I don't have much advice apart from that I've read that you can use masking tape to help guide you and stitch straight lines, if that's what you want... I am sure once your finished though and you've added the finishing touches it will still look lovely. x
ReplyDeleteI'm not so stressed about my less than straight quilting (if I ironed my seams better I'd have less of a problem) but about the wonkiness it's caused across the peicing. I'm going to have to attack this challenge to find a solution for the furture :-)
ReplyDeleteE xx
I've had this problem also and have been checking back here to see the suggested solutions. The pressure foot thing is a good idea. I've even wondered if somehow my walking foot was broken. I've basted both with spray and pins, though. One quilt in particular gave me a really hard time. In fact it almost scared me off of quilting large pieces. But I think I'm over the trauma now. :-)
ReplyDeleteDid you use a walking foot on your machine? This foot keeps allow the fabric to feed without shifting. I know that you posted this a while back.
ReplyDeleteHi all,
ReplyDeleteI've noticed that if I quilt all my lines in the same direction then the wonkiness doesn't happen. Or rather all the lines shift the fabric the same amount in the same direction so it doesn't show. The annoying wavyness happens in you go in opposite directions. It means more stopping and starting because you have to cut the thread at the end of each line and restart again at the other end, but - no wonkiness.
Might work for you :)