Quilting Journey

[isew4kidz]

As many of you know, I am making a king size quilt for my sister. I have quilted many quilts over the years and never had any problems with any of them, but this is my first time to do a quilt this large. Now mind you, the other quilts I quilted were just stitched in the ditch, I've never done FMQ.

This is my experience with my sister's quilt. I did not have any problems making the quilt top. The problems started when I sandwiched the quilt together and began stitching in the ditch. I have always started in the center of the quilt and worked my way to the outside. This time I started on the outside and tried to work to the center. Both times, I had big puckers on the back. So, I ripped it all out and unpinned the quilt, then repined it thinking I had just not got the back tight enough. The third attempt, I started in the center and began working my way to the outside of the quilt. Everything was so smooth and going so well till the end. I only had the outside borders left to ditch and was so excited that I would soon be done with the quilt. I didn't have enough safety pins to pin the whole quilt so I pinned a section, ditched it, then pinned the next section. Well, when I took the quilt off the machine to pin the borders around the outside edges, the border on the left side of the quilt was wrinkled and no matter which way I pulled it, I could not get it straight, it was just all twisted. On the right side of the quilt, the lower right corner (the border on the right and bottom of the quilt) there was 2 inches of the quilt top and batting that had no backing under it, which is strange because I had a good 12 inches of backing and batting on all 4 edges of the quilt when I started. I ripped the outside borders off the quilt top and tomorrow I plan to stitch the outside edges of the quilt sandwich down, then trim the backing and batting even with the quilt top. Then, I will see if I can attach the outer borders with new backing and batting.

I have never had this happen before. I am thinking it is because the other quilts I did, I pieced the backing out of 44 inch wide fabric, but this quilt I used Moda Marbles 108 inch wide backing. I am wondering if the backing didn't cause my problems since that is the only thing that was different from the other quilts, that and this quilt is much bigger.

Would like to know if anyone else has had this problem. Would also love to hear any suggestions on what could've caused this and what can be done to fix it. I mean, I plan to do what I have stated above because it's the only thing I can think of, but one of you may know of something else I can do to fix it. I am just at a loss and so frustrated. I have spent a lot of time and money on this quilt so I have to stay with it till it's done.

Jeanette

[Kgrammiecaz]

I hear your frustration. It is one of the reasons I use spray basting. Pinnung just does not work for me.

What I do once it is sandwiched is do a long walking foot stiched around the entire outside edge and then a secon line all around my my outside border. That way I cannot accidently pull it in anywhere. Then I ditch a line down the center length and center width. All else I just go from there. It seems to keep things alogned a bit better.

I am sure there will be some much more experienced quilters who can give us some better ideas as well

[SiobhanF]

What kind of batting are you using? If it's a lofty batting, it could be a contributor to your migration and puckering issues...
If I'd gotten to the end and discovered migration, I might consider piecing my backing in a creative way... Anything to avoid ripping out again...

[bubba]

I think it also has something to do with the size of the quilt. Last year, my oldest grandsons gave me fits - was at least a queen size, but the four twins I did were a breeze. Good luck!

[Quiltngolfer]

That is why I use spray basting too. It keeps the layers together all over. I do start in the center and go out to edge. Next I go back to the center and go out to the edge making a quadrant, back to center and go out again working my way around the quilt. I smooth each time really good before I start quilting. Spray basting this way results in nice smooth quilts for me. When I used pins, I had more trouble with wrinkled backs. The worst part is going out to the garage and putting up the two tables so I can spray out there. I would not want to spray that stuff in my house.

[Bubby]

I don't machine quilt, but I bought a machine quilting class from Craftsy the teacher said to first ditch all the long straight lines...borders, etc., and then go from there. She also used spray basting.

[isew4kidz]

Thanks everyone! I spray basted and pinned. The spray basting didn't seem to hold very well so I pinned too. The first two attempts I did try to stitch the outside edges first, but got big puckers, so decided to work from the center out like I've always done before. I did also use a walking foot.

I have 3 more big quilt tops done that need to be sandwiched, quilted and bound. I think I will try something different with these.

Edited to say that I don't know what kind of batting I used. I bought it in a bag at the fabric store. The bag doesn't give any indication as to what type it is, it only said that it fits a king size quilt, and to quilt it every 2 to 4 inches. It is what I've always used. I didn't realize that there was more than one type of batting until recently. I have only seen the bag batting. If I had to guess, I would say it is polyester batting because that is what it feels like.

Jeanette

[easyquilts]

I don't machine quilt, but I bought a machine quilting class from Craftsy the teacher said to first ditch all the long straight lines...borders, etc., and then go from there. She also used spray basting.

That's kind of what I do most if the time.... I spray baste, quilt the grid, then go from there.

The worst thing for me, is if I am Just cruising along, then discovering that a portion of the backing has gotten folded under the border, and has been quilted that way.... Ripping out quilting stitches can be a real pain...