This is for the gals over on the QNM2 list!!!
We had to bring:
our machine, attachments supplies/tools, presser foot & cords, YLI nylon thread, spool of quilting thread, quilting needles, extra bobbins, off-white sewing thread as well as our walking foot, darning foot, patchwork foot (if you have them... they had them on hand if you didn't have them.)
There were four people in the class, with two to a table, sitting across from another.
click to enlarge
First thing we did was pick 9 squares. Funny, it is *soooo* like me to have to pick "proper & coordinating" squares, whereas the other three ladies just picked random ones. We assembled these squares into a 9 patch block using the regular sewing thread. It was nice because the teacher did the pressing for us for each row, then the block! Wonder if she's for hire? LOL I used a *1/4" foot with Guide* (aka Patchwork Foot)... that was really nice!!!! My machine came with a "regular 1/4 foot" but I knew I wanted to try out the one with the guide (supplied by the store) which I did. I loved it so much I ended up buying it! Click here and here for details on this foot and the regular one w/out the guide.
They had backing fabric and batting squares already cut for us. We used basting spray to adhere our layers together. That was the first time I used that. Nifty stuff! (Need to get a can.) I see the ease of it on small projects. The teacher did briefly go over basic basting techniques for larger items and how one only moves a "rolled" large quilt forward and backwards on a home sewing machine (as opposed to turning it) -- long arm quilting was not discussed.
Then we changed to our quilting needle & quilting thread.
Using the walking foot, we sewed a "frame" 1/4" into the center patch.
Next came sampling some of our symmetrical decorative stitches, only the ones that went front & back, not our side-motion stitches (they don't get along with the walking foot!) on the horizontal seams. That was pretty neat. Definitely opened my eyes to use decorative stitching on "regular quilted items" and not just "Crazy Quilted items."
We then all tried the auto-stippling stitch. (Bottom left patch) I'd already tried that out on my machine, and wasn’t all that impressed with it. Perhaps on the "right project" but for the most part, I'd probably only use it as a decorative stitch (would make a nice framing inside a block or something, for instance)
Changing to the free motion (aka Darning) foot, we tried our hand at meandering, then stippling, then writing our name-- top left patch. LOL
That's when the teacher explained the differences between meandering & stippling. I did see the "perk" of a Stitch Regulator as well. The lady at my table across from me, I think it was a Bernina she had. She had hers attached and set to "SR2" setting, the start/stop motion along with the regulated stitch was really nice. No, LOL, it doesn't make me wish for a different machine, just a nice feature SHE had.
The teacher recommended LOTS of practice for free-motion work. I, personally, feel I'm starting to get the hang of it, but not yet ready to try my hand on a PROJECT... yet. LOL
We changed back to regular needles and put invisible thread in for the top thread. Then we used the "faux hand-stitching" stitch setting to see that in action. I worked this in the center patch. If memory serves, my auto-top-tension setting for that stitch automatically goes to 4.0 (I think, I'd have to look)... but to get the super thing invisible thread to work strong enough to pull the off-white bobbin thread up to the top (to resemble hand-stitched quilting) I had to move it all the way up to 8.0. That was really interesting. You might be able to see the column of vertical stitching in that center patch. The left-most one was "as is, with auto tension.... and I manually increased the top tension on each new column. The far-right one was about an 8.0, maybe a tad higher.) Offhand I can't say that I'd use that stitch with invisible thread (to achieve the actual desired result) but maybe something will come up in the future. I have used it a bit on the Valentine Table Runner I made, just for a basic quilting of the snowballs.
Then, we put on an edge joining foot. We used it for applying binding to one of the block edges. That was a good foot too (nice center line guide) which has a lot of uses other than just putting binding on, one of which the teacher mentioned was it was good for Stitching in the Ditch. I didn't buy that foot (yet) since I bought the other one, but it's on my "list." LOL
Anyway, in putting on the binding, we used Ready Bias which they supplied. We sewed in on as usual, then used the edge joiner as our guide to wrap it over. We used the stitch that resembles a blanket stitch. Because of the stitch of most machines (mine included) we had to program it to MIRROR the stitch though, thus making it go down on the left and nick over to the right. We used the invisible thread on this so the nick-over that catch the binding didn't show. And because we used coordinating/matching bobbin thread to the backing fabric, the backing straight stitch just rather blended in. As you can see in the photo I didn't get the binding all the way on!
The teacher showed us the BLENDABLE THREAD which I'd seen used in some free motion work on some blogs. We didn't use any though.
I think that about covers it. I think the hardest thing about this class was trying to work within each patch instead of a larger area (even 1 full row or column at a time would have been better.) I didn't get anything done in the center-right patch. LOL At home, I practice on bigger areas. But since she wanted us to be able to take our sampler home and look at it and kinda "click into the class" when we go to try something, she wanted things to be sorta separated. It was a really good class! I'm glad I went and look forward to other classes.
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Posted by Anonymous 
Neat quilting!