Another quilting lesson learned
What should have been an easy quilting job turned into a very difficult one. After discussing it with the customer it was decided that an edge to edge design would be good. I have a kind of elegant pantograph that seemed to be perfect. As I began, I noticed there was a bit of drag, but I thought it wouldn't be a problem once I got past the border which is kind of a thick velvety texture.
Even though my Millennium has the new bliss drive system which makes it so easy to control, it was not easy to keep my lines smooth. I am used to working from the front of the machine, so I continued to quilt thinking it was just a matter of getting used to being behind the machine. After finishing the first row of the design, I went around to check it out. I could see that this was not the look I was after! The fabrics are not your typical quilting cottons. I would describe them as more like lightweight upholstery/decorator fabrics and because of the added bulk there was some places where the top appeared to be "pushed" one direction or another depending on which direction I was stitching. So began the tedious job of un-stitching everything! What took me about 5 minutes to stitch took me about 3+hours to unstitch. It was even more tedious because the stitches had almost disappeared into this puffy quilt. Perhaps this would have worked if I had changed the height of my hopping foot, but I always work with thinner batts so I didn't want to change it only to have to change it back again. Moving back to the front of the machine was my solution. I have so much more control when I'm on that side. It was a good lesson learned and I know this will be a warm quilt that will be loved for years to come.
Even though my Millennium has the new bliss drive system which makes it so easy to control, it was not easy to keep my lines smooth. I am used to working from the front of the machine, so I continued to quilt thinking it was just a matter of getting used to being behind the machine. After finishing the first row of the design, I went around to check it out. I could see that this was not the look I was after! The fabrics are not your typical quilting cottons. I would describe them as more like lightweight upholstery/decorator fabrics and because of the added bulk there was some places where the top appeared to be "pushed" one direction or another depending on which direction I was stitching. So began the tedious job of un-stitching everything! What took me about 5 minutes to stitch took me about 3+hours to unstitch. It was even more tedious because the stitches had almost disappeared into this puffy quilt. Perhaps this would have worked if I had changed the height of my hopping foot, but I always work with thinner batts so I didn't want to change it only to have to change it back again. Moving back to the front of the machine was my solution. I have so much more control when I'm on that side. It was a good lesson learned and I know this will be a warm quilt that will be loved for years to come.
Here we have a prime example of why I don't ever want to quilt for other people! : )
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