Friday, October 13, 2006
Indian Quilt
The first big test for my quilting frame has been completing. After 30 hours, alot of procrastinating and quite a few hiccups, this is DONE!
(Well done in the sense that all the threads need tying off and the edge needs doing, but DONE mostly). It's queen-sized, and has a summer weight batting in it so my parents can use it in summer. The centre panel was a piece of material my mother got in India many years ago, and we added some sheet material (yes I know, cardinal sin) on the edge, and also as the backing.
Some lessons learnt
1) While the Gutterman site says you can use the waxed thread in your machine (and you can) it tends to require a very high tension on the needle, and has the unfortunate habit of making a big knot when you run out of bobbin thread, rather than having the thread just spool out. It is nice and shiny though, so if you want that effect, it's quite good.
2) You should pull the bobbin threads through to the top. Otherwise, they get sewn over and get knotted up etc.
3) Change your needle every 4 hours
4) Wind on a couple of bobbins at a time as you go through thread faster than you would think!
5) If possible, I would cut down the backing and batting ALOT more than I did on this one. The ends of the frame are the only place practical to change threads etc, and it would be much easier to do if there wasn't material in the way when I was doing it.
The frame in itself is excellent, and works as designed very well. No pinning required - although it could be worth putting some weights on the batting for the last 1/2 a meter or so as gravity no longer pulls it flat.
The major frustration I suffered on this was not having a sewing machine to do bits and pieces on while my machine was in the frame. If I was doing ALOT of quilting, I would seriously consider a 2nd machine to stay on the fram permanently.
¶ 5:41 PM
(Well done in the sense that all the threads need tying off and the edge needs doing, but DONE mostly). It's queen-sized, and has a summer weight batting in it so my parents can use it in summer. The centre panel was a piece of material my mother got in India many years ago, and we added some sheet material (yes I know, cardinal sin) on the edge, and also as the backing.
Some lessons learnt
1) While the Gutterman site says you can use the waxed thread in your machine (and you can) it tends to require a very high tension on the needle, and has the unfortunate habit of making a big knot when you run out of bobbin thread, rather than having the thread just spool out. It is nice and shiny though, so if you want that effect, it's quite good.
2) You should pull the bobbin threads through to the top. Otherwise, they get sewn over and get knotted up etc.
3) Change your needle every 4 hours
4) Wind on a couple of bobbins at a time as you go through thread faster than you would think!
5) If possible, I would cut down the backing and batting ALOT more than I did on this one. The ends of the frame are the only place practical to change threads etc, and it would be much easier to do if there wasn't material in the way when I was doing it.
The frame in itself is excellent, and works as designed very well. No pinning required - although it could be worth putting some weights on the batting for the last 1/2 a meter or so as gravity no longer pulls it flat.
The major frustration I suffered on this was not having a sewing machine to do bits and pieces on while my machine was in the frame. If I was doing ALOT of quilting, I would seriously consider a 2nd machine to stay on the fram permanently.
¶ 5:41 PM
