Machine Quilting Border

[Jo H.]

I quilted the center of my HST quilt today. It was harder than I anticipated quilting through all those seams. I sure appreciate all of you that are really good at machine quilting because it is something that I really want to be good at but am not. I decided that if I were to ever remotely get comfortable though I would have to stop worrying about ruining a piece and just do it.

Now, I need your advice. Where do I begin when starting to quilting the border. Do I start in the center of the border and work to one end? That seems logical to me but truly I haven't a clue and really dont want to mess up and have to unpick free motion stitches. I did that earlier when I first started and it is a pain.

Thanks in advance for your help. I'm going to go handquilt for a while now to give my shoulders a break.

[Margo C.]

JoJo, what kind of a design are you planning for your borders? Will it be all free-motion? Will it be straight lines with a walking foot? Will you pre-mark your design or just make it up as you go? Will you be adding background "fillers" or not?

[Jo H.]

Good morning Margo. Yes, it will be all free motion and no walking foot. I wasn't going to premark the design but was going to mark off even sections so I was consistent with a design (haven't decided on the design yet). I didn't have enough of my border fabric to cut on the straight of grain and the border did grow a little bit so I'm hoping to keep that area from getting any bigger.

[Margo C.]

If you are going to do free-motion work, I don't think it really matters where you start! Just be aware that you will probably want your corners to be similar, and the mid-point of each border to be similar, and your registration lines will help with that. Other than that....just try to keep the density of quilting even, and have fun!

Can't wait to see what you decide to do!