Digitized Quilting

[Diane O.]

I just finished a quilt for a class on Quilt University using my embroidery module and posted it on my profile.
It was a fun class, and I will be quilting more of my quilts using this method. I'm terrible at doing free motion, and refuse to hand quilt. I hate even having to do binding by hand.

Now I need to start looking for more digitized quilting designs, so I have plenty to choose from, or learn how to digitize my own designs.

Diane in Colorado Springs

[Frances L.]

Diane,
I did that with one of my quilts. It was a bargello that I called Rainforest. I found an embroidery card that had leaf outlines on it and used that to quilt it. I'll try to find the picture of it and put it in my profile.
Frances

[Frances L.]

Lovely quilt! I need to check out Quilt University as I am wanting to do this!

Maggie in E. Central Illinois

[Susan B.]

Diane, your quilting on the embroidery machine is stunning. Which course at Quilt U did you take? If you just finished it, I hope it repeats. Joann Winn has Embroidery on Patchwork beginning on July 17. I'm just finishing her beginning embroidery where she shows alignment techniques.

[Diane O.]

The class is called Digitized Quilting, and it will be held again in October. I was looking at Joannes site, and she has some wonderful feather designs for sale... I'm so tempted to buy some.

Most of the quilting designs I have been able to find, don't lend themselves well to combining, or I just can't see how they would look combined (which is probably more likely since I have a hard time doing that with any design). But I have so many quilt tops that need to be quilted, and this method will make it a lot easier to get nice quilting designs on them. Since I don't have room for a long arm machine, this is the next best way.

Diane in Colorado Springs

[Diane O.]

wonderful quilting, it looks like the class really came up trumps. I will be checking this out in October as it is a great addition to quilting techniques.
best wishes
lynn

[Diane O.]

OOOOPS, meant to ask whether you could use this on a larger quilt, like a bed size one, or would that be too complicated?
Lynn

[Anne B.]

Diane, that quilt is lovely, and the quilting is gorgeous! I need to get an embroidery machine so I can do this, too!

Anne in Vancouver, Canada

[Diane O.]

OOOOPS, meant to ask whether you could use this on a larger quilt, like a bed size one, or would that be too complicated?
Lynn

Lynn,

I asked that same question, because I have a number of quilts that are lap size or larger that I need to get quilted. The teacher said that she hasn't done it on larger quilts, so isn't sure how it would work. She suggested that if you wanted to do a larger quilt to use the quilt as you go method.

The problem I can see with this method on larger quilts is being able to manipulate the quilt to get everything lined up properly before you start to embroider. It was difficult at times to get the small quilt turned just right to get everything lined up, so a larger one would be harder. There would be a lot more fabric to have to deal with. We hooped WSS and stitched out some alignment lines, put thumbtacks at different places, and then lined up the markings on the quilt with those. Trying to move the quilt just a bit, to get everything lined up got more difficult as the quilt was quilted, so a large quilt would take a bit more work.

The way I see it, trying to quilt a large quilt on a home machine (sewing or embroidery) is going to be difficult no matter how you quilt it. You need to be able to support your quilt while you are working on it. Whether you are free motioning a small area, or you are embroidering a small area, the part of the quilt you aren't working on, needs to be kept out of your way, and supported.

If you have a table that is large enough to support your quilt, while you are working on it, I don't know why it couldn't be done. I have never done quilt as you go, and that isn't going to help me get the tops I have already completed quilted, so I still need to quilt finished tops.

I think a lot depends on the quilting designs you want to put on your quilt as well. If you are doing feathers, where there is more than one hooping and have to line everything up, that is going to be more work than taking a few designs, and just placing them in your blocks, but not needing to line them up perfectly.

I'm not good a free motion, so unless I want to stitch in the ditch, or send my quilts out for someone else to quilt, the only way I can get nice quilting designs on my quilts would be to use my embroidery machine. I don't have room for a long arm... I need a bigger house... LOL

Diane

[Diane O.]

Diane, what size hoop were you using? and which embroidery machine do you have?

Maggie in E. Central Illinois

[Diane O.]

Diane, what size hoop were you using? and which embroidery machine do you have?

Maggie in E. Central Illinois

I used my new Brother Quattro, and for the middle triangles I used the 8 x 8 hoop, and the corners I used the large 8 x 12 hoop.

This method can be used with any embroidery machine, but if you have one with smaller hoops, you would need to do a lot more hoopings. I counted the number of hoopings I did, using my hoops, and there were a total of 34 hoopings for the entire quilt. If I had used a machine with a 5 x 7 hoop, it probably would have been close to double that number. I had to hoop it 6 times for each corner.

Diane

[Susan B.]

Diane, how big is this quilt?

Marti Michell's book Machine Quilting in Sections has different ways of approaching quilt-as you go or machine piecing in sections, most of it needing planning before a top is completed, but some if a top needs quilting but the borders are not yet on.

My LQS had a beautiful quilt on display that had been completely quilted by embroidery module, but they did not attempt to align patterns that stretched across one hooping. Ahh, these endless possibilities...give brain burn

[Diane O.]

Diane, how big is this quilt?

The quilt I made for this class is about 30 inches square.

I am working on another quilt top that I had made ages ago, but never quilted. I'm using a design from Antia Goodesign and just repeating it in my blocks. Not as much work to get them aligned perfectly, but still a lot of marking and hooping. It takes more time to hoop the quilt than it does to sew out the quilting design. LOL

As soon as I get the quilting done I will post a picture of this quilt, but it may be awhile. This quilt will fit my King Size bed.... so lots of hoopings. But I think I'm getting it quilted a lot faster this way, than trying to do free motion.

My biggest problem now, is going to be deciding which quilting designs I want to use, and how to combine them on the quilts.

Diane