The Quilt Skipper

quilting makes me skip for joy

Jenny K Lyon

Quilting makes me skip for joy

Don’t worry about these three things in your free motion quilting!

 

I’ve been getting great feedback on my book, which warms my heart. Also, I am delighted to receive notes from all over the country letting me know about “21 Days of Plactice” groups forming spontaneously . How cool is that? If you’re not familiar with my book, I provide a 21-day plan to move your free motion quilting from ordinary to extraordinary. I want my reader to discover fun ways to up their game so I call that “plactice”, making practice playful.

As I hear from my readers, I notice some comments that I want to address as an encouragement. If you’re a newer free motion quilter, I want to help you focus on the big stuff and not sweat the details. I want free motion quilting to be fun! Here are my top 3 suggestions for you:

  1. Do not worry about stitch length, for now. Yes, if you are going for the top prize at Houston, stitch length matters. As a newer free motion quilter, you really do not want to focus on stitch length – you’re still trying to figure the whole free motion quilting thing out! Once you get to the point where you are relaxed and confident, all of a sudden your stitch length will settle into a consistent length.
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    This is from my quilt-from-the-back sample from my book, “Jane’s Garden“. Is my stitch length even? No! Does it ruin the look of the quilt? No! Festering over such things can rob your joy so please, let it go for now!
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  2. Don’t worry about hitting your line exactly on patterns that require you to quilt over a line more than once:

    Lookie here, I really did not hit my line on the second (or third) pass! This is the border of “Emerge” and I am not at all concerned about hitting that line exactly on the second pass.
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    Here we go again, a detail shot of “Back Story”. I missed my line on the second pass all over on this piece. I love it!
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  3. Don’t think you need to keep your machine at the same speed. There is a notion that your machine speed should remain constant while free motion quilting. Not true! Although I don’t want wild fluctuations in speed, I slow down or stop if I’m not clear on what I want to do. If I am doing an all-over design that is familiar, I will quilt much faster than if I were quilting a complex design.
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    The right machine speed is important. You want to listen to your machine and when you find the speed at which you’re most comfortable, take note of that sound and try to stay close to that speed for that type of quilting. If you switch to a part of your project that you are confident in quilting, your speed will be faster.
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    The notion that you will quilt at the same speed for all your quilting is false – your speed should vary depending on how comfortable you are in your quilting. For sure petal-to-the-metal is not the best speed! I don’t know where that idea came from but it’s like driving 50 mph on a hair pin turn on ice.
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    You need to find that speed at which you are comfortable and feel in control. Quilt too slowly and you’ll find yourself making long, ugly, pixelated stitches and you don’t want that either. Take the time to find that perfect-for-you speed.
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    One more thing about machine speed. I suggest you put your speed slider button (top arrow), all the way over to fast. Learn to control your speed from the foot petal, not by limiting the top speed. You want to learn to control the whole range of speed on your machine.
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    Also, see the lighted green button? Most of you have a start/stop button on your machine. If you want to use it, set the speed you want on the slider, then push that start button. The machine will now chug along at an even speed without using your foot control. Sounds good in theory, but the reality is that you will be quilting along and eventually reach a spot where you need to think. Your machine will keep chugging along as you try to decide what to do and some less-than-beautiful stitching will happen as a result. It’s just not a good idea for newer free motion quilters.

For those of you newer to free motion quilting, my best advice is make it fun! My motto is always, “Onward”. Keep going  and make it fun, because every day you quilt you get a little better.

 

Comments

  2. Thanks Jenny for sharing all your knowledge and hints. You are so generous and dedicated to your followers!!!

  3. As always, Jenny, you are a quilting Ninja! I love your VERY supportive and enabling directions and tips. You always leave me feeling that I can do it…with practice and perseveration! Just to prove to myself that I am improving, I keep all of my practice pieces to look back on. Wow!

  4. Thank you for this post, Jenny! I have been plactising on quilting with rulers and all these issues have been on my mind. I am taking my smaller machine to a retreat this weekend. I have a new walking foot and a new fmq foot so I was going to do some plactising with that machine.

    • Well just have fun with it at retreat! A new walking foot AND new fmq foot – all that could make a big difference. THank you for reading!

  5. These are great pointers, Jenny. In fact, every new quilter should have these posted in his or her sewing room! We are so much harder on ourselves when we are learning than we ever would be when we’re looking at someone else’s quilting! Keep on spreading the Quilty Joy!

  7. #1 and #2 are quite a relief! Speed control is another matter. I almost think I need to learn what sound my Featherweight is currently making and adjust hands to it rather than the ideal adjust foot speed. The pedal just isn’t very sensitive.

    • What a great point Claire! I will adjust my teaching to reflect this. YOu’re right, some foot pedals are too responsive and it would be easier to adjust your hands. Point well taken and thank you for commenting!

  9. I am a Jenny Lyon fan. Loved your program on The Quilt Show. Just purchased your book and am doing your 21 day fmg program. Thanks for the 3 tips. Answered some the questions that I had.

    • Awww, thank you Phyllis! I am thrilled that it answered some of your questions. You can always write if you have questions.

  11. I saw you at Houston and was drawn in first by your work, then by your lovely encouragement that I too can FM quilt. You bring such joy to the quilting community. I’m loving your book which is full of valuable info, as is your blog. Thank you for the input you give your followers. I got a lot from this post.

    • Hi Robin, I am happy that you found some good information from my post and book. I so want quilters to know that this IS something you can do and enjoy. Thank you for your kind comments.