Secrets of Quilting
Or, the Mistakes I’ve Made
By Ed Anderson
Background We retired in late 2005, and I returned to my 30 year love of lapidary and silversmithing, while my wife perused her life long hobby of quilting and sewing. My wife’s projects were selling very well at the bazaars we attended as vendors, while my jewelry just sat there, collecting nice comments, and a considerable amount of dust. A week before Christmas 2005, my wife received an order for an over sized twin quilt that the man wanted to give his wife for Christmas. She informed me that she needed help piecing the quilt together, and quilting it. So I went in and started sewing the pieces together. In a short time I fell in love with quilting, and sewing, and began my life as a quilter.
We purchased an “Insprion” quilting frame (that was 10 feet wide) and a Pfaff 1200 Quilting machine, and began my long road to learning to be a quilter.
If you have the finances to acquire a medium or long arm quilting machine, I am jealous, and you need to look else where for quilting information. Try www.howtoquilt.com .
First Mistake was using the Pfaff for quilting. It will sew with the presser foot in the up position, leaving long loops of thread on the bottom of the quilted piece. This required long hours of painfully removing stitches from the quilted piece. The next machine we purchased was a Viking Grand Quilter. The same machine as the Pfaff, but it does not allow you to sew with the presser foot in the up position.
Needle Thread Breaking Several innovations were progressed through in getting the thread to not break while sewing. These are the steps we take now:
1. We use only Klasse Sewing Machine Needles. Check your quilt or sewing shops to see who carries Klasse Needles.
2. We change the needle every 8 hours of use.
3. We lubricate the sewing machine every 8 hours of use.
4. We clean the machine every 40 hours of use.
5. We vacuum the fuzz out of the machine instead of blowing it into the machine.
6. We apply “Sew Ease” to the Spool Thread before starting each project. “Sew Ease” is a commercial thread lubricant that is available at most fine quilt shops.
7. We test each thread setup on scrap material for the correct tension settings, (more on this later).
We have learned to maintain our own sewing machines. We went through a session of taking our machine into the shop where we purchased it. However, it was not a joyful experience. The store where we purchased our machine was 20 miles away and at one time, we took it in six times in two weeks. If you need to take your machine into have it serviced, I recommend you find an independent service man that you can trust and stick with him. A properly maintained machine is an absolute must to good quilting/sewing experience.
We did 20 quilts the first year after we got started, both our own, and quilts for other people. Keep a photographic record of your work and the work you do for others. If you want to make some money at this, we suggest you keep your price reasonable, (less that 2 cents per square inch). We use only pre-made binding, as it saves us much time from having to make our own.
When we started to quilt, we went to Wal-Mart, purchased material at $1.00 per yard, and used that to practice quilting on and we used the cheapest batting we could find. When we were through practicing the quilting we took what we had quilted and made Carry Bags for our quilts we take to shows, (approximately 24” square with Velcro closures).
We went through a period of using “Warm and Natural” batting, (nice stuff, but pricey at $10.00 per yard. Then we were turned onto “Hobbs Heirloom Batting” (www.hobbsbondedfibers.com). We order it four rolls at a time and sell it to our customers at $5.00 per yard for 96” wide batting. They have several products that they offer.
For the first two years, we watched Alex Anderson’s “Simply Quilts” on HGTV every morning to learn quilting secrets. Though the program is no longer on HGTV, you can still find it on the web by doing a search for “simply quilts”. In addition, we purchased Some of Alex Anderson’s books, to learn more. In addition, there are several sewing and quilting shows on PBS stations. (Around here they are on Saturday morning, but check your local listing for times near you.)
I have been amazed at how many long time sewers do not understand the tension adjustment on their sewing machines, so I offer this information in an attempt to help.
To prevent puckering, and to prevent a number of other problems that get in the way of good sewing, it is essential that you make the tension of the upper and lower threads equal.
To get an indication of the balance or imbalance in the tension of your upper and lower threads, try sewing with a spare or “practice” piece of material.
To change the tension of the upper thread, first raise the presser foot, and then turn the thread tension dial. (Note: The zigzag stitch takes less upper tension than the straight stitch.) The higher the number on the dial, the greater the tension, and vice-versa.
Always Lift the Presser Foot Lever when threading your machine. This releases the upper thread tension so you do not have to tug hard on the thread. Moreover, the thread tension will be properly set once the presser foot lever is returned to the down position.
If you are going to place labels on your products stay away from the ink jet printed cloth. Have a rubber stamp made and use it with indelible ink. The ink in the printer will wash out of the label. Place the stamped information on muslin or a lightweight canvas, and sew it on with “invisible thread”. (You never know who will purchase the quilt and whether they will want the label removed.
Quilt shops. In the area we live in, there are Quilt Shop Hops a couple of times a year. It is an absolute must to go on at least one of these adventures. A good GPS is invaluable in finding the shops. If your area has a listing of all the quilt shops and their locations (addresses) make sure you keep that document. It seems like almost every quilt shop specializes in one thing or another, and it helps to be familiar with them. When you travel, always make time to look up and visit the quilt shops in the area you are visiting. You never know what you will find; you will get to see many places you would normally not see, and meet people you normally would not meet. One lady we met at a quilt shop asked us to put some of our items in her shop for sale, and we did, and they sold so now we get to see her more often, and take more stuff to her to put into her shop.
Quilt magazines and books. There are hundreds of quilt magazines. Narrow it down to a basic few that offer you pertinent information. Two that I recommend are Mark Lipinski’s Quilter’s Home, a man’s quilting magazine, and McCall’s Quilting. Both are excellent sources of information. Watch used bookstores and antique shops for material and old quilting books and magazines.
Quilting Guilds are an excellent source of information, and a way to meet people with a common interest. One word of caution, some guilds guard their secrets very closely. If this is the type of guild you find yourself in, my recommendation would be to steer clear. You don’t need the problems that come with this type of guild. Other guilds stumble all over themselves to help new or inexperienced quitters learn their craft.
Internet Also use the internet to find information. Here are some of my favorites;
Quilt Sizes And Bed Sizes In a recent conversation I had with a relative who works in a sewing machine store, she made the comment that I could not make a king size quilt on my quilting frame (that is 10 feet wide, or 120 inches). I replied that that was not necessarily so. It all depends on the bed size and the mattress thickness, and who far the quilt was to hang over the edge of the bed.. I then explained that there are at least three different sizes of KING SIZE BEDS. There is the normal King (76” x 80”), the California King(72” x 84”), and the shorter Motor-home King. Please see complete list below, then start adding for hang over to get the size of your quilt. As shown below even the experts are in disagreement.
Waterbed Mattress Sizes & Conventional Mattress Sizes
Super Single Waterbed - 48" X 84"
Cot - 31" x 74"
Twin - 39" x 75"
Hospital Twin - 30" x 80"
Queen Waterbed - 60" X 84"
XLTwin - 39" x 80"
Hospital XXLTwin - 30" x 84"
XX-Long Twin - 39" x 84"
King Waterbed - 72" X 84"
Three Quarter - 48" x 75"
Rice & Antique Bed - 48" x 75"
Full Sofa Bed - 54" x 72"
Full - 54" x 75"
XLFull - 54" x 80"
XX-Long Full - 54" x 84"
Queen Sofa Bed - 60" x 74"
Queen - 60" x 80"
Olympic Queen - 66" x 80"
X-Long Queen - 60" x 84"
Eastern King - 76" x 80"
King -
78" x 80"
California King - 72" x 84"
Western King - 72" x 84"
7 Foot Round - 84"
8 Foot Round - 96"
Standard quilt sizes:
Donna Poster
from her
Stars Galore book
Crib 50 x 53" Twin 75" x 98" Double 83 x 106" Queen 90 x 106" King 107 x 108"
Hargrave & Craig
from their
Art of Classic Quiltmaking book
1st sizes - based on commercial comforter sizes
2nd sizes - bedspread sizes with longer drop
Twin 65" x 88"/ 81" x 107" Double 80" x 88"/ 96" x 107" Queen 86" x 93"/102" x 112" King 104" x 93"/ 120" x 112"
Quilters Newsletter Yardage Card
T-Shirt Quilts
The trouble with making a T-Shirt Quilt is the stabilizing of the material. If you do not stabilize it, the material will travel and shift during the sewing and quilting process. The solution is simple and old. Cut your material larger than the finished squares. Saturate the material in a 50/50 starch and water mixture and lay them out to dry. Once they are dry, steam iron them to remove the wrinkles, and then cut to the proper size. Assemble the blocks into your top, quilt, bind, and wash the starch out in the washer. The finished project will amaze you.