Mid/Long-Armers...Have a ??

12 years ago

Need to pick your brains if you use a mid- or long-arm quilt frame...

Mom has hand-pieced a quilt top and is working on borders. She intends to tie the top because she doesn't think it's quite right to machine quilt what has been hand-pieced. (This is her first quilt, so hand quilting isn't an option)

But here's the kicker. Her hand-pieced section only sits on the top of their bed. Father wants a larger dk blue border to hand down the sides. Tying this wide border wouldn't be practical, and she's considering (me) machine quilting the wide border.

So what do you think? Is it possible to tie the center (before or after) and machine quilt the borders? Which should be done first? How would you load it on the frame? Should I load the sandwich like I normally would, then tie the center as I quilt the borders? What are the potential problems?

Help me walk through this please.... Remember I only have a 9" throat and would probably have to unload, rotate and re-load this large quilt to do the borders.

thanks for the help.

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Comments (4)

grammyp
12 years ago
I am going to make a quilted bedspread for my king bed. There is no way I can fit it on my frame, so I am going to make the top, 2 sides, and bottom in 4 pieces, quilt each separately, then sew them together sort of QAYG style. It will involve some hand sewing on the back of the joins, but it should work for hers too. If you do it this way, you won't have to rotate the quilt. Just load the border "sideways" and quilt. I would limit the quilting on the sides so it will blend in more with the top.

If that isn't an option, I have loaded pinned sandwiches on the frame and quilted them. I pinned them to the leaders for the backing as if it were one piece. I just remove the pins from the section I am working on. I don't think loading a tied one would be much different. You would have to rotate to do the sides.

Did I muddy your water enough?

beverly
magothyrivergirl
12 years ago
Beverly - I just posted the same muddy thing on Jennifer's other post :) - that said, it's gotta work!

Jennifer - Can you tack the quilt on the frame in lieu of tying?

The potential problems - very uneven quilting and shifting of the batting when washed and puckers on the back.
I absolutely would not machine quilt the borders without first securing the main part of the quilt. You could baste with soluble thread that will wash out - but I think that is double work.

I would either tie or tack while the entire quilt with borders sewn on is loaded on the frame - or do a Beverly suggested and use the QAYG method to attach the boarders to the tied quilt - alot of hand sewing & you might as well tie the boarders. Just my opinion.

I also have a sampler QAYG completed to the point of borders from a year long class. I hate the QAYG method & want to finish the quilt on my frame.
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jennifer_in_va
Original Author
12 years ago
I think I'm leaning towards adding all the borders to the quilt and then loading it on the frame. I can tie the center section really easily there (no shifting or smoothing necessary) then do the borders, rotating as necessary.

Marsha, I can ask Mom if she wants to see the ties or not... She only knows of using yarn to tie, she may not be thinking of other options. I rather like the idea of just tacking without a true visual like yarn.
grammyp
12 years ago
That sounds the easiest to me, too.

beverly