Is it Just Me?

Is it just me?   I love to sew and make quilt tops, but I can't afford to take them to a quilter to have them quilted.  Don't get me wrong, I love machine quilted quilts, but with a limited budget, I have had to learn how to do it myself.  Let me walk you through the basics.  

• Iron the front and the back with a hot iron.  I use steam.

•  Now is the time to mark the quilt top.  This is going to be a napping quilt and I am not going to do anything fancy.  I will use the angles that are there to help me find a simple design.

•   Pick a batting.  If doing it by machine, use a cotton batting.  If doing it by hand, use polyester.  I buy    batting when it is 50% off.  I usually buy a Queen or King size.  I can use it on several quilts.

• This quilt is a 50 x 80.  I bought 5 yards of fabric and cut it at 2 - 1/2 yards.  Then I sewed them together and cut off the excess.  I will use it for the binding.  For this size quilt I lay the back, right side down, on the floor and tape the long sides to the floor.  I use masking tape.  If it will fit on my table, I like to tape it to the table.  If it is bigger, well, that is another post.

•  Then I put on the batting and trim off  the excess.  I roll up what is left and put it back in the bag.  I know I will be able to use it up.

•  Then put the quilt top on, right side up and tape the short sides to the batting and the floor.  Try to pull it so there are no wrinkles.  This may not be the best picture.

•  Then sit on the floor and gently lift it up and baste the  outer edge.  When working on the long edge, just lift up the tape and baste and then push it back down.

• For this size quilt I use this quilt frame.  If you choose to use a hoop, the quilt will need to be pinned with safety pins about every 10 inches.  
• I have a friend who uses a 10 inch hoop and quilts beautiful, queen size quilts.  Just choose something that works for you.

•  Picking a good thread will save you many a head ache.  I love Gutermann quilting thread.  This is hand quilting thread, but their machine quilting thread is great for hand quilting too.

• I guess I better start quilting.  I will post the finished project in the future.