Yesterday, before and after Yoga class, I was in the sewing room. I decided that I should be able to figure out why my machine wouldn't do the free motion quilting and thread sketching that it was capable of. I started by going back to the beginning,,,
First I set my machine up as though I was going to be piecing a block together. This meant changing the foot, lifting the feed dogs, changing out the thread, and removing my Supreme Slider. I even changed the needle to a different brand entirely. And as you might guess, I was back into sewing nice even stitches and straight lines without any thread shredding, skipped stitches, or broken needles!
First I set my machine up as though I was going to be piecing a block together. This meant changing the foot, lifting the feed dogs, changing out the thread, and removing my Supreme Slider. I even changed the needle to a different brand entirely. And as you might guess, I was back into sewing nice even stitches and straight lines without any thread shredding, skipped stitches, or broken needles!
Then I proceeded to change one thing at a time. In the end I was using a different free motion foot and a different brand of needle. Things looked like they were going to move along as desired. And they did!
I am very unskilled in FMQ. Same is true for my thread painting. I just know that I enjoy the process and that I am making this for myself! I only finished off the center printed block, but I'm happy with it.
My background fills will get better as I invest time into this process. I don't have a stitch regulator on my machine so stitches to the inch is variable, which doesn't bother me at all. And the darning foot that I ended up using was a closed toe and I had been using an open toe previously.
I also noticed that the amount of stitching has drawn the piece up a bit. I was able to press it flat, but I know it will want to 'shrink' back. So, I will be doing a fair amount of stitching on this piece, hand and machine, before I consider it done. This is where I wish I had a machine designated to this work, and another one for piecing. I picked up an old Singer awhile back. It weighs a ton. I need to put it into service and see how it performs. Maybe it can become one of the designated machines.
My favorite section, so far, has to be the tree roots I put into this area.
I am so glad that God has given me the patience to keep trying to figure things out.
I was ready to take the machine in for a check up, when all it needed was a change up!
God has certainly blessed me,
Luann
2 comments:
It's looking great, Luann. I'm not very good at FMQ. I enjoy doing a piece with one pattern, especially a pebbly effect, but haven't been game enough yet to try different patterns on the one piece. However, I have signed up for a workshop with Helen Godden, an internationally acclaimed art quilter who lives in Canberra.
Monica,
Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment lets me know the post was read. When will you be attending your workshop with Helen? Sounds very interesting.
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