I have at least three quilt tops (UnFinished Objects or UFOs) waiting to be quilted. There are probably more, but I’m afraid to check. I used to think I stalled out at this stage because I hate basting the quilt sandwich together. But now that I’m trying to get my maple leaf quilt finished, I’m realizing it’s actually the quilting that’s the problem.
Machine quilting isn’t all that hard. It just takes practice. Practice is usually done on small projects like baby quilts, or even on dedicated practice pieces. They are great for helping you learn how to “draw on your quilt” with thread, which is how I think of machine quilting.
The only problem with this kind of practice is that it gives you a false sense of what it’s going to be like. Moving a two-foot square quilt around under the needle is easy. Moving a king-sized quilt is another story entirely. Practicing on small pieces only helps with some of the skills you need.
This unfortunate truth has me worried that the quilts I have lying around might never get done. I could hand quilt them but I won’t. It takes too long. Now that I remember what it’s like, I’m not sure I want to quilt big quilts on my domestic sewing machine, either.
As I result, I’ve been researching quilt-as-you-go (QAYG) techniques which could make things easier. QAYG can be exactly what it sounds like. Some people actually assemble their blocks on top of batting and backing so that the quilt is quilted as it’s pieced. Or you can make your blocks, quilt them, then sew the quilt together.
I’m more interested in this second method because my tops are already assembled. I might even take them apart again so I can quilt them in smaller sections.
I have made one QAYG baby quilt so far and was okay with the results. The sashing on front and back required a lot of hand-stitching, but I don’t mind that at all. Hand-quilting is hard but stitching down binding strips is a task I love, which is fortunate. All the QAYG methods I like require hand-stitching at some point.
It’s clear that, if I want to keep making big quilts, something has to change. I’m not willing to hire someone to quilt them for me, so I will have to find a way to do the job myself. Fortunately, other clever quilters have already figured out ways around the problem I am facing. Now all I have to do is decide which of the many variations of quilt-as-you-go I want to use and get to work.
What do you do when you get stuck on a specific stage of a creative process?
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