I want to teach you the free motion quilting skills and designs needed to quilt your own quilts on your domestic machine.  Many quilters find themselves frozen in fear when it comes to the quilting stage of their projects, so I will help get you past this fear with skills and designs that will give you the confidence you need to start.  

In this class I will bring many samples, so you can see a large variety of quilting designs and show you how they can be incorporated into quilting designs for your own quilts.  We will be sketching many designs, so you will have them handy for your future creations.  

We will also cover the tools that will make this stage of your quilt successful; machine options and set up, machine feet, needles, threads, battings and other tools.

Supplies:

2 practice sandwich approximately 22 inches square (cotton fabric for top and bottom with a cotton or cotton blend batting.  I would recommend that the fabrics NOT be a solid fabric like a muslin.  It is best of there be a light or small design on the fabrics – I will explain why in class.

 Pin baste with just 3 or 4 pins, no need to overdo it.

AND 1 fabric and batting square the is solid white on one layer.

Your machine in good working order.  If you have not used your machine in a while, it’s probably time for a tune up before class.  It is very important that you are using the machine that you plan to do your future free motions quilting with – not a “class” machine, but your REAL machine.

Spiral bound sketch pad – at least 8x10 for sketching designs – this is very important – this is NOT a few sheets of paper and is not a small steno pad 😊 – a sketch pad with approximately 30-50 sheets of paper.

All the feet that came with your machine AND a “darning” or “Free motions quilting” foot that fits your machine.  Not all feet fit all machines so be sure to check with your sewing machine dealer that knows your brand of machine to make sure you have the proper foot.

Thread – for this class it really doesn’t matter what thread.  Part of the class will be learning about what threads to use for machine quilting so for this little practice session, any thread that works in your machine will be good.

A size 80 or 90 Top Stitch needle.  I find that this needle is the most cooperative when it comes to any kind of thread.  I want this process to be easy that this needle helps make it so.

Some sort of extension table for your machine.  If you don’t have an acrylic table made for your machine, this would be the time when you want to consider purchasing one.  Keep in mind that the acrylic tables are specific for each machine so be sure to contact your machine shop in advance of the class to get yours ordered. If you do not have an acrylic table or if at home your machine is set up in a dropdown table, I would recommend that you bring coffee table size books that when stacked equal the height of your sewing machine base.  So that the books will create an extended surface for your machine.

Quilting gloves, I would prefer the” Machingers”, in a size that fits very nicely – we don’t want them to be too big 

Pen or pencil for notes a drawing.  I would recommend a few different choses for you to play with.  We will use the pad and writing tool for taking notes, and draw.

Fabric Marking tools that you can see on your chosen fabrics such the Bohin White Mechanical pencil or a Frixion Pen

If you have a quilt top that you would like to bring that we can discuss quilting and thread options for, that would be GREAT!!