I got it sandwiched together on Saturday afternoon and it is larger than my outdoor table and folding trestle table combined. Prior to pinning it I cut out circles of wadding to fill out the centre of each star. Although there is a lot of fabric in the star, the centre is empty and I was given the tip by another member of our Facebook quilting group, Quilt Club Australia. I tacked the circles into place to keep them where they needed to be but I did find it tricky to spread the quilt out as tautly as I usually would given the circular shape and multiple layers of the stars.
I have already experienced some difficulties with the backing having some small folds after ditch stitching in the block joins (which sounds easy when you say it fast but was actually extremely hard work given the weight and size of this quilt and the 6.5 inch throat space of my geriatric sewing machine and limited sewing space!).
At least the blocks are large so there wasn't a huge amount of ditch stitching to do but now I need to go back and stitch down the stars to keep the folds in place. I think I'll start on the outside ones and work up to the one in the centre, which is the opposite to what I would normally do.
I guess my arms will get a workout heaving this one around and one thing is sure, he won't be cold under this quilt!!
Thanks for visiting my blog today,
Sue i think you are amazing to tackle such a big project with your set-up. You will have muscles on your muscles by the time you finish I see you add a lot of wadding and backing fabric beyond your top. I know long armers ask for 4-6 inches all round, but on a domestic machine i have never found i need anywhere near that amount. Reducing it ,by even half, would reduce the weight and size considerably. I have read a couple of posts recently recommending Misty fuse to secure the layers, Just small patches placed at intervals throughout the sandwich works like the pins but without the weight and fiddle that accompanies pins.. I am sure you will put all you learned last week to good use, can't wait to see the finished article.
ReplyDeleteYou have my undying admiration for quilting something this huge on your sewing machine. I think the biggest I've ever done is about 80 inches . Take lots of breaks , and try not to hunch those shoulders.
ReplyDeleteThis is going to be gorgeous ...repeat after me "This is going to be gorgeous"
Your a brave woman, I would have sent such a large quilt to the long arm quilter! But I think your doing the right thing, you will have put your stamp on this lovely quilt by doing it yourself.
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