The Joy of Quilting with Your Long-Arm Machine
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KathyQuilts.com
In general, you want to be organized as you quilt. Keeping things in a convenient
and reachable place will help you stay in the groove of quilting, and it will eliminate
possible frustration when you need a tool and cannot find it. Dedicated time and
concentration is key in helping your quilting skills progress, and being organized will
Apron:
Machine quilting can get dirty in some
circumstances (oil, thread, lint, etc). Wearing
an apron with pockets will protect your clothes
as your work and keep your tools close by.
Thread Catcher:
A piece of batting or felt pinned to your apron
is a good place to put all the thread ends that
are trimmed, allowing you to continue your
quilting without walking back and forth to your
waste baskets.
Scissors and Retractor:
Keeping a small pair of scissors close by (in your
apron pocket, or on a retractor) will help you
continue your quilting process without being
interrupted.
Seam Ripper:
Do not be afraid to unpick your mistakes! Mistakes
will happen, and it is good practice to be ok with
fixing them. Unpick as you go while your quilt is still
on the frame. You can do this simply from the quilt
back side. Unpick your mistake from the rolled
quilt on the take up rail, either while reaching
across your frame or stepping to the backside
(this is the easiest place to reach from). Unpick
every couple of stitches from the quilt back
then unroll the quilt to pull the top thread away
from the section you need to re-quilt. Kathy has
unpicked entire quilts before (if a customer was
not satisfied, or if she was not satisfied with the
quilting), so it is possible if you don’t like how your
quilting has turned out. We suggest a seam ripper
with a nice large handle and small cutter, but any
seam ripper will work.
Hemostat Pliers:
Locking Hemostat Pliers (surgical instrument,
found either online or in your local drug store)
are very useful for when the tension is off and the
thread creates a large “birds nests,” either on
the bottom or top of your quilt. Use the
hemostat pliers to hold onto the top
thread with one hand while cutting the
bobbin thread with your seam ripper/
small scissors in the other hand. Keep
pulling the thread with the hemostats
to pull the entire thread nest out
of the quilt. Make sure the tips
of the pliers meet up together
evenly, or they will not
work properly.
Tweezers:
These will help remove
thread from hard to reach
places (like in the bobbin area
or tension guides), keeping your
machine thread and lint free. Make sure the tips
of the tweezers meet up and the points are even.
120-Inch Tape Measure:
It is vital in quilting to be able to measure the
quilt top, back, and batting with ease. Because
large quilts are often longer than your standard
measuring tape measure, a 120-inch tape
measure will allow you to measure the entire
quilt. These are found at your local fabric/craft
store or online.
