free motion quilting

Ok, well here is my first little video for my blog. Oh dear, can we fire the voice over lady because her voice is sooooo a.n.n.o.y.i.n.g. Why do we sound so terrible on video? I’ll also warn you that I sniff a grand total of 3 times during this movie which I am terribly sorry about. We did this first thing this morning when my allergies play up and I had no idea. We did do a few tries last night but the lighting was really bad. So go easy on me. And my favourite part of the video – oh it just has to be when I say and ‘and that is mow I do my free motion quilting’. Goodness me, don’t quit your day job retro mummy!

I’ve gone nice and slowly for you, I tend to go faster when I’m doing my quilts to get my stitches the right length but I hope you can see what I’m doing. Everyone has a different technique and this is just mine. I am no expert. But to sum it up, you are using your hands to move the fabric around and not letting the machine’s feed dogs guide the fabric for you. You lower the feed dogs on your machine (those little metal teeth under your needle), grip the fabric with your fingertips which is why gloves are so handy (you can pick up gloves similar to the ones I’m using at the supermarket) and then you get going.

quilted!

Now for a bit of troubleshooting,  if your stitches are coming out too long it means you could be  moving your fabric too fast so slow down a bit as you are stitching and aim for even stitches. If your stitches are too tiny then you need to move your fabric a bit more as you go. You are spending too long in the one spot so get moving. Also, check the underneath of your work, the stitches should look like the stitches on the top and you might need to fiddle with tension to get it looking right. You might also want to check you have lowered your feed dogs as once I was quilting, turned it over to see a big mess and then realised my feed dogs weren’t down, derrrr.

sherbet pips quilted

So to practice, I just made a little sandwich and didn’t baste it. You can cut out pieces of your practice to make coasters, placemats, bags etc. I also like to have some scrap sandwiches on hand so that before I sit down to quilt each time, I do a little practice to check everything is right. It can save a lot of unpicking. So what are you waiting for, go and get quilting! And of course if you have any questions, fire away! I’ll answer the questions tmrw in another blog post with another little video (if I can bear to hear my voice again!)

Comments

  1. It’s a wonderful tutorial…and I love the fabric you used!

  2. Nice!! What needle/foot are you using? Is it one of those spring loaded ones?

  3. Great video! You make it look so easy..
    Every time you sniffed I sniffed LOL must be like yawning 😉

  4. Great video and you sound great – only noticed the sniffing cause ya mentioned it. I love the fabric – care to share?

  5. Great video!

    Now I might give that a whirl, but I think I’ll start small – I need some pot holders and mits!!

  6. Hi Corrie, just a question: if you mess up and need to stop and start again in the middle of the quilt how do you finish off/start again? Also do you have a particular quide or pattern you follow for your squiggles so they don’t really overlap? I’ve seen on Oh Franson how she squiggles out a pattern on a piece of paper first and tries to follow that. I jsut got a free motion needle off ebay so am going to practice on some little sandwiches!

  7. That was excellent, Corrie. I have no idea about quilting so this is great. How do you manage larger sized quilts?

  8. Corrie this video is fantastic…you make it look so easy. I am guessing that is a special foot attachment? That fabric is gorgeous…oh I really want to start quilting now, thanks for giving me even more inspiration :)
    xx

  9. Great Tutuorial Corrie..I am self taught too & I picked up on a great tip from you to start in the middle …I usually start at one end & now I know why my arms get sore & then my tension gets sloppy…
    You came to the Resuce once again…Sniffs & all..lol
    cheers

  10. Thank you again for the tips….what kind of foot do you use to do this kind of stitching and is it possible to do on an old machine?

  11. Great Corrie. Not sure how you talk and quilt at the same time! I’m usually trying too hard to get my tongue hanging out the corner of my mouth at the right angle to say anything. :0)

  12. Great tutorial Corrie, and oh my goodness you make it look so easy, but I must admit the idea still terrifies me! I must pluck up my courage and give it a try one of these days though…
    Thanks for doing this!

  13. Thanks for the great tutorial,I didn’t notice the sniffing – think I might be brave enough to have a go myself now!

  14. Thanks so much for doing this. I have been far too afraid to try free motion quilting, but i’ve inspired me to give it a go!

  15. Hi Corrie, what gorgeous quilts you make.. you have inspired me to learn.. at this stage I am only a looker and dreamer…

  16. This is great Corrie, I teach quilting and your video is a wonderful tool for people to have a go and loose the fear for quilting.

    I do have a longarm and quilt for others but find it wonderful to see people finish their own quilts.

    I am receiving quilts tops and will get a move on quilting them.
    cheers
    Christine

  17. oh you are wonderful!!! I was hoping that you might do a tutorial at some point but didn’t expect it in amongst all the craziness of the Quilts for Queensland. You’ve gotta love blogland!!!!
    Thank you so much!
    You really do make it look effortless. Now to wait until school goes back so that I can try it out LOL

  18. That is a great demonstration. I haven’t tried free motion yet but am going to!
    You sound completely fine on there Corrie, your voice sounds nothing like what I had pictured in my mind!! You did a great video.

  19. Wow thank you, great tutorial… nice and easy for people like me to understand….

    Sandyn

  20. Oh. My. Gosh! I’m so sorry I couldn’t pay much attention to the actual sewing — I was too busy listening to that ADORABLE accent. You’re tooooo cute!!!

  21. it’s cool to hear your voice :) and is that a little person i can hear in the background making noises?

  22. Oh Thank you thank you I just was checking out utube videos on this the other night but yours is fantastic and your voice is fine I hate mine on all our family videos it is wicked. Anyway back to quilting a beginner question how do you decide what colour thread to use when the quilt is multi coloured. I have a pretty dolls quilt pieced and ready to go but it is pinks, limes, pretty blues, white etc and I dont’ know what colour to quilt in. Thanks so much for your help and tutorial and all that you do.

  23. This is a wonderful video. And being from the states I could listen to you for days.

  24. Great tutorial and you have an adorable voice. Love the fabric (from your store?). You make it look so easy. I have an old sewing machine, I don’t think it has any of the modern sewing options, but I’ll give it a try anyway.

    Any idea where I could buy the fabric used in the middle (batting?)? Any links?

  25. Hi great tutorial! what is your machine it looks like it does the business without being over complicated, mine is ancient so dropping the feed dogs is not an option unfortunately! jennyx (sniff, haha!)

  26. Great video Corrie, just what I need too see! I have been just quilting in the ditch’. Haven’t had the courage to give free motion a go. But will defiantly give it a whirl now.

    Oh and I have MAJOR sewing machine envy right now!!!

  27. Thank you very much for the tutorial! You may not believe it, but yesterday i spent a couple of hours googling exactly for information on how THIS is done. :) I have never quilted in my life, but since i came across your blog i’ve been really Really REALLY thinking of trying to! :)
    AND if you think your voice is bad. you’re completely wrong. You just haven’s heard mine! :)

  28. Just brilliant, Corrie. As a non-sewer or quilter, you actually made it look doable. You’re a legend. And I love your voice! J x

  29. Corrie, I haven’t popped over here for so long…

    Your blog is really rocking it these days..

    I am totally loving your first video tutorial. It has a really nice flow to it, very clear and the voice over lady definitely doesn’t need sacking, *wink*…

    It’s great to see how easy the free motion quilting thing really is, it always looks so much more daunting in books.

    I was wondering if it would be alright to mention your video tutorial on my blog with a link back to your blog and the tutorial??

    Looking forward to hearing back from you…

    Thanks – Jodie :)

  30. Great video! You make it look so easy but I am still afraid to try.
    Love your accent (and voice) by the way, mine is hopelessly typical American-German :)

  31. Great tutorial Corrie! I’m going to buy a jelly roll and do what you suggest all the way! Thanks lovely lady :)

  32. thank you for the tutorial. it seems so easy to do! what sewing machine do you have?

  33. Thanks Corrie, that’s a wonderful tutorial and your voice sounds great. I’m with Julie, how do you manage to quilt and talk at the same time, that IS amazing.

  34. Great work Corrie!! I only noticed the sniffing because you said you did lol! xox

  35. Great tutorial Corrie, I don’t know how you find time to quilt with so many little ones to care for.

    I have sent you an email with ref: to Quilts for Q but not had a reply, this maybe because you are busy but it maybe because my email is sitting in your spam box so could you check please.

    Thanks Julia. UK

  36. thanks for the tutorial.

    I enjoyed your voice (dont hear Australian much here)

    I just got my free motion foot for my machine- time to put it in and try it out.

    Do you need “quilt thread” when machine quilting or does regular cotton blend thread work?

  37. Morning Corrie!
    I loved the video! Just so ‘normal’, easy and good to watch. I have looked for others but yours is just what I needed to lift my confidence! Now I know what I was doing wrong… the feed dogs!! Dir!! xx

  38. Thank you so much for your free motion demonstration video! I now know why I was struggling! The feed dogs! My machine came with a plastic plate to go over the feed dogs. Didn’t know what to do with that part! Tomorrow I quilt with ease!
    By the way, I’m from the states and I could listen to you talk all day :)

  39. Thanks for your demo! I love your blog and stumbled across this video yesterday. I gave it a go this morning and, although I need a lot of practise, this method is a winner for me! Thanks again!

Trackbacks

  1. […] couple of quilting posts – this one on your free motion questions, my free motion video post here and the infamous charm square tutorial part 1 here that I didn’t get to finish because I got […]

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