Quilting the Quilt: Tragedy Strikes

I am actually quilting my quilt! It feels like such a long journey to get here. I was so excited for this moment….. then I started actually doing it and it did not fulfill the hype inside my head at all. First, it is so difficult to manage sewing something so large. It feels a little like wrestling a drunk octopus. I rolled the fabric on either side to help get it through the machine, but it was still really difficult to manoeuvre.

Second, I’m struggling to find the correct settings on my sewing machine. When quilting, you use a special attachment called a walking foot to help move the layers of fabric through the machine. The pressure of the walking foot, and the tension of the thread have to be just right so the fabric doesn’t pucker too much. Thirdly, my machine is struggling to get through some of the seams. It ends up getting stuck and then my stitches get ruined. The only way to get through some of the bigger seams is to go faster, but this causes more puckering. I managed to get half my quilt quilted and feel disappointed by the outcome. It’s a bit of a mess.

Quilts are supposed to be crinkly… but I feel like this is not what its supposed to look like. I’m going to try go slower and play more with the tension with the other half of the quilt. I don’t know if I should rip all this quilting out and start over or embrace the puckering. GAHHHHHHHH!!! So frustrating.

I know understand why so many people piece their quilts and then send them to professionals to be quilted. Quilting is hard!

So this is what I have so far. I’m not super happy with it but I’m going to keep experimenting on the other side and then decide what to do with it.