Hi Theresa and Sarah. Oh YUM! I love both of your quilts and all the ones shared at the end. It's like having an online quilting bee. I have some notes and ideas on next steps. You can also hand-baste the quilt sandwich together. I do long running stitches about every 6 inches. I know that puts me in the Old School camp, but I'm hesitant about getting all the adhesive or glue out of the inner layers of a quilt by washing after it's finished. The advice to start in the middle and work your way out came from hand quilting. Each line of stitches pulls the fabric and batting in a little bit, so the goal is to have it shrink uniformly around a bullseye in the center so you don't get distortion. Hand quilting is a lot of stress that my hands and neck can no longer handle, so I machine quilt these days. I still try to consider the center-out approach, but modified. I sew from edge-to-edge, but my first line of stitching is on or near the vertical center of the quilt and the second line of stitching is down or close to the horizontal center of the quilt. From there, I do a few rows of stitching out from the vertical center on left and right, then a few rows of stitching out from the horizontal center above and below. And keep repeating. For the borders, I just quilt from inside to outside borders all the way around. Yes, the batting package or details should tell you how far apart the stitching should be. That's to secure the batting. But you are also securing the seams of the patchwork. Luckily the Standing Tall quilt does not have tons of small pieces with lots of seams. My batting is recycled plastic bottles (polyester), so the minimum spacing is 10 inches. Since the rectangle units are 19 inches tall, I decided to do a line of stitching across horizontally in the center of each unit. Then I quilted each side of the background fabirc and each side of all the borders throughout the quilt, all stitch in the ditch. Even though I thought I could just eyeball sewing a straight line across the background areas where there were no seams, I had trouble doing it. So for each span across the background fabric to connect long rows of stitching, I put blue painter's tape so I could just sew along the edge like I do with the rest of the stitch-in-the-ditch seams. That was way easier than getting my brain to kick into gear and be able to gauge how to sew to be sure I linked up with the seams below the background area. As to the size of the quilt versus the size of the throat of your sewing machine: there are physical limitations. My 50+ year old sewing machine has a 6 inch wide and 4 inch tall throat and it really struggles to make quilts with any dimension over six feet. Rolling up the three layers for half of the quilt to fit it through the machine was just too stressful at that size. It was really hard to get the area you were sewing to lay flat. Moving that much fabric and batting through and keeping it from pulling was a dreaded task. My new machine has a 9 inch and 5 inch high throat, so lots more area for a big fat roll of the quilt sandwich to fit through. If you have a sewing machine with a tiny throat and you're doing a big king size quilt, you might want to see if you could borrow a machine from a friend that has more throat space while doing the quilting. Your neck, arms, hands, shoulders, and back will thank you! Using a topstitching needle and longer stitch length helps when quilting the layers together. And the walking foot does help a lot too. My quilt has a flannel back like you are planning Sarah. I found that the flannel stretches more than the top and batting of the quilt as you're sewing, probably because it is a looser weave and the fibers are softer because of the brushing. For my quilt, this meant that the flannel between the quilting is a little more puffy and it looks like micro-gathers around the seams at the flannel back. I'm fine with this, since it will match the look of the whole quilt with washing cycles. But I did have to be extra careful to not get any puckers on the bottom while sewing quilting lines. I have an idea regarding the length of your quilt Theresa. It does look long for the bed. You might want to consider taking off the bottom row of rectangles and making it into a quilted cover to lay over your pillows instead of having to fold the quilt over them when you make the bed. You could make the main three-row quilt a bit longer by adding a border (more of the off-white fabric, or an accent color, or some people piece together jelly roll scraps from the quilt to use as a border or binding). You can add a border all the way around or only do the top and bottom additional borders. As to binding, I've never been able to totally machine-sew binding on a quilt. It always turns out too sloppy for me. I tried again on my Standing Tall quilt, but ended up ripping it out after a few inches and one corner. So my binding is machine sewn onto the front, wrapped around to the back, and then hand stitched in place. Thank you both for doing this Quilt-A-Long (so fun!) and a thank you to Helen from Cedar Quilt Co. for making the great pattern available free. Best wishes to both of you and all the other Standing Tall quilters, Antonia
Hi Theresa and Sarah, Instead of straight line quilting, use a gentle serpentine stitch from your fancy stitches on your machine. That way, if the quilting lines get wonky, you'll never notice it. Actually, a serpentine stitch down the middle of the background strips would look lovely. For the binding, sew the binding to the *back* of the quilt, and bring it around to the front. Then pin (or clip) the folded edge of the binding over the stitching line and stitch it down. It will look beautiful on *both* sides. Great job, ladies!!!
It was so much fun catching up and sharing our quilt tops and experience this far! I really love our quilts so much! I am hoping to get basting this week!! 😄😬 Good luck with the big job ahead Theresa!
Ah, so lovely to see your progress - both quilts look so incredible and I can't wait to see them finished! I'm working on a different quilt, but this series has really motivated me to keep going with the blocks so I can get to the end of the process! Thanks ladies! ❤
I just love seeing you ladies together. 🥰 I was thinking of so many things I was going to comment on as I was watching, but now that I'm at the end I've completely forgotten all of them. I'm guessing you'll get lots of advice about various things in the comments, but if you find you still have any questions, please feel free to hit me up. Always happy to chat and help if I can. Both of your quilts (and both of you!) are wonderful! 💙
Really enjoying watching your progress. I’ve only made one large quilt. I found putting together the quilt sandwich the most daunting. In the end I followed the technique shown by @dizzyquiltsandsews - How to Board Baste a Quilt - My Method! You roll the quilt top and backing around a couple of wooden boards which allows you to sandwich them on a tabletop. I didn’t pin but hand basted. It took a while to do but held everything nice and firm. Good luck with this next step. I look forward to seeing how you get on x
If you do verticals in line with the edges of each jelly roll block, and then do them on the horizontals, it will give you little squares visible in the background paths which will let you actually see the quilting.
Aww, it's so fun to see your progress! They are looking amazing. I don't envy you the next stages, as they seem so daunting to this non-quilter. I'm sure it'll be worth it in the end, though, and no doubt being in this together makes for a powerful motivation to get it done. Sarah, the way you've arranged the gorgeous colours of your fabrics is absolutely stunning! Theresa, yours is looking completely epic! Especially in that hero shot of you holding it up.
I love both your quilts. I think your fabric choices fit both of you very well, based on what little I know of the two of you. It's interesting to see all the various choices people make, but they all look amazing.
Omg your quilts look amazing. Once they are all put together they look completely different. I can't wait to get mine done. You have inspired me so much. ❤❤
I am getting caught up after a bunch of camping travels this summer. What a lovely project! I love quilting and often do intricate tops as I love that part, but modern quilts and hand quilting are working their way into my repertoire. I adore both of your versions and the play with colour is wonderful. Isn’t it fun to use colours that aren’t favourites and then love them so much! I pin baste my quilts (don’t have the space to allow for over spray worries. I would worry about the paste, although washable after, being a bit crunchy and not allowing the fabric to lay and move naturally whilst quilting. Also the needle and thread May gum up and have a lot more thread breakage. Theresa, make a practice sandwich of at least 12” and practice before you jump into the whole quilt. Try as long a seam as you can to see how the needle and thread manage. Sarah, do just spray baste? The couple of times I used spray on larger quilts I found my layers still shifted. Yes, I quilt both horizontally and vertically. Theresa, my favourite quilt is one that is long enough to tuck under the pillows and flip over top. At night the just gets folded back creating another layer and keeping the quilt top cleaner. Happy quilting!
I will be putting my border on today. I pinned at every stage, because all the quilters I follow on CZcams talk about being particular when matching seams. Putting the rows together got very repetitive/tedious. I am going to be doing a self-binding method to attach the backing. My one attempt at binding was not very good. I am going to be hand quilting because of the size of the quilt. I follow PattyMacMakes, Just Get It Done Quilts, and Missouri Star Quilts CZcams channel.
This was such a fun video to watch! So I have a few thoughs/suggestions for you (take them or leave them). For basting, I wouldn’t use glue. I’d be afraid of it gumming up my needle (and machine) and of it creating little lumps which would get very annoying when quilting. I have a video on my channel on how to board baste quilt sandwishes which is the method I always use now because you don’t need a huge amount of space and you don’t have to use annoying pins. (I think the title is How to board baste a quilt). For the quilting, if it says 8” apart, keep in mind it needs to be 8” in all directions (if that makes sense) so if you only quilt in one direction, you’re going to have long rows of quilt that are not quilted. Also, the quilting “protects” your seams which could pull apart with usage so I would err on the side of more quilting for a bed quilt. I always start in the middle top (or bottom), off in the batting so I don’t have to bury threads and I’ve never had problems. But for straight line quilting, I would suggest you start on alternating ends of your quilt to avoid it getting distorted as you quilt. So you quilt one top to bottom and then the next bottom to top. I personally really don’t love straight line (or walking foot) quilt on large quilts. I much prefer free-motion quilting which I find easier. I’m sorry for the super long comment! 😂 If either of you have questions, please DM me on IG. 😊
I worry the glue would gum up your machine! I always pin baste and love it. You definitely don’t need to cross the stitching lines. I usually free motion a stipple line so never cross the seam.
I don't know when I will be able to finish my quilt. A family emergency has come up and will be disrupting my schedule and my house for the next couple of weeks. I will get back to it, I just don't know when. The biggest chunk of it is done, though.
Of course family always comes first, Carolyn. I'm so sorry to hear that you've had a family emergency. Those are never fun. Sending love to you all. We look forward to seeing your finished quilt, whenever you get there.
Theresa please reconsider your school glue. It will fight with your machine changing how the feed dogs work. It won’t just wash out in the volume you need.
You should seriously consider using a long arm quilting service. Quilting a quilt that large on a home sewing machine is very difficult. I will never do it again and I have made many quilts. Also, you do not need to baste the quilt.
Hi Theresa and Sarah. Oh YUM! I love both of your quilts and all the ones shared at the end. It's like having an online quilting bee. I have some notes and ideas on next steps.
You can also hand-baste the quilt sandwich together. I do long running stitches about every 6 inches. I know that puts me in the Old School camp, but I'm hesitant about getting all the adhesive or glue out of the inner layers of a quilt by washing after it's finished.
The advice to start in the middle and work your way out came from hand quilting. Each line of stitches pulls the fabric and batting in a little bit, so the goal is to have it shrink uniformly around a bullseye in the center so you don't get distortion. Hand quilting is a lot of stress that my hands and neck can no longer handle, so I machine quilt these days. I still try to consider the center-out approach, but modified. I sew from edge-to-edge, but my first line of stitching is on or near the vertical center of the quilt and the second line of stitching is down or close to the horizontal center of the quilt. From there, I do a few rows of stitching out from the vertical center on left and right, then a few rows of stitching out from the horizontal center above and below. And keep repeating. For the borders, I just quilt from inside to outside borders all the way around.
Yes, the batting package or details should tell you how far apart the stitching should be. That's to secure the batting. But you are also securing the seams of the patchwork. Luckily the Standing Tall quilt does not have tons of small pieces with lots of seams. My batting is recycled plastic bottles (polyester), so the minimum spacing is 10 inches. Since the rectangle units are 19 inches tall, I decided to do a line of stitching across horizontally in the center of each unit. Then I quilted each side of the background fabirc and each side of all the borders throughout the quilt, all stitch in the ditch. Even though I thought I could just eyeball sewing a straight line across the background areas where there were no seams, I had trouble doing it. So for each span across the background fabric to connect long rows of stitching, I put blue painter's tape so I could just sew along the edge like I do with the rest of the stitch-in-the-ditch seams. That was way easier than getting my brain to kick into gear and be able to gauge how to sew to be sure I linked up with the seams below the background area.
As to the size of the quilt versus the size of the throat of your sewing machine: there are physical limitations. My 50+ year old sewing machine has a 6 inch wide and 4 inch tall throat and it really struggles to make quilts with any dimension over six feet. Rolling up the three layers for half of the quilt to fit it through the machine was just too stressful at that size. It was really hard to get the area you were sewing to lay flat. Moving that much fabric and batting through and keeping it from pulling was a dreaded task. My new machine has a 9 inch and 5 inch high throat, so lots more area for a big fat roll of the quilt sandwich to fit through. If you have a sewing machine with a tiny throat and you're doing a big king size quilt, you might want to see if you could borrow a machine from a friend that has more throat space while doing the quilting. Your neck, arms, hands, shoulders, and back will thank you!
Using a topstitching needle and longer stitch length helps when quilting the layers together. And the walking foot does help a lot too. My quilt has a flannel back like you are planning Sarah. I found that the flannel stretches more than the top and batting of the quilt as you're sewing, probably because it is a looser weave and the fibers are softer because of the brushing. For my quilt, this meant that the flannel between the quilting is a little more puffy and it looks like micro-gathers around the seams at the flannel back. I'm fine with this, since it will match the look of the whole quilt with washing cycles. But I did have to be extra careful to not get any puckers on the bottom while sewing quilting lines.
I have an idea regarding the length of your quilt Theresa. It does look long for the bed. You might want to consider taking off the bottom row of rectangles and making it into a quilted cover to lay over your pillows instead of having to fold the quilt over them when you make the bed. You could make the main three-row quilt a bit longer by adding a border (more of the off-white fabric, or an accent color, or some people piece together jelly roll scraps from the quilt to use as a border or binding). You can add a border all the way around or only do the top and bottom additional borders.
As to binding, I've never been able to totally machine-sew binding on a quilt. It always turns out too sloppy for me. I tried again on my Standing Tall quilt, but ended up ripping it out after a few inches and one corner. So my binding is machine sewn onto the front, wrapped around to the back, and then hand stitched in place.
Thank you both for doing this Quilt-A-Long (so fun!) and a thank you to Helen from Cedar Quilt Co. for making the great pattern available free. Best wishes to both of you and all the other Standing Tall quilters, Antonia
Thank you so much for taking the time to share your wealth of experience! I'll be looking back at this comment once my backing is put together!
Hi Theresa and Sarah,
Instead of straight line quilting, use a gentle serpentine stitch from your fancy stitches on your machine. That way, if the quilting lines get wonky, you'll never notice it. Actually, a serpentine stitch down the middle of the background strips would look lovely.
For the binding, sew the binding to the *back* of the quilt, and bring it around to the front. Then pin (or clip) the folded edge of the binding over the stitching line and stitch it down. It will look beautiful on *both* sides.
Great job, ladies!!!
Absolutely love this advice, thank you! I think I'll be doing some experimenting with scraps before making my decisions.
It was so much fun catching up and sharing our quilt tops and experience this far! I really love our quilts so much! I am hoping to get basting this week!! 😄😬 Good luck with the big job ahead Theresa!
Thank you so much, Sarah! I actually got so much from our chat and from the comments on this video!! I can't wait for the final reveals!
Ah, so lovely to see your progress - both quilts look so incredible and I can't wait to see them finished! I'm working on a different quilt, but this series has really motivated me to keep going with the blocks so I can get to the end of the process! Thanks ladies! ❤
Thank you so much, Amelia! Good luck with your quilt!! 💪💪
I just love seeing you ladies together. 🥰 I was thinking of so many things I was going to comment on as I was watching, but now that I'm at the end I've completely forgotten all of them. I'm guessing you'll get lots of advice about various things in the comments, but if you find you still have any questions, please feel free to hit me up. Always happy to chat and help if I can. Both of your quilts (and both of you!) are wonderful! 💙
Thank you so much, Tamsyn! I may well come back to you with questions later on. We'll see how I go!
Really enjoying watching your progress. I’ve only made one large quilt. I found putting together the quilt sandwich the most daunting. In the end I followed the technique shown by @dizzyquiltsandsews - How to Board Baste a Quilt - My Method! You roll the quilt top and backing around a couple of wooden boards which allows you to sandwich them on a tabletop. I didn’t pin but hand basted. It took a while to do but held everything nice and firm. Good luck with this next step. I look forward to seeing how you get on x
Thank you! Her technique is great. I'll give it another watch before I start basting!
If you do verticals in line with the edges of each jelly roll block, and then do them on the horizontals, it will give you little squares visible in the background paths which will let you actually see the quilting.
Very true! I think I'll end up doing some tests before I decide.
ooh both of your quilt tops look amazing!
Thank you so much!
Aww, it's so fun to see your progress! They are looking amazing. I don't envy you the next stages, as they seem so daunting to this non-quilter. I'm sure it'll be worth it in the end, though, and no doubt being in this together makes for a powerful motivation to get it done.
Sarah, the way you've arranged the gorgeous colours of your fabrics is absolutely stunning!
Theresa, yours is looking completely epic! Especially in that hero shot of you holding it up.
Thanks, lovely! It's been a mission so far, but the end is in sight!
I love both your quilts. I think your fabric choices fit both of you very well, based on what little I know of the two of you. It's interesting to see all the various choices people make, but they all look amazing.
Thank you so much! I've loved seeing the variety in the community.
As a seasoned quilter, it was sweet to see you experience the fussiness that is quilting.
Hehe, thanks!
These look incredible and lovely to hear the chit chat between the two of you as you make decision! Great fun
Thanks, Rachael! It's been a fun series to make!
Omg your quilts look amazing. Once they are all put together they look completely different. I can't wait to get mine done. You have inspired me so much. ❤❤
Thank you so much! I'm excited to see yours, whenever you get there!
Can’t wait!!!!😊😊😊
Me neither!
I am getting caught up after a bunch of camping travels this summer. What a lovely project! I love quilting and often do intricate tops as I love that part, but modern quilts and hand quilting are working their way into my repertoire. I adore both of your versions and the play with colour is wonderful. Isn’t it fun to use colours that aren’t favourites and then love them so much!
I pin baste my quilts (don’t have the space to allow for over spray worries. I would worry about the paste, although washable after, being a bit crunchy and not allowing the fabric to lay and move naturally whilst quilting. Also the needle and thread May gum up and have a lot more thread breakage. Theresa, make a practice sandwich of at least 12” and practice before you jump into the whole quilt. Try as long a seam as you can to see how the needle and thread manage. Sarah, do just spray baste? The couple of times I used spray on larger quilts I found my layers still shifted.
Yes, I quilt both horizontally and vertically.
Theresa, my favourite quilt is one that is long enough to tuck under the pillows and flip over top. At night the just gets folded back creating another layer and keeping the quilt top cleaner.
Happy quilting!
Thank you so much for your advice, Carolyn! I'm definitely planning a test soon. I hope you've had a great time out in nature!
I don’t have any experience of quilting but I have watched quite a few videos on Craftsy a number of years ago that were excellent.
I think we've got this! Could be my famous last words. 😉😆
I will be putting my border on today. I pinned at every stage, because all the quilters I follow on CZcams talk about being particular when matching seams. Putting the rows together got very repetitive/tedious. I am going to be doing a self-binding method to attach the backing. My one attempt at binding was not very good. I am going to be hand quilting because of the size of the quilt.
I follow PattyMacMakes, Just Get It Done Quilts, and Missouri Star Quilts CZcams channel.
Thanks for the recommendations! Hand quilting will be so satisfying. It always looks amazing!
This was such a fun video to watch! So I have a few thoughs/suggestions for you (take them or leave them). For basting, I wouldn’t use glue. I’d be afraid of it gumming up my needle (and machine) and of it creating little lumps which would get very annoying when quilting. I have a video on my channel on how to board baste quilt sandwishes which is the method I always use now because you don’t need a huge amount of space and you don’t have to use annoying pins. (I think the title is How to board baste a quilt). For the quilting, if it says 8” apart, keep in mind it needs to be 8” in all directions (if that makes sense) so if you only quilt in one direction, you’re going to have long rows of quilt that are not quilted. Also, the quilting “protects” your seams which could pull apart with usage so I would err on the side of more quilting for a bed quilt. I always start in the middle top (or bottom), off in the batting so I don’t have to bury threads and I’ve never had problems. But for straight line quilting, I would suggest you start on alternating ends of your quilt to avoid it getting distorted as you quilt. So you quilt one top to bottom and then the next bottom to top. I personally really don’t love straight line (or walking foot) quilt on large quilts. I much prefer free-motion quilting which I find easier. I’m sorry for the super long comment! 😂 If either of you have questions, please DM me on IG. 😊
Oh wow, that's all really useful advice. Thank you so much! I'm going to be refreshing myself once I get to the quilting stage.
I worry the glue would gum up your machine! I always pin baste and love it. You definitely don’t need to cross the stitching lines. I usually free motion a stipple line so never cross the seam.
That's really useful advice, thank you!
I don't know when I will be able to finish my quilt. A family emergency has come up and will be disrupting my schedule and my house for the next couple of weeks. I will get back to it, I just don't know when. The biggest chunk of it is done, though.
Of course family always comes first, Carolyn. I'm so sorry to hear that you've had a family emergency. Those are never fun. Sending love to you all. We look forward to seeing your finished quilt, whenever you get there.
Theresa please reconsider your school glue. It will fight with your machine changing how the feed dogs work. It won’t just wash out in the volume you need.
Thanks, I'm still undecided. I have used school glue to set the binding before machine sewing, and I didn't have any issues. I'll do more research!
You should seriously consider using a long arm quilting service. Quilting a quilt that large on a home sewing machine is very difficult. I will never do it again and I have made many quilts. Also, you do not need to baste the quilt.
I will see how I go but definitely keep a long arm quilting service in mind!
I like just get it done quilts on tube for info
Thanks for watching!