Tips for the actual quilting:
- Tight quilting pattern flattens the surface while large, loose quilt raises the surface. You can use this principle to create more visual impact on your quilts. For example, tight free motion quilting around a star and loose quilting on the star (just a few lines) will raise the star above the background.
- Quilt from the center towards the outer edge. This will help smoothing the fabric away. Any extra bulge will be sent to the edge and corrected after the quilting process, before binding the quilt.
- For binding, cut the strips twice the width of what you originally planned for, fold it in half lengthwise, press and bind the quilt. The folded edge is turned under and no need to fold the edge of the binding any more.
- To secure the quilt stitches on machine quilting, hold the top thread with your left hand, turn the sewing machine’s wheel with your right hand so that the needle will go down completely and when it come back, it will bring the bottom thread with it. Tie these 2 threads to secure the stitches.
- Use clear thread for quilting when your quilt has many different opposite colors or when you are unsure about what thread to choose. Clear thread is good for wall hanging, but it might be a little too stiff for bed quilt.
- Use neutral color thread for piecing, it will not be too obvious to any fabric choice.