by Kim Murray

Created on: March 16, 2009

I got started in quilting a few years ago. But really what I was calling quilting was the piecing of the quilt top. Making different quilt block patterns and then sewing them together to make the quilt top.

The actual quilting is the pattern sewn onto the quilt sandwich (the quilt top, the batting and the quilt backing) after the quilt top is finished.

Simply sewing the 3 layers of the quilt together doesn't produce a completely finished quilt, although many quilts are made this way. Quilting it will give it a more finished and professional look.

There are literally thousands of quilting patterns available. You can quilt hearts, or leaves, or flowers, or pretty much anything you can imagine. A common pattern is called stippling and is simply a random pattern of close squiggles and loops.

Quilt patterns can be programmed into fancier long arm quilting machines or you can use washable or disappearing markers to trace the pattern onto the quilt.

The quilting can be done on machine or by hand. Of course the hand method is what was originally done years ago in quilting bees with several people all quilting together. It is also a very lengthy process. If you have the patience, hand quilting produces a more old fashioned look that just can't be reproduced by machine.

Today there are long arm quilting machines that can quickly quilt for you, but these machines are very pricey and most hobby quilters don't own them. There are many quilters that buy them and then set up quilting businesses where they will quilt the pattern on other peoples quilts, for a fee of course. So you could always find a business that does this and send your quilt there to be finished. They are usually professional quilters and will do a very good job.

You can also quilt on a regular sewing machine. You can simply "stitch in the ditch", which means to follow the seams already in the quilt, or outline the pieces in the blocks.

If you want to quilt a pattern on the quilt, it can still be done on your regular sewing machine, but is a tad more difficult. You need a sewing machine that has feed dogs that lower and a darning or free motion quilt foot. This type of foot doesn't hold tight to the fabric, allowing it to be moved as you need.

It takes a fair amount of practice before you will feel confident enough to actually work on a finished quilt. Free motion quilting is when you use your hands to move the fabric under the needle to draw the pattern. The needle is moving very fast and your hands are moving much slower. You have to get just the right speed going. If you move your hands too fast, the stitches end up too large. The same happens if you have the needle moving too slowly. There are many videos online showing you exactly how to free motion quilt.

Make small quilt sandwiches to practice on. You can they turn these practice pieces into pot holders if you like how they turned out.

Once a quilt has been quilted, it can be washed. Even though most quilters will have already washed their fabric before they created the quilt, washing it again after quilting, will still result in a bit of shrinkage which causes lovely bubbling around the quilted areas.

Learn more about this author, Kim Murray.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.