I took the Sweet Sixteen quilt top over to the Just Sew Studio on Saturday morning, and spent a few hours quilting it. I was worried about how much I'd remember from my training a few weeks ago, but I managed everything pretty well, under the watchful eye of the nice ladies who work there!
I think the trickiest thing is dealing with fullness in the quilt - I'd like to think that everything I make is square and measured properly, and that my quilt tops will lie perfectly flat, but who am I kidding? The reality is that my seam allowance isn't always perfect, and my borders are sometimes wavy. This isn't a problem when I free-motion quilt my own quilts. I baste from the center out and smooth things as I go. I also quilt from the center out so by the time I get to the borders, if things are wavy I just let it be whatever size it wants to and deal with it when it's time to put the binding on. No fuss no muss!
Things are not so wishy-washy with a long arm machine, since it quilts from the top down, so if things are off, it's apparent right away. There are lots of tricks and ways to deal with this, and I learned a few of them yesterday. Thank goodness, my quilt wasn't very bad, but it motivates me to be a more precise sewer...at least for the quilts I'm taking to the studio to finish!
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