A Lesson Learned – (I hope)
I’m making this quilt for Elizabeth and
Brady’s wedding, the last of my 5 children, and the 26th queen size
or larger wedding quilt. This is the
first quilt that was not done from a pattern, I designed it myself. I took a refresher class on paper piecing to
make a mariner’s compass in the center; I measured twice (sometimes 3 times)
and cut once; I did everything the way I was taught.
When it came time to machine quilt it, I
was pretty excited. This should be a piece of cake (kinda – as easy as quilting
any 105” square quilt on my home machine can be) but I quilt in the ditch so
not a lot of maneuvering. So I set up my
dining room table with all its leaves, turn my chairs around to put the chair
backs against the table to keep the quilt on the table and not dropping to the
floor, fill a few bobbins and off I go. . . .for a while. . .
I’m working on the 3rd side
on the square; everything has been going smoothly – though I seem to have to
increase the size of my stitch as I go along because no matter how fast or how
slow the quilt goes past the needle the stitches are getting smaller. That
should have been my first clue – but hey it must be me – maybe not letting it
feed itself and pushing the quilt – or holding it back – or it’s something I’m
doing.
Alright – its getting a little like work
here – better take a break and come back to it right? And so I return to it the next day.
Starting up again – re thread the machine
– change the needle – wind a few more bobbins, ready to go. I’m up to the 1 ½” border and start
stitching. Well it starts to buckle –
almost a gather as I go down one side of the border, so I’m thinking I must
have really added this border wrong – or the other 3 sides all came together to
mess up this 4th side. . or What Did I Do? I figured that if the fabric drifter down one
side if I turned the quilt around and stitched the other side of the border
from the other direction – maybe it would smooth it out again. No – it didn’t smooth anything out – the
stitches got smaller and every time the walking foot hit a bump like that at a
normal seam (not like I was hemming jeans or something) the walking foot got
stuck (and made more microscopic stitches as it stood still in the same
spot) Raise the pressure foot, lower it
again to get it unstuck and off I go again – until the next seam. Now after getting stuck twice, the third
time the foot falls apart. It seems the
metal pieces attached to the top of the foot and the metal pieces that hold the
feed dogs on popped apart. Wow I must be
working this foot hard. . probably because I am trying to stitch this second
side of the border in the other direction – which means I have to roll ¾ of the
quilt up as tight as I can to get it to fit in the throat of the machine (and
my Brother Quilting machine has a pretty big throat) but I’m guessing it’s
acting up and being so weird because I’m stuffing it all through on the right
side. My fault again. So now I have a broken walking foot and it’s
9:30 on a Saturday night. Both sewing
machine stores that would carry a Brother walking foot are closed on
Sundays. The Brother website has them,
of course, but it’ll take 10 days to be delivered. I don’t have 10 days!! So I give good ole Amazon a try – they had
it, and it was cheaper, and it qualified for Prime free shipping and it was
delivered Tuesday morning.
So while I’m waiting for Tuesday, I
decide to figure out how much of this bad small stitching has to come out for
me to get it to lie flat again. . .spent Sunday taking out 2 105” rows of
stitching, hoping that’s enough, and I had to use a tweezers in spots to remove
those microscopic stitches. Monday I
made the label. Not too much wasted
time, but my confidence is shot. How can
I think I’m a good quilter if I can’t sew a simple stitch in the ditch on
straight seams? I’m making such amateur
mistakes (but I’m still not sure what mistakes I've made – feeling really
dumb).
Tuesday the foot arrives – I practically
met the mailman at the curb. I open the
box and assure myself it’s the right foot.
I re thread the machine and re-position the bobbin. I put the walking foot on. Still not knowing
what I did to break the last one, I tentatively put the new foot on the
machine. So far so good. Took a practice piece of fabric with batting
and tried a few stitches. My stitch
length is still set to large (to help compensate for the microscopic stitches)
but now it actually is sewing with large stitches. Put the size back to where it should be and
the practice piece actually goes through by itself – I don’t have to push or
cajole and coax or beg, it moves by itself – like it’s supposed to.
OK – it test time – I decide to stitch
the border the way it should be with the bulk of the quilt outside the throat
to the left of the needle. Line everything up and give it a try – it moves by
itself – with just the gentlest of guidance on my part – an NO PUCKERS. I go back up to the top and stitch down the
other side of the border and everything is lying flat – like it’s supposed
to. What could I have possibly been
doing wrong to break a sewing machine foot and almost ruin a quilt?
Ah here comes the moral of the
story. I DID NOTHING WRONG! Again – it wasn't me it was the foot. I was bested by a tool. And then realizing
how I've been compensating for this foot for at least 2 queen size quilts ago.
Always blaming my piecing, or too many pieces make too many seams, or the fabric
is too shiny and keeps slipping apart.
So the moral is – I really shouldn't jump to the conclusion that I’m to
blame. I really may have done nothing
wrong. I may actually be a good quilter.
I would never have thought to blame the
tool even though it is 7 years old and I have quilted 8 queen size quilts with
it. I clean the sewing machine after 2-3
quilts but never check the feet, especially never the walking foot.
I have finished the quilting and now
only have the binding and label to do.
It will be done a week before the wedding. I now love this quilt – maybe a little more
than I loved it before the foot fiasco – because it taught me a lesson. I hope I remember it the next time I’m
hitting myself over the head because the machine isn't working.
Rant ended – sew along. . .
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