My little girls have been getting cold at night. Ady is still in a crib and using tiny baby blankets that don't quite cover her up. So I decided yesterday to make her a blanket. A real quilt. I already had all the fabric I needed at home. I just didn't have a filling. I ended up going to IKEA and buying a fleece blanket there for $2.29 to put in the center.
I cut out all the pieces and sewed them up during the day and then after the girls were in bed, I went to quilt that sucker up. This proved to be a lot harder than I thought it would be. I am going to be quilting Corduroy's duvet cover I made for her last year cause I can't find the insert and it never stays in anyways, so I bought another fleece blanket to put in the middle of hers as well and hope to get that done this week.
My question to you is this: What is the proper way to quilt? I need some tips. Seriously. Cause I had the HARDEST time pulling the yarn through the fabric. It took me a couple hours to do this 40x45 inch quilt.
I am using basic cotton fabric. The center is fleece, not batting. Is that my problem? The first thing I tried was an upholstery needle and some thick yarn. I couldn't get that through. Even with pliers. Really. I tried pliers to pull it through. So I changed my needle after scavenging to find another one with a big enough eye. That one broke when I tried to pull it through. So I switched to a smaller skinny yarn. I really wanted yarn and not embroidery floss. This went though but only if I used my pliers. Am I just weak? I have only helped with quilts a couple times before and I don't remember having any kind of trouble pulling the needle through.
Any tips would be appreciated cause the next one is a lot larger and my little fingers are killing me but Corduroy is already waiting for hers to get finished.
5 comments:
can you do some sort of quilt stitch with your sewing machine... i know some are capable... but i've never made a quilt.... i don't think your only option is pulling yarn through... maybe you could just stitch an x at each corner?
i've done quite a few quilts, so if you want help let me know. sometimes you can find grippy things at places like joann that help pull the needles through.
um...if you make sure you're pulling your needle through where there are the fewest seams, that seems to make it easier....they do make big needles specific for quilting, but i'm not sure if they're any different from what you have. anyway, let me know if you want help.
I LOVE the quilt...so cute! Wish I had tips for you, but I'm just learning also. I like your friends idea of sewing x's or something....way easier than doing it by hand.
This may be a dumb question but do you have quilting frames? I know in the past I have tried to tie a quilt and without the the quilting frames to pull the fabric tight it was really hard.
I came across your blog looking for a pattern and saw this post. I love the quilt. Your problem is almost definitely the fleece middle. Fleece has a very thick middle that would cause any needle to stick. I have made many a quilt and never had this problem. get a rubber glove to help you grip the needle. also using a thinner yarn, like one used on doilies, will let you use a smaller needle and slide through better. I have found that it holds up very well. I hope this helps. Good luck.
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