How big a quilt could I do?

[Efemera]

I find poly wadding more difficult to handle than a 80/20 cotton....I’m lazy and use spray baste.

[Iminei]

I dont know how fast you normally sew ... some people sew super fast ... I never have and the secret to quilting in my opinion, especially a Big Beast ... which is 60" + ... is slow and sure.

Plenty of stops (needle down of course) where you can adjust things, making sure the quilt under the needle and your outstretched hands, which are lying palm down either side of the needle holding the quilt nice and flat and just a lil bit taut.

The walking foot should be drawing the quilt through .. you shouldnt need to either push or pull but if youre going at a million miles an hour, which I dont think is the case looking at the original lines of stitching, they cant possibly hope to keep up.

If you have a speed limiter use it ... and maybe you could try slightly wavy lines instead of straight ... which will be a lot more forgiving ... you can achieve that by going freehand (you could make a mark every 6 or 12 inches or so to aim for) or by using your serpentine stitch which will do it for you

I dont remember which machine you have, whether you have a standard WF setup or have an IDT type thing going ...
if its the latter when you press the button to engage the IDT your machine will grey out a lot of stitches stopping you from using anything but a straight stitch which is why I use my old walking foot a lot of the time so I can use the decorative stitches too.

How embarrassed am I going to be whittering on when I find your using an Old 1930's Singer ??? 

[Bill]

My new machine is a brother innovis a150 Iminei and I've the speed slider set to one notch above drunk slug in a salt mine pace.
My biggest problem at the moment is lack of space as my bedroom is my sewing room. No room for big fancy tables and purpose built sewing cabinets. Soooooooo, my old rickety cheap as chips fold up work bench is doing a p*** poor job of supporting the left side of the quilt while the rest of it is all flappy and free to weigh in excess of what the walking foot can pull. Mucho slippage follows if I don't manhandle it.
I've a pair of quilters gloves arriving today which I hope will help.
At this rate I'll resemble Nora Batty in a couple years.

Out of curiosity, how many of you quiltaholics learnt your enviable skills through college/university/training?
I'm learning this as I have everything else in life, the difficult way.

[Iminei]

Out of curiosity, how many of you quiltaholics learnt your enviable skills through college/university/training?

       

Very few of us I suspect .... I started in 2013 when it became all too clear that I was not coping with my Dads death and the fact that as soon as his last marble had left his brain, his witch of a wife made him cut me out of his will.

I  started leaning how to quilt through (the then) Craftsy and their free BOM courses. i then bought a couple ... the best being Anita Grossman Soloman's Traditional Blocks Made Simple, an excellent course delivered by the most serene person on the planet ...  and off I went.

I sew on the dining room table and extend it when quilting ... tho is not ideal as its an oval and when layering especially everything tries to escape!!

[Lowena]

I'm completely self taught. I began in 2012 when I was 65.....before that I'd barely touched a machine as we didn't do sewing at school and neither did my Mum.
I'm not a visual learner so started from a book The Quilters Bible by Linda Clements.
I have a Brother Innovis 1800q.

[Lilian]

I did learn some garment making at school, that was in the 50/60s. We had to make our cookery apron and chefs poncy hat. Our pleated games skirt, knit a winter jumper and some embroidery. I don't really remember much of it but something must have stuck in my brain. My mother was a seamstress and made all of our clothes but sadly she died when I was near to my 12th birthday and she never got the chance to teach me.  I then stopped sewing until I was married and a neighbour was making her own ball gowns, I showed an interest and she helped me to get going again 
As for P & Q I have always wanted to make a quilt and would use scraps left over and would stitch together, willynilly, how wrong was that!  I have read books scoured the web but learned most of all from this forum, namely @Iminei and the darksiders 

[LeilaMay]

I would try and roll up the excess on the left hand side, to stop it dragging - also extend the level area around your sewing head (I use encyclopeadias around the wooden fold down flap ) so there is less dragging.
I also roll the right hand side myself, and have it over my shoulder if necessary, so the the weight is not dragging on the needle.
I just stitched a quilt on a hand crank, so just the one hand LOL. Slow and with it's longest stitch setting.

Practice and trying different things until you find what works best for you seems to be the thing 
Enjoy

[BrendaP]

Out of curiosity, how many of you quiltaholics learnt your enviable skills through college/university/training?

As Imi said, I suspect very few!

I had a couple of years sewing at school - a hymn book cover entirely sewn by hand and it was expected to last until you left school, followed by the cookery apron which was all rectangles.  After that we learned to do hand smocking I made a nightdress with smocking at the yoke  - again all rectangles - the other options were a skirt (hideous) or a baby dress/romper (no babies on the family).  After that we used a proper paper pattern to make a shirt with collar and stand, and placket and cuffs on the sleeves.

After that I dropped sewing and continued with art - a grammar school so not much emphasis on the practical subjects.  I continued to make myself a few garments; at the time it was definitely cheaper to make than to buy!  The best thing was a 'school uniform summer dress'.  It was the regulation sky blue and we were allowed to have white collar, cuffs, belt or other trim - so I had white smocking at the yoke, a skinny 'spaghetti strap' white belt (to stop it looking like a maternity dress!) and 2" wide piping around the hem!  It was noticed by the head mistress, but I took great delight in telling her that I'd made it myself using the skills learned in class!

 All the rest has been self taught.

[Kenora]

You definitely need to start quilting from the middle or you will have so many puckers by the time you reach a third of the way across that you'll have to unpick everything. Ask me how I know! Many years of experience says this is the only way to go, even if it's really hard to stuff everything through the harp space of your machine.

[Ploshkin]

I've been a garment sewer all of my life but  discovered quilting just after I retired when I found a block of the month online to while away the freezing days during a prolonged bitterly cold spell.  That quilt top is still in the cupboard having never been layered or quilted as I didn't  really know what to do with it.  Then I found TSP .........

[Acorn]

I taught myself, initially from a book called something like 'Quilts in a Day' (yeah, right!), that taught strip quilting.  That was in the 90s.  I didn't do a lot of quilting on my first few quilts, and what I did, I did by hand.  I didn't try machine quilting until I joined TSP.

[William]

The machine sewing i learned in Junior High School. The rest is a combination of mags and YouTube videos.

WD

[charley]

Same here. I learned from YouTube, magazines, blogs. I started when I retired 5 years ago.

[fajita]

I think it was eight or nine years ago I took a short course (1 hour a week for 10? weeks) to learn the basics of quilting, in a newly opened quilting shop in the town. The shop has now closed, but I’m still sewing. 

[Bjay]

I learnt off my mum using a Singer treadle. Started with a hand crank and learnt how to do the treadle, as I got taller.
Learnt the finer parts of dressmaking and always made my own clothes. I including wedding dress (first time)
21st birthday meant I 6vhise chosevto have a n electric machine - a Bernina-which is still going
I made first quilt for the pram of 1st baby He's 40 next month