machine vs hand stitch for quilt

[buddhasbelly]

Total novice Am making a quilt for my daughter's first birthday (decided on inspiration gained from another thread!) and wondered would I be mad to try and hand stitch this? I could borrow a machine for it but wondered if a novice could hand stitch or am I creating a rod for my own back? Thanks for any advice

I prefer the pins with big heads! Just the normal ones are probably easier to go through the machine if you do send one through iyswim? There's no bobbly bit to make the foot lift up like it's on a speed bump.

Have you decided on your layout yet?

I'm very interested to see how you get on since I want to have a go myself at some point

I'm finalising the layout over this weekend (I'm making this sound faar too professional considering I haven't really got a clue what i'm doing!)

will post photos of the layout over the weekend (am needing a bit of space to play around with it without having my daughter crawling all over it so will reserve this for the evening to do!)

I'll look forward to it, will even load up the proper website just for a look!

I feel privileged!!

late to the party but definitely machine piece. unless you are doing hexagons

hand quilt if you wish. or if it's a smaller blanket you can tie it.
for machine quilting you will need a walking foot for the machine.

hi lucy

thanks zing still sorting out the order of my squares - had great plans that dd would be in bed and thus have quite a bit of space and time to do this over the weekend. Then the joys of teething decided to make another appearance, so will crack on now and post some pics, would love some feedback!

Hey Zing, you alright?

I'm a bit worried about trying a quilt now you've said about a walking foot...I didn't think about that and my (incredibly shitty) machine only has one fixed foot.

budd teathing is the pits. Hope your dd's not toooo grotty with it

please ignore the horrible carpet, it is being replaced!

the photo isn't that clear either so not sure how much of the patterns on the squares you can make out. There's 9 all in and will be repeated along the length/width iyswim? depending on if it should be wider (squares will be 4" when finished) i will alter the number of squares in a row - I don't know the technical jargon sorry! Am dreading the next stage now...

Morning budd

You can enlarge the pic to get an idea of the patterns. I like the hopscotch-ish way they're laid out, the pink and blue ones with little squares really stand out.

What next?...stitching?

thanks lucy

yes it's stitching next aka where it goes terribly wrong and I starting googling 'quilts for sale'

oooh, exciting!

Take it steady & you'll be fine! Maybe cut a few test squares to practise & unpick a few times?

On some machines you can slow the foot right down so it doesn't race away with you, that might be helpful too if your machine does that

budd I'll look at pics later on PC, can't see on phone

i have tons of fabric, if you're looking for a few more bits let me know, I can cut some fabric and post to you.
(as a gift)

has the machine have a quarter inch sewing foot? that will ensure seam allowance is always the same so once you cut your patches you can just sew them, no need to pin when piecing into rows, and only "light" pinning when sewing rows together.

Press, don't iron. Sounds like they are the same thing but they are not!

Pressing is gentle, you lower the iron down on to the fabric, and lift it up again. DON'T slide it along while exerting pressure - this can warp the fabric and change your measurements, seams might not then match up.

Sometimes it is easier to do up a square and then do a border of sashing - means you only have to get the squares in that part to match up exactly (I'll see if I can find a picture).

When putting the backing on, cut it extra big - only cut it to size when you have done all your stitching - you can cut more off if you need, but if you've trimmed too much you can't put more on!

white quilt sashing

thanks for all the feedback, arts and crafts section of MN easily now my favourite section!

was all set to get sat down in front of the sewing machine but dd had other ideas...I shouldn't really say that, she's still teething and the damn things are making no sign of an appearance to add to the 2 that she currently has

will try again tomorrow evening and will no doubt be posting messages along the lines of "please help me!"

How's it going budd? Any sign of those teeth yet?

aargh i only just saw this message! no sign no

I was coming on to update re sewing - am now doing LOTS of practice bits of scrap material sewing together. I know this may sound daft and it's probably not supposed to be this difficult but I just want this to be finished neatly which is taking practice!

I stare at my pinned rows somewhat but I know they'll get done soon and have got a good while 'til dd's birthday and I would rather take my time with it and know it's finished well rather than being a bit sloppy (am totally oblivious if this is just me and that using a sewing machine should make this effortlessly neat but oh well!)

Practising on scraps is a good idea. Gives you a feel for the machine/fabric and a chance to perfect those seams. Plus you can see if your needle needs replacing if it snags the fabric without damaging your proper pieces and you can check the tensions are right.

I practise on scraps before I sew anything! Less chance of mucking up the actual thing I'm doing .

I hope the teeth make an appearance soon, my youngest really suffered with them -I was the lucky one who got to spend nights in the rocking chair with her.

How goes the quilt budd?

this thread keeps disappearing on me even on the "I started" tab?!

Well to anyone who may still have a peek at this despite my lack of an update I have all my rows sewn together and am just pressing the seams - Can't believe how quickly time goes by, a month and a half left to finish this (It sounds like an age away but as I have discovered for me to sew neatly it takes a LOT of time and practice!)

Will be sure to post a finished pic

Yay, I did wonder how it was going when you didn't update...thought you might have thrown in the towel! I'm looking forward to seeing the finished quilt.

Have your dd's teeth made an appearance yet?

budd! how is the quilt going?

I very much doubt anyone will see this...but....it's done, it's finished!!! (with a week to spare!) it's not perfect but at this stage it doesn't matter!!!