FMQ on a large project - working an allover filler design

Yay... so I've just finished free motion quilting Dylan's Hawthorne Quilt (84 x 81")...

... on a domestic machine with a throat space of 8 1/4".

So not the smallest machine in the world, but certainly not the largest!  This is a Brother Innovis and it certainly has its ups and downs, but free motion quilting is one of its pluses as it has nice tension and does nice stitching.

I sew on an old kitchen table set up in the corner of a room, with the extension table for my sewing machine increasing the usable flat space and a superior slider to aid the overall movement.

Having this set up in the corner means I don't have to worry about the weight of the quilt suddenly deciding that it wants to disappear off the side or end of the table. 

I also work with the excess quilt laying gently around the sewing machine... with the area I'm currently working on  under the needle (around an A4 size) being flat and square to the machine.

I chose an overall square stipple design for this quilt as it is for a 16 year old boy... I wanted something robust and potentially masculine... and this design hits all those plus points. 

Switching to diagrams, planning to quilt a large quilt is easier if you first break it into quarters.  Starting with the first quarter in the bottom right hand quadrant I start my quilting in the centre of the quilt and work outwards until I hopefully finish in the corner area.

After rotating the quilt a quarter turn, I still work in the lower right hand quadrant and again start from the centre and work out towards the corner.

Quarter turn and same again...

Last quarter turn and it's the last quarter... again working from centre to corner.

Working these quadrants means that you are always working with at the most half the quilt in your throat space and it progressively gets less and less as you work through that quadrant.  Working the quadrants like this works for most freemotion quilting designs whether they are block based or all over designs.

Now... imagine this rectangle is just one of those quadrants.  IMAGINE I'm starting from the centre of the quilt and working in rows, I can move right to the far right of the quilt and work the design back again then repeat until that quadrant is finished.

But this quadrant is still 40 inches wide... that's a lot of quilt to be moving backwards and forwards to get this design done.  You will find it kills your back also. 

So what I do is reduce the amount of movement for the area I am working on.

So my quilting plan looks like this.  I'm still starting work on a quadrant beginning at the centre of the quilt and working towards the corner, but instead of rows from the centre out to the right hand edge, I work on a block (say about an A4 size but this can vary) doing rows backwards and forwards until that space is full. 

Then I keep working the pattern upwards until I get to the top of the adjacent section and start the process all over again.  Moving through each section and then moving onto the next section requires minimal movement of the quilt or adjustment of the bulk of the quilt that is either pending/has been quilted (sitting at the back or left hand side of the machine).  Struggling with the dead weight of "waiting" quilt is the bit that puts extra stress on your body.

Once I get to the right hand edge, I work a row of the design right the way back to the start of the second row of sections... and repeat again... This going back to the vertical centre line of the quilt involves the most quilt movement/stress on your body.  If it does cause a problem you can always finish your stitching at the edge of the quilt.  Move the quilt so that you can restart sewing again from the vertical centre of the quilt in section 2 and start sewing again.

Sew each quadrant as above, always working on the lower right hand quadrant and rotating the quilt 1/4 turn before working on the next quadrant.

Most of the success of quilting large quilts on a domestic machine is in choosing the design and managing the flow of movement. To minimise the need to adjust the bulk backwards and forwards.

Most filler quilting designs can be sewn in rows (even regular curvy stipple) and interestingly it often doesn't resemble a grid when it's finished.

Hopefully this has opened some doors for someone... and it hasn't been too confusing... and maybe you just feel like quilting a larger quilt just might be something you could try.