Why wonky borders occur and how to prevent them!

December 29th, 2009

This has been bugging me for a while, and I’ve never seen it explained quite right (in my opinion), so here’s my attempt.

Wonky borders, or dog-ear borders, are what you get frequently at the end of a long-arm quilting process (see Figure B).  When you piece a quilt, and here in my very basic drawing I’ve just sewn a bunch of squares together (Figure A), all of the seams are locked together — except the ones on the outside!  As quilters, we do not tie off our seams when we piece, so those end-seams are somewhat loose.

Dog-ear Quilt effects

Figure A: The pieced Quilt. Figure B: What can happen on a quilt frame if the end seams are allowed to open

When you take the quilt on the longarm frame (here we are assuming there is no border), the top is generally forced to be square to the frame.  Then, as the quilter quilts and advances the quilt down the frame, if the quilter is not exceedingly careful to keep all the stitching lines straight, those edge “open” seams will give a bit, and start to stretch downward (Figure B).  If each seam stretches only slightly, say 1/32″ of an inch or so, but your quilt has small blocks (say 64 down a side), you could get 2″ of stretching before you’re done!  As a result, you get the dog-ear effect shown in the picture.  As a quilter, I use a 90-degree laser level to ensure that all of the seam lines are parallel as I quilt to prevent this from happening.

However, this is important to you as a piecer as well!  Let’s say you’ve finished off your quilt, and you’re ready to throw on those borders.  If you do like I used to do, and just whip those borders on, you may be in trouble.  I always had a tendency to “pull” on the quilt a bit to make sure it was feeding straight into the machine.  Guess what?  I just opened up all of those edge seams, and now I’ve just created Figure B again, but now with a border that your friendly longarm quilter cannot adjust for.   That’s why it is so important to pin that first set of borders to prevent this from happening.  You might even spray-starch your quilt ahead of time to make sure those seams are stable.  It’s even more important for borders, because you can tug on these seams on all four sides, resulting in “wonky borders”.   The longer edge of the quilt still tends to get more distorted, just because of the number of seams involved.

So, here you go — why you can get wonky borders and how to avoid them!

Posted in How-Tos, Piecing, Quilting | No Comments »

Batting — What to pick?

October 17th, 2009

Wow, batting choices have certainly proliferated over the last few years, haven’t they?  I think the choice of batting is darn important when finishing your quilt — don’t just run out and get a cheap JoAnne’s batt, or take the only batting that  your longarm quilter has on hand.  I use Quilter’s Dream Batting, which you can get through your local quilt store or through me.  There are other quality brands out there, but Quilter’s Dream allows me to custom-order the batting for my clients, so I go with them.  Regardless of which brand you choose, the type of batting is crucial.  Here’s some general guidelines to consider:

  1. Cotton Batting — the classic.  Heavy, though, and shrinks when you wash it.  If you want the “classic” antique quilt look, this is one way to go.  I don’t use this much any more, because of:
  2. Cotton/Poly Blend — the improvement to the classic.  Not as heavy as cotton, still shrinks some during the wash (typical mix is 70% cotton / 30% polyester).  A good, cost-effective batting for most quilts.
  3. Polyester — much lighter than cotton, does not shrink.  If you don’t like the “antique” look after you wash your quilt, this is the most cost-effective way to go.
  4. Wool — the greatest batting for quilts to be used as bedspreads.  Wool is more breathable than cotton or poly, has a nice puff to it, and it is now machine washable.  The price is comparable to cotton, and is lighter and drapes very nicely.  This is my new favorite batting.
  5. Child-protective batting — if you are making a crib quilt, get flame-resistant batting.  The problem with polyester is that it is very flammable — if a quilt is lit on fire, you get a lot of burning effect very quickly.  Flame-retardant battings (like Dream Angel) do not burn easily.  This is the best batting for a quilt crib or a situation where the person cannot independently get out from under the quilt.
  6. Recycled batting — Quilter’s Dream now has “Dream Green” batting made from recycled plastic bottles.  This stuff is actually quite good!  It drapes very nicely and generally behaves like polyester.  Don’t use it on a white quilt, though, as the batting is shaded green!
  7. Poofy Batting — Do you really want that poofy effect?  Then get batting designed to do just that.  Dream Puff is super-poofy and gives that quilted look very nicely.

Okay, now you have a batting type guide.  What thickness should you get?  Really thin batting has been very popular over the last few years, but I’m not a huge fan of it.  It tends to disappear in the quilting, and you have more of a blanket than a quilt.  I always recommend at least the middle-thickness (weight) batting.  If you choose a contrasting thread on top and bottom, choose a thicker batting, so that your chances of “pokies” (top thread showing through to the back in the stitching knot) is minimized.   If you use coordinating threads, this is not so much of an issue.

I hope this helps!  Contact me if you need any help with your batting choices!

Posted in How-Tos, Quilting, Shopping | No Comments »

ABM Innova Discussion Forums

September 24th, 2009

There have been some questions on where people can go to discuss and learn about the ABM International Innova and the AutoPilot robotic system.  Here are links to the yahoo groups:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/innova_autopilot/  The AutoPilot discussion group that I moderate

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ABMLongarm/ The original Innova discsussion group moderated by Carrie Dugan.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/InnovaLAQ/ The latest Innova group moderated by Sherry Rogers-Harrison.

 

I hope this helps!

Posted in AutoPilot, Innova, Long Arm Quilting Machines | No Comments »

So you want to buy a long-arm – why you should buy an Innova (from me!)

September 12th, 2009

You’ve been thinking about this for a while, I can tell.  You really want to quilt large quilts, but hate the thought of shoving all that fabric through the arm of your domestic machine.  You’ve finally decided that you want to buy a car.  Whoops — no, strike that:  You’ve finally decided that you want to buy a longarm quilting machine (which can cost about as much as a car!).  Let me help you with your purchasing decision.

I started out a few years ago quilting on a 9″ Juki 98 on a Hinterberg frame with Max Throat (a system theoretically designed to allow you to quilt larger spaces with a small machine; it didn’t work amazingly well, and is no longer being sold).  After going through some generational upgrades, I finally purchased the ABM International 26″ Innova.  If you are thinking of purchasing a machine, I think you should do the same thing!  In fact, I feel so strongly about this that I became a sales representative for ABM.  Here’s why:

1.  If you’re just starting and want to get into long-arm quilting at a reasonable price, you can purchase the 18″ Innova complete with professional frame for about the cost of the lower-quality machines (HQ16, Tin Lizzie, Grand Quilter, etc.).  Many of the lower-end machines out there are clones of each other (along with their frames) — they all have fundamental limitations because of their need to cut costs.  The Innova 18″ is a fully professional machine, yet still cost-competitive.  Trust me, you want to get as good of a machine as you can — upgrading later can be a pain, because most dealers with not take “trade-ins” of your old machine.  Get what you want, now.  (Ask me how I know this….)

2.  If you want to become a professional quilter, you need a machine that has good support.  Innova has 24/7 toll-free telephone support — really.  I got my machine over Easter weekend; I had a question, called support on Easter Sunday evening, and immediately my problem was resolved by Michael, the father of the CEO.  Yes, ABM is a family owned company — the “M” in ABM is for Michael, who enjoys talking to and supporting quilters.  Try that with any other company.

3.  Hopefully, you don’t need support.  The machine should work all the time.  And the Innova does just that.  Once I got my Innova up and running, I haven’t had to call that support number once.  (Maybe that’s why ABM can afford to do it!).  If you join any of the yahoo ABM groups (do a search on ABM Innova), you’ll find that there is no grumbling on machine problems.  Join some of the other groups from other manufacturers and compare — no problems are unheard of.

4.  You want a machine that is the best engineering to date, and a company that is continually working to improve their machine.  Because Innova is a relatively new player to the home longarm market (despite making industrial versions of these since the early 1900’s), they are agressively courting quilters.  As a result, they are continually coming out with new improvements and add-ons to their system.  And, these improvements and add-ons are plug-and-play!  Everything in the Innova design is modular — you can buy what you need now, and add on future improvements later.  Other companies have massive retrofit fees and workarounds that result in ugly systems.

5.  Toys.  (Oh, maybe I should say “extra features”.)  I love things that make my life easier and more efficient.  Innova has so many features to their frame and machine system that are simply not available anywhere else — from the powered takeup roller to the integrated crosshatch system to the pivot buffer roller.  New features are coming out soon as well!  The advantage of having engineers design your system is that they are always coming out with new features.  Way cool.

6.  If you want to go computerized, you want a machine that the robotic system integrates with seamlessly.  I’ve used 3rd-party robotic systems, and it can be a pain coordinating between two companies when you have issues.  The robot that Innova sells (the AutoPilot) is the same basic robot that they use in their proven industrial machines, so you know it will work perfectly.  The software is designed in house, so you can quickly communicate features you need and the software program will be updated.  No waiting three years for a new software version like other manufacturers.

I hope I’ve convinced you to seriously consider the ABM Innova for your longarm purchase.  I can help you further — contact me and I can provide you more details.  If you purchase from me, you’re purchasing from a professional quilter who uses this machine on a daily basis.  I can give you all the ins and outs, useful tricks, and detailed support on the computerized Innova AutoPilot system.  If you live locally in the Colorado / Wyoming area, you can stop by and play with the machine and the AutoPilot yourself.  I hope I can help you learn to love the Innova as much as I do!

Posted in Innova, Long Arm Quilting Machines | 2 Comments »

Beautiful new website! How to pick a website designer

September 9th, 2009

Ah — relax, stretch, spin around and enjoy the new website!  I love the new, relaxing design, don’t you?  Credit goes to the skilled people at Gloderworks, a fantastic web-design company.  Gloderworks specializes (at least partially) in websites for quilters and other fabric artists.

I built the original Quilting by Jeanne website from scratch using Dreamweaver, and you can do the same, if you’d like.  Ultimately, I needed more time to quilt for my clients that to keep remembering how to program in html!  So, I started looking for website designers.  There are a lot out there. 

If you are looking for a website designer for your quilting or quilt shop needs, do a google search for “quilt web design”, and you will find a number of potential companies.  Go to their websites, and take a look at what they have published for their clients.  What is interesting is that if you look at their portfolio of websites, you can rapidly tell the quality level and style of the different companies.  Some companies, sadly enough, can only come up with very basic, rudimentary designs that don’t really have an aesthetically pleasing sense to them.  Or, at least, that was my impression.   I immediately identified with Gloderworks as giving a very professional look to their clients’ websites, yet giving each site an individual style.  Perhaps you’ll find the same thing.

Anyway, a website designer choice is very personal, because ultimately they will be creating a significant portion of your company’s image.  It’s a significant one-time investment; I’m very happy with my result — best of luck on your search!

Posted in Quilting Resources | No Comments »

ABM International Innova AutoPilot Hands-On Report

July 27th, 2009

I finally have the computerized Innova fully up and working!

Innova AutoPilot

Innova AutoPilot

Here’s an acronym for the day: BLUF (Bottom-Line Up Front).  I will challenge any other computerized system to have the same stitch quality as the ABM Innova AutoPilot.  It is fantastic!  The detail of the stitching, and dead-on accuracy, is beyond what I have seen before.  That alone should make you buy this system.

Key useful pieces of information: The robotic system consists of two x-axis belts (very tight tension for high accuracy), a y-axis belt. a modification to the carriage that does not take up any more width than your original carriage, a set of motors on either side of the frame, and two computers:  One is the HP touchsmart computer that you see hanging from the frame, and another is a dedicated “grey box” running the robot itself.  The advantage of having two computers is that if Vista decides to do something “interesting”, the dedicated robot computer just keeps on running.  This is the right way to run a computerized robotic quilting system.  The touchsmart computer can either be run by wireless mouse or by actually touching the screen — this seemed a little cheesy to me at first, but is actually a good interaction method when you’re running the robotic program and need to make minor changes.

The software itself has some nice features — you can flip a pattern on the x-axis or y-axis, connect multiple patterns together with groups or without, scale, rotate, set sequences, crop, resave patterns that you have manipulated, etc.  All the core features that you would want to have on a robotic system.  For example, if you are doing a 6″ tall edge-to-edge, you can set up one run, copy a second run below it, reverse the stitching order, and sew multiple passes back and forth in one programmed sequence, rather than having to re-program in each pass.

The sewing itself is outstanding — the AutoPilot has an active feedback mechanism that the robotic computer knows where the head is at all times and therefore will not skew the pattern due to drag on the machine.  This means that your 68″ long pattern will stitch out to exacltly 68″ long, not 67″, not 69″.  Because I can see the head location on the computer screen, I know exactly where my pattern will stitchout as the robot executes the pattern.  There are other systems out there for the Innova, but I think that this feature is what justifies the higher price-tag for the AutoPilot system.

The AutoPilot software is being developed in-house by ABM International — that means that if you have a feature request, it goes right to the programmers for evaluation and implementation.  Some major improvements have been made since I first saw this system in February, and they are not stopping development.  Try to get that from Statler!

Summary: I am exceedingly pleased with the AutoPilot and highly recommend it to any Innova owners who are looking at robotic systems — it’s well worth the money!

Posted in Long Arm Quilting Machines, Shopping | 11 Comments »

AutoPilot on its way, Innova Support, and Tin Lizzie 18LS + MQR up for sale!

May 27th, 2009

Hello all — I placed the order for the Innova AutoPilot at MQS, so I should have a detailed report in a couple weeks when Matt or Michael comes to install it!  They’ve made improvements since my last look at the robotics in February, so it will be definitely interesting to see.

So, in case you are looking for a starter robotic quilting system, I have my Tin Lizzie 18LS + the Machine Quilting Robot (Munnich Designs) up for sale.  It is a great system to start out with, with an 18″ throat, 10′ or 13′ foot table length (I have both sets of poles), and a very high-quality quilting robot.  Recall that the reason I upgraded to the Innova was to be able to robotically quilt large blocks at once (sorry for taking so long on your quilt, Barbara!).  If your blocks are not larger than 12″ in general, the Tin Lizzie 18LS is a good buy when you can get it used — I am selling the whole system for $10,000 or best offer.  Anyone interested? Reply to this post or send me an email through my site at Quilting by Jeanne.

For all you Innova fans out there (or Innova wanna-be fans) — I have to mention the fantastic customer support we get.  We have access to 24/7 customer support — I almost always get Michael, who is the father of the CEO of ABM International, and an amazingly patient man.  He just walked me through all of the details on timing the machine and the subtleties of the Innova thread tension, which are slightly different from older machines.  What does this mean to you?  It means that if you don’t have a local Innova dealer, no worries: outstanding support is a phone call away, and available when a local dealer would be closed!  What a fantastic thing!  I am exceedingly happy with ABM International and their customer service.

Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments »

Here we go to MQS!

May 10th, 2009

Excellent — MQS is this week! I am signed up for 9 different classes this week (hey, why go if not to take classes!). In addition, I’m really looking forward to checking out the robotic systems for the ABM Innova by ABM International and Munnich Designs. Had I mentioned that the Innova is here? It is a fantastic machine and I am particularly proud of myself for having gotten it! :)

ABM Innova 26"

ABM Innova 26"

The increased throat depth really gives you a much bigger canvas to work on, and the stitch regulator is fantastic. It’s taken a while to get used to the larger throat depth, but it is doable — connecting it to the robotic system is the next step. If you’re thinking of a machine, and only plan on doing freehand / panto work, with no super-large blocks, be aware that the 18″ is a little easier to handle. There’s roles for both machines — don’t just purchase the larger throat size without driving one! That’s a good rule any time you’re looking at purchasing a longarm — make sure and use the one you’re going to purchase. Every machine has individual traits, and you may fit better with one or the other.

Hope to see some of you at MQS!

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Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments »

Upgrading to Innova — Tin Lizzie 18LS for sale

March 16th, 2009

Woohoo!  The money from the “real” job finally came in, and I am upgrading my longarm system to the Innova 26″!  Unfortunately, not quite enough money came in to also get the Auto Pilot system, so I am transferring over my PCquilter to the Innova for now.  (I’m also upgrading the PCQuilter to the MQR system by Munnich Designs, so I’ll have a report on that once I get it all set up).

Anyway, that means that my Tin Lizzie 18LS system is up for sale!  I am asking $6500 for the entire system including 10′ and 13′ poles, zippered leaders (extra zippers!) a couple of rulers, the microhandles, and an extra bobbin case.  Is anyone out there interested?  I can help deliver if you are anywhere in the Cheyenne, WY – Castle Rock, CO range around Denver.  Let me know by responding to this blog or emailing me at sales@quiltingbyjeanne.com.

Thanks!

Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments »

Are you a threadaholic?

February 7th, 2009

“Hi, my name’s Jeanne, and I’m a Threadaholic.”  (“Hi, Jeanne…..”)

I used to drool over fabric.  Different feels, colors, patterns, everything.  Thread was just something to put pieces together.  Ah, how the times have changed.

Now, I drool over thread.  Quilting thread.  Different weights, different colors, solid, variegated, polyester, cotton, silk — you name it, I like to (a) buy it, and (b) see how it interacts on a quilt.

Why do I care?  you ask.  Excellent question.  Two reasons:  First, I want to brag about my new thread storage device — check it out:

Thread caddy byt www.romwoodworking.com

Thread caddy by www.romwoodworking.com

I just got this at the Rocky Mountain Sew Expo — this is Made by Rom Woodworking.  This is fantastic — you can see all of your thread at a glance, and it looks good, too.  This is the half-barrel size — there is another unit twice as tall!

Second point:  I am totally convinced that the thread you use on a quilt is crucial.  Choosing the wrong thread will totally ruin a quilt, and the right thread can just melt in (if that’s what you want!) and add a fantastic texture.  For example, take this beautiful quilt based on a Thimbleberries pattern:

Thimbleberries Quilt

Because the quilt is a “sampler quilt” it was important to pick a thread that would be pleasing throughout all of the blocks and the borders.  We went through a lot of different threads, and eventually picked “Bulrushes” by Superior thread.  Check oThimbleberries Quilt Closeuput the closeup and see how nicely it merges with the quilt:

The point is that the thread you choose is just as important as every other variable.  Be wary of the quilter that only has a few thread colors to choose from.  I custom-order the thread for every quilt using the entire catalog of Superior quilting threads.  Oftentimes we need all few-hundred thread samples to figure out the right thread!  Don’t forget the backing thread — that’s important too.  I like to choose a thread that is complementary to the backing fabric — with the right tension settings, you can minimize “pokies”, or the top thread showing through to the back.

Summary:  Don’t forget the thread!  See your friendly neighborhood quilter (i.e.  threadaholic) for the right choices for your quilt!

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Posted in How-Tos, Piecing, Quilting | 2 Comments »

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