Straight Line Quilting

Pin Basting : Fresh Lemons Quilts

Pin Basting : Fresh Lemons Quilts

A quick post today to show that I have not been lazing around, but am truly working on finishing up my next quilt. I always procrastinate when it's time to baste because I really just do not enjoy it. With small items like pillows, I spray baste. But when it comes to quilts, I just don't get the same finish quality as when I pin baste. But I do know others that have great success with spray basting, so I always say you should do what works best for you.

Straight Line Quilting : Fresh Lemons Quilts

Straight Line Quilting : Fresh Lemons Quilts

I had always planned on doing straight line quilting on this one. When I received the Bernina 750, I knew it didn't come with a walking foot. I asked during my training if I could use the walking foot from my 440 with it and found out yes, I could. But I might not want to because the 750 has a dual feed system that can be used for straight line quilting.

I will go ahead and tell you that in my head I thought "SURE. Right. There is NO.WAY. the dual feed can compare to the walking foot when it comes to quilting." You see, I love the walking foot on my 440. The first time I used it after buying that machine, it was like the clouds parted and the sun shined directly on me. :)

Then, at quilt guild last week, my friend Catherine assured me that the dual feed on the 750 works great for quilting. Yep, I was still skeptical because I am really stubborn like that.

Straight Line Quilting : Fresh Lemons Quilts

Straight Line Quilting : Fresh Lemons Quilts

So I thought I would do a little test. I set up my machine with the dual feed. I followed the recommended pressure foot settings for quilting from my manual. You can see on the screen above, I changed the pressure from 50 (the default) to -10, as recommended. I switched my needle to a 90/14 Machine Quilting needle and got to work. I stitched a line with the dual feed setup. Then I switched to my walking foot. Below, the dual feed line is on the left and the walking foot line is on the right.

Straight Line Quilting : Fresh Lemons Quilts

Straight Line Quilting : Fresh Lemons Quilts

Ok, here it goes. I.Was.Wrong. Yep, the dual feed did an amazing job! And not so much the walking foot. I will say once I saw how good the dual feed was doing, I didn't spend a ton of time tweaking my settings to try to make the walking foot look as good (messing with pressure foot settings and such).

*** Update *** This morning I spent some time testing settings again with the walking foot. With the right settings, the walking foot worked great, just as nicely as the dual feed. Below is a photo and the settings I used.

Fresh Lemons Quilts

Fresh Lemons Quilts

Fabric and batting: Art Gallery Pure Elements Solid / Quilter's Dream Cotton Request Loft Dual Feed: Stitch Length 3.0 / Foot 1D / Foot Pressure -10 Walking Foot: Stitch Length 3.0 / Bernina Walking Foot / Foot Pressure 55

You can see the main difference is the pressure foot settings. I decreased it significantly from the default setting of 50 for quilting with the dual feed. I increased it just slightly for the walking foot. (This will depend on your type of fabric and batting. I use a very low loft batting.)

So there you go! Now I have the option of using both the walking foot AND the dual feed - I just need to check and double check my settings before getting started.

Straight Line Quilting : Fresh Lemons Quilts

Straight Line Quilting : Fresh Lemons Quilts

So I'm going to spend much of today continuing with my straight lines. Over and over again. It always takes longer than I remembered, but it's turning out great!