Helene Knott Free Motion Magic 1 Quilting Class Beginning Machine Owner’s Manual
- June 13, 2024
- Helene Knott
Table of Contents
FREE MOTION MAGIC #1
Supply List (2 pages)
Instructor: Helene Knott503-631-8806
Email: helene.m.knott@gmail.com
Website: www.heleneknott.com
Free Motion Magic 1 Quilting Class Beginning Machine
This Beginning Machine Quilting class is designed to take the fear out of
quilting.
In class we will cover a variety of quilting techniques and the tools needed
to perform them, along with information on thread and needles, basic machine
maintenance, tension and other potential problems and their solutions. You
will work with smaller practice squares and simple pieced blocks to master a
variety of quilting techniques.
Please be courteous to others by arriving for class with the correct supplies.
Contact me at 503-631-8806 or
helene.m.knott@gmail.com if you have any
questions.
A Note to Students: Many students do not realize that once the teacher is paid, the shop offering a class makes little if any income on the class itself. The shop is relying on product sales to continue offering quality classes to you. Therefore, I urge you to patronize this shop when buying your supplies for this class as much as possible and remind you that big chain stores do not offer the variety of classes that the smaller shops do. Keep quilt classes alive by supporting this shop. Thank you, Helene
TOOLS/MATERIALS:
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Sewing Machine: A good basic home machine, preferably with feed dogs that can be dropped. A Singer Featherweight is not a good choice for machine quilting for a number of reasons. Please bring your owner’s manual if you have one and are not familiar with all the functions of your machine as well as the utility tools kit (small screwdrivers, brushes, etc) as you may need to perform some minor maintenance on your machine during class.
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Sewing Machine Accessories: You need to bring a free motion foot for free motion quilting (this is absolutely necessary). Make sure you have the right foot – you need a free motion foot, not a zig zag embroidery foot. You will also need a walking foot (this one is not absolutely crucial but will give you better results than trying to sew in the ditch with a free motion foot). A standard presser foot is just about useless for machine quilting.
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Sewing Machine Needles: Bring a package each of machine quilting, topstitching and Micro-tex (Sharps) needles in size 12 and/or 14 suitable for your machine.
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Pieced Blocks (see pattern accompanying the list): Fabrics should be 100% good quality quilting cottons in a somewhat plain texture so you can easily see the quilting you do on it; make at least two (preferably three) pieced blocks. Please come to class with your block and fabrics already pieced, layered, and stitched in the ditch, make sure your batting and backing extend a little beyond the edges of the square tops.
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Two 12”–14” muslin practice ‘sandwiches’: Layered and pinned (or spray basted) with top, batting and backing
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Batting: Choose thin 100% cotton batting, Batting should measure about 1” larger all around than your top and a baby (45”x 60”) quilt batt should be enough to layer the blocks and practice samples
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Backing: You will need two or three 20” squares of backing fabric for your pieced blocks.
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Safety Pins or 505 Basting Spray: You will need about 60 of them in sizes 1 or 2 to pin your blocks and muslin sandwiches.
NOTE: Please layer and pin or spray baste your blocks and practice squares before coming to class so we can spend class time quilting. Instructions for doing this properly are at the end of this supply list. -
Regular Straight Pins
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Thread: 100% cotton standard sewing thread in a color that is slightly darker than your fabric so that you can see your stitches. Do not bring hand-quilting, polyester or rayon thread.
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Quilter’s marking pen: the blue (rinse-away) type
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Masking Tape (1” wide): Available at Fred Meyer or paint supply stores.
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Quilters’ and/or Graphite Pencil: white for dark fabric. A graphite pencil for light fabric.
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Scissors: Bring a pair suitable for clipping threads and a pair of scissors to cut your templates with.
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Machine Quilting Gloves (optional): Help you grip the quilt more effectively and give you greater control of your stitching.
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Seam Ripper
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Class handout packet: supplied in the class
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OWNERS MANUAL!!!:
Bring it if you have one; time can be lost figuring out how to set up or install accessories on your machine if you are not familiar with it.
OPTIONAL ACCESSORIES:
The following things are optional but may be nice to have.
- A Pillow: Many quilt shop classrooms have low chairs and you may want to bring a firm pillow to sit on to help you sit up higher.
- Additional lighting: Some machines are lacking when it comes to good lighting on the bed of the machine. There are several styles of supplemental lights that you can buy and install on your machine to provide better illumination.
Another option is to bring a free standing Ott type lamp to set up behind your machine. Better illumination makes for better visibility resulting in better quilting.
You need to have your quilt blocks and fabric squares layered and pinned
before coming to class; the following directions will help you do this
properly.
Choose a fabric for your backing that is the same weight or slightly heavier
than your top. This will reduce the puckers and tucks that can occur on the
backside of the quilt with machine quilting. Iron the top and the back before
layering to remove wrinkles or creases. Secure the back (wrong side up) to a
work surface with tape or clamps. When the quilt back is secured, spread the
batting over the back and smooth it out carefully. Do not stretch it
artificially tight or it may contract after your quilt is pinned and create
puckers in your quilting. After the batting is in place, position the top
(right side up) in the center of the batting. Smooth it out carefully as you
did with the batting and start pinning with one safety pin in the middle, one
in each corner and one in the middle of each side. If you have an excessive
amount of batting and backing extending beyond the edges of your top, trim it
down to an inch or so. Ideally, you want your backing and batting to be just a
little larger than your top. For spray basting, follow instructions on the
adhesive.
Pieced Blocks – instructions
(finished block measures 16 ½”)
You will need a fat quarter each of two fabrics that contrast somewhat but go
nicely together for each pieced block. For each block you will need to cut:
A = one 8½” square (color #1)
B = four 4½” squares (color #1)
C = four 4½” x 8½” rectangles (color #2)
Assemble the blocks as shown at right, sewing the four ‘B’ squares to either end of two ‘C’ rectangles and two ‘C’ rectangles to either side of the ‘A’ square and pressing the seams as indicated by the arrows on each unit. Sew the three units together to form the block, the final two seams can be pressed in either direction but make sure you press seams to one side, not open. Make three blocks, then layer, pin or spray baste, and stitch them in the ditch to bring to the class.
References
Read User Manual Online (PDF format)
Read User Manual Online (PDF format) >>