Which batting do you use?

The choice of batting is a very personal one and will be determined by many things -

• Whether it is to be hand or machine quilted
• Whether the project is a bed or wall quilt
• whether it is to be washed frequently

Almost any cotton is good for machine quilting. Those with an added scrim are especially good for wall hangings. For bed quilts the Hobbs 80/20 mix is a good all round performer for both hand and machine quilting. Polyester is a machine quilter's nightmare, although there are one or two which perform better than others. The answer is to try as many as you can and make your own choice.

From a personal point of view, and as a Machine Quilter, I use either cotton or wool. When I am looking for EXTRA loft I like to use wool, Hobbs Heirloom Wool is very good.

For the more recent work involving shrinkage and distortion I use a Wool/Viscose felt or Arctic Wool Gauze as the 2nd layer. Full details will be available in my forthcoming book.

Where do you get your DESIGNS from?

How do you MARK your quilting designs onto your project?

Which Sewing Machine do you recommend?

There are machines with drop in bobbins that do give good tension results when free machining, but generally speaking I have found in workshops that in the majority of cases this is not the case. There is a good comparison chart of all the Bernina Models at http://www.bernina.co.uk/smcomp.html

When looking to purchase a new sewing machine always insist on trying it out on fabric of your own choosing - the things that you work with such as soft cotton. Take in a small quilt sandwich made using the batting and fabrics which you normally use and try to Machine Quilt both free motion and Machine assisted with the walking foot. If Satin Stitch is important take in a small piece of Applique to try the satin stitching on - prepare it in the same way you normally do for machine satin stitching - remember that you need to stabilise for close satin stitching in order to prevent tunnelling. Use a decorative rayon thread for best results with satin stiching.

Which Threads do you recommend?

I have produced a Mind Map about threads which hopefully will help explain the various cotton threads available.
The threads I choose are chosen with the purpose of the quilt in mind.

Bed Quilts

Tradionally bed quilts are made out of cotton fabrics, although silk is sometimes used. Cotton is the most serviceable choice of fabrics. For a bed quilt made out of cotton fabrics I would choose a 100% cotton thread. Polyester thread will in time wear away the cotton fabric. Standard cotton threads comes in a 50/3 weight/guage - examples being Sylko, Gutermans cotton and Mettler Silk finish. A large selection of cotton threads is available in different thicknesses. The lower the number of a thread, the thicker it is. Thicker threads such as Mettler Hand Quilting (40/3) and Anchor Machine Embroidery Thread(30) can be used for quilting a bed quilt. Caution should be exercised when using the very thick threads such as Coats Cotton Perle (12), and Top stitch threads such as YLI Jeanstitch. These threads are very thick and strong and continued use of the quilt could cause them to damage the fabric. Rayon amd decorative metallic threads are too weak to use on a bed quilt and will break with use.

Thinner threads such as DMC 50, Tanne 50 and Mettler 60/3 can be used effectively if chosen to stitch background stippling and shadowing. Thicker threads cause close machine quilting to be hard.

Wall Hangings - decorative pieces

Thicker threads such as Madeira Glamour, YLI Candlelight, YLI Jeanstitch and YLI Pearl Crown Rayon can be used most effectively in the bobbin - working from the back of the work. Try all sorts of threads for bobbin quilting - anything that does not go through a Topstitch 90 needle easily is best used in the Bobbin case.