Monday, September 14, 2015

Stepping Stones Table Runner Samples & Teaching

This fall is very busy with trunk shows!  I'm having a great time visiting many local guilds sharing the projects from Make It, Take It with traditional and modern quilters alike.  The table runner that I pieced for the book was quilted by Krista Withers, so after Quilt Market and my spring trunk shows I sent her that one because I knew she loved it and well, she's awesome so she should have it!  I needed to make another and why make one when you can make two?!

Stepping Stones Table Runners by Poppyprint

The combination of Essex linen and Briar Rose used in the original runner was just too sweet to pass up, so I kept everything pretty much the same when I made these two new ones. The runner sews up quickly - it is so fun to make!  I was anxious to try straight line quilting using Krista's Ghost Shape Quilting instructions in the book. PLUS, I treated myself to a new Juki TL2010Q over the summer and I figured this would be the perfect small project to give it a go.

Stepping Stones Table Runners by Poppyprint

Stepping Stones Table Runners by Poppyprint

Unfortunately, the walking foot that came with my machine was a dud and I was unable to use it. After some online research and an S.O.S. call on Instagram, I was advised by several other Juki users to just go for it and quilt using the regular sewing foot with the presser foot pressure turned right down to the lowest setting (in other words, almost no pressure on the foot). Walking foot be damned!  (Note: my dealer arranged for an immediate replacement walking foot to be sent directly from Juki and I have received it, but not yet tried it).

Stepping Stones Table Runners by Poppyprint
The circles are machine appliqued using my "Fabric Stickers" method described in my Crop Circles Table Runner tutorial on the left sidebar. I used a shortened & narrowed blind hem stitch to secure them to the quilt top.

The results were pretty darn good considering I didn't use a walking foot. Some of the straight seams show signs of drag, but I can live with that. On the second one, I stabilized those longer seams between blocks and beside the pieced sections with stitch in the ditch.  Ultimately, I'm just picky and would prefer longarm results with a home machine, which just isn't going to happen. I'm trying to lighten up and find satisfaction in a job done the best that I can do with the equipment that I have.

Machine binding on my Juki

Where the Juki totally rocked was the binding. I applied my regular 2 1/4" double fold binding to the front of the runners, then pressed it to the back, mitering the corners. Using Roxanne's Glue-Baste-It and a dry iron, I basted the binding to the back.  Then, still using the regular sewing foot I slowly and carefully stitched in the ditch from the front. The machine performed beautifully, even with the uneven thickness of fabrics under the foot (6 layers of binding fabric plus quilt sandwich under the right side of the foot and only the quilt sandwich under the left side of the foot).  With my Pfaff, the snap-on "stitch in the ditch foot" regular popped off when I tried to do this.

I'll be keeping one of these runners for my trunk shows (two more this week!) and gifting the other one soon. If you are a quilting teacher, I highly recommend this project as a complete beginner quilting class that includes: rotary cutting techniques, accurate piecing, flying geese construction, machine applique, quilt basting, marking & straight line quilting and binding.  Check out the copyright statement in Make It, Take It - as long as your students each have a copy of the book, you're welcome to teach any of the projects. Please do!


5 comments:

Leanne said...

The runners are lovely, and look great! I am confused about how a presser foot with almost no weight could mimic a walking foot but your results are fine. I hope the new walking foot does its job well.

Jamie @ Sew Brainy said...

That came out great! I love sewing with linen and some pops of color on it. I'm going to be working on a linen fall table runner soon!

SarahZ said...

Beautiful, again and again! This is such a playful design...one just has to smile when they see it! :)

Sandi said...

Krista, I thorough,y enjoyed your trunk show and talk last week at our guild. Your quilts are lovely, nice to see you reproducing your friend Krista's quilting on a domestic machine. You inspire the rest of us to try it ourselves.

momiji said...

Welcome to the Juki club! I started quilting a big quilt with the regular foot a while back, simply because I somehow forgot all about the walking foot option. All the layers fed beautifully, without any noticeable problems. Isn't the TL-2010Q a great machine?