Quilt Basting Techniques for a Longarm Quilting Machine

[Music] hi i'm dawn kavanagh apqs education director today i'd like to show you how to use your apqs long arm to based quilts if you already own a long arm machine you know that it's very handy to be able to use the machine to baste the quilt top right directly to the backing and to the batting you can do that actually a couple of different ways i personally like to use a precision basting stitch so that i can put the stitches exactly where i want them i sometimes find that a roughly border might need a little easing in or or maybe a seam on the outer edge of the quilt needs a little extra security so that as i quilt it doesn't pull apart i'll show you how to do that as well as how to use a simulated zigzag stitch when you want to secure that edge and quilt all the way off and back on again without having to worry about that edge flipping over we do have an accessory foot that's called the scoop foot that can greatly help with that but if you don't happen to have that the zigzag to need it technique is really helpful for that but you also can use the machine to do basting for other people in a different way maybe you've got someone in your family or a friend who's really tired of crawling around on the floor sticking pins in the quilt trying to get all those layers together because he or she just loves to hand quilt well you can put your machine to good use and put basting stitches in for that person you can also change the basting style just a little bit and use it for people who love to machine quilt while hand quilters love to be able to release the threads as they quilt typically from the center out machine quilters don't want any traveling threads on the back that could get caught on the throat of their home sewing machines so i'll explore both of those those techniques with you along with showing you a couple of different ways to use the machine to base the quilt right to the frame epic os long arms come with a single stitch button built into both the right and the left handles so lefties like me along with right-handed people have easy access to the controls along with the toggle switch that starts and stops the machine so i can easily control the machine no matter which hand i need to use to adjust or stabilize the fabric what i'm going to show you is is stabilizing the edge of this quilt since we do also have videos on our apqs youtube channel that go into greater detail about loading i want to talk about how you can use that simple function to help precisely place stitches where you want them to be this in this case there's a little bit of a wrinkle in this fabric and that might be a good example of perhaps a border that's just a little bit too wavy that i want to use that single stitch button to help precisely place my single basting stitches i can baste along the edge just inside the raw edge of the quilt in that quarter inch margin where the binding is going to go using that single individual stitch to give me more control over where those are placed unlike a machine that automatically fires the stitch after traveling a certain distance it's very difficult to control where that stitch is going to fall making it harder for me to ease in fabric if i'm going to quilt off the edge and back on again of course there is a chance that as the foot crosses over it could flip that little piece of fabric over making it more difficult when it's time to do the binding apqs offers an optional foot that is a curved scoop foot that will slide on and off the edge but if that's not something that's available for you or you have access to that the regular foot works just fine instead we'll use a different technique we'll use the machine to do a small zigzag all along the edge to secure it that'll help baste it down still give me time to ease in but also adds a little bit of elasticity to that outer edge so as i'm attaching the binding it can also relax a little bit and not end up having a wavy border when i'm finished of course normally you'd be doing this along the top edge of your quilt potentially also but it'll show enough of that example here on the side for you too to get the hang of things i'm going to use one of those needle up and down buttons to take a single stitch and bring my bobbin thread up to the surface of the quilt there we go now with that single stitch feature i can put single tacking stitches exactly where i want them and with a quick tap and needle down and needle up i can even take care of easing in another feature that's built into apqs machines is the build the ability to cycle that stitch if i hold the switch in now the machine slowly takes stitches so if i want a little more speed and control i can move it a little bit farther and get those stitches to fire for me i really like the ability to just tap it one at a time and that allows me to put those stitches exactly where i want them to go the next technique i'll show you is how to move the machine in a zigzag stitch right along the outer edge with the machine just catching little bits and pieces of the quilt and the backing and the batting is as well i personally like to turn off the stitch regulator to do this technique but you certainly can leave it on if you like on an apqs milli and freddie machine you simply tap the little s that's in the middle of the screen to turn off the stitch regulator and then i'm going to use the less stitches button to actually reduce the speed of the sewing motor when it's in its constant speed mode that way i can control the machine a little easier but the needle will constantly move up and down as i quilt on apqs lucy and lenny machines to disengage the stitch regulator simply push the blue button next to the led light that tells you that the stitch regulator currently is off and to use it for our basting techniques you'll typically need to adjust your speed on the sewing motor closer to the turtle now means less speed less motor speed when it's in constant sewing mode play with that adjustment just like i showed you on milli so that you can find the right spot for the technique you're using i'll use that needle up and down button to bring my bobbin thread up to the surface of the quilt again see if i can make sure that my hand stays out of the way there we go and i'll take one or two small stitches with that needle up and down button just to secure my beginning tails so they don't come undone now of course you may need to experiment with the speed of that sewing motor with the more or less stitches per inch dial or the rotary dial on your lucy or lenny to control the speed of the machine find what feels right to you when i turn on the sewing motor now the needle constantly moves up and down and all i have to do is wiggle my way right down the edge of the quilt let me move the machine out of the way so you can get an idea of what that actually looks like remember this by no means needs to be perfect this is going to be covered by your binding stitches but now with that zigzag stitch securing your edge you can move over it and back and forth and not worry that the foot is going to flip that over for you as you go let's talk first about how you can baste a quilt for someone who's going to do hand quilting now of course i'm just using plain fabric here so that you can very easily see what i'm doing with these tacking stitches i'm going to use this sewing motor to its advantage now without the stitch regulator though i could baste the quilt for someone who's going to do hand quilting by using that needle up and down button and taking a couple of tiny stitches and then moving to a new location and doing it again i personally like to kind of make a castle shape when i'm doing this you'll see that eventually it starts to pull a little bit in those corners see if i can zoom in a little bit without driving you crazy here there we go and that tends to distort the quilt so instead of just taking one single stitch there i could take two or three using the needle up and down button if i do that now in this location by holding it in then as you see when i move to the next location it's nice and secure move again and move again we don't have any pulling like we did in this one but that takes quite a bit of time to sit there and put two or three in using only the single stitch button so instead i'm going to use the constant speed mode the constant speed mode having the stitch regulator actually turned off and that sewing motor adjusted for a speed that's comfortable for me i'm going to use that by turning the note the sewing motor on and off just briefly just enough to put its own two or three tacking stitches in those corner positions and then i'll stop the machine and drag to a new spot let it put two or three and continue on all the way down the quilt let me show you what i mean by allowing the machine to do that quick three or four stitch position right here at each of those corners it's much faster and i can cruise right on down the quilt well you might ask why didn't i just run the machine in a horizontal motion and go all the way across the quilt just in straight lines you certainly could do it that way because it would end up putting the tacking stitches very similarly the nice part about this is that it helps me to kind of keep those tacking stitches in line at least for a section and helps to actually prevent it from shifting as opposed to running those straight lines over and over all in one direction for the next row of stitches or basting stitches i don't need to go all the way up to the top of this section i can actually just stop about three or four inches below that and make another castle set because that will actually put a tacking point in all four corners just trying to make sure that when i put my fist down i am hitting one corner of each of those little castle tops let's do that again needle down needle up to secure my first couple of stitches i'll stop in the needle in the with the needle in the up position so that i can move the machine turn it on and turn it off turn it on turn it off then when it's time for that hand quilter to actually remove those stitches let me show you how that would easy that would be simply pull and since you've only put a couple of stitches in there they slide right out but for a machine quilter having that thread travel across the bottom of the quilt is a bit of a pain because it can catch on things as you're moving the quilt around your table or on the machine itself so instead we're going to twist the technique just a little bit we are going to still use a longer stitch but we're going to keep them closer together with this technique we'll still use the machine's constant speed mode that's the regulator is actually disengaged or turned off we'll adjust the speed of the motor to make sure that we can move the machine comfortably without risking breaking a needle but that will help us to actually move quickly across the length of the table and put those stitches farther apart without having that person worrying about catching them underneath it is important to be aware with this technique that you always stand at the needle side and quilt moving from the left side to the right with this particular technique that's so that the needle bends in the right direction to form a stitch since you're making it drag quite a ways before it's time to take another stitch that way will prevent broken needles in the process okay so i have disabled or disengaged the stitch regulator making sure that we're now in constant speed mode and i have just adjusted the speed of the sewing motor it's going to take a little bit of practice to find out what speed gives you control but at the same time allows you to make longer stitches the next step is then to bring up your bobbin thread and stitch those long straight lines tap the sewing motors go button and move that machine which will allow you to get longer stitches when you're finished with your basting project remember to put your stitch regulator back on and adjust the stitch length to your favorite i like to just use the apqs stitch default to quickly get me right up to my 11 stitches per inch before we wrap up just want to share another tip or two on the basting process you know all apqs quilting machines come with a channel lock so on lenny lucy and freddie you can use the manual channel lock to make sure that those basting lines stay nice and straight and of course on milli the electronic channel locks right at your fingertips make sure that you don't have to worry that your lines are going to wiggle and wobble a little bit for your customer it's a great way to earn a little extra income on the side for someone who might still want to be doing the quilts themselves remember if you're using this very last technique i showed you where you're using the constant speed mode to sew those straight lines and you're making just long stitches with the motor engaged make sure that you're only quilting from the left to the right when you stand at the needle side of the machine that way the machine will form stitches correctly and you won't have to worry about broken needles by going backwards so to speak this is a great way for you to earn a little extra money in your business for those people who may still want to do all of their quilting on their own a way for you to earn a little extra money on the side or maybe just be a nice friend to someone else who is in need i hope you've enjoyed watching our techniques be sure to check us out like us on facebook check out our apqs youtube quilting channel for more exciting videos and be sure to follow us on twitter and instagram we're here to help thanks for watching

Channel: APQS

Views: 3,120

Rating: 4.9157896 out of 5

Keywords: APQS, APQS Tutorial, how to, longarm quilting machines, quilting machines, longarm, long arm, Lucey, Lenni, Millennium, Freedom, George

Id: 2p7KoHbfzsY

Length: 15min 25sec (925 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 16 2020