QUILTsocial Spring 2015 Issue | Page 26

Machine quilting Free motion quilting – to some it's a bad word, to others it's freedom! Let's explore free motion machine quilting on the Husqvarna Viking Designer Ruby Royale. I’m going to show you how easy it is to do free motion quilting on the Ruby Royale and I’m throwing in a few related tips along the way. Basting the quilt The first step is to baste the three layers together. I laid out the backing (wrong side up) on my work tables. I love to use the 505 basting spray because it's fast and easy. However, I do not like the over spray which leaves sticky residue on surfaces and has to be cleaned up. Husqvarna Viking Designer Ruby Royale Keeping that in mind, I decided to try a different way of using the spray. Instead of using a light steady stream of the spray, I spot sprayed and those three layers were basted together perfectly and NO RESIDUE and nothing to clean up! Yes, I just went spritz – spritz – spritz and that was enough to hold the quilt together. A can of basting spray will go VERY far when used like this. I kept checking the back of the quilt as I quilted to make sure that there were no tucks or wrinkles. It was perfect and I didn’t have to make any adjustments. Nothing to clean up – I like that. More time for quilting. One of the other reasons I like the 505 basting spray is that while it has a bit of a smell, it's not over powering and since I didn’t use a lot, the smell dissipated rather quickly. Quilting gloves A pair of quilter’s gloves are very useful for getting a grip on the quilt and helping to move it around. As you can see, my gloves are well used. They do NOT look that black in real life. The lighting did something to the color. Oh my – perhaps they need to be washed! Machine quilting gloves 505 Basting Spray 26 QUILTsocial Backing taped to the work surface in preparation for basting .com ● spring 2015