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The Greatest Job on Earth By Mindy Casperson, Angel Threads Quilting
Fast forward 30 years. Once again, I have the greatest job in the world! I am a longarm quilter, instructor and quilting machine dealer. (OK, well, actually that’s three jobs, but who’s counting?) My friends and family still come to visit me at work, and they’re still my customers too! I make money, usually more than minimum wage (when my customers aren’t my friends and family!) and I don’t have all that grease to contend with! I much prefer thread tails and lint over grease any day! My most frequently asked question now is “How would you like for me to quilt that?” Most often the answer to that question is “Do whatever you think is best.” Wow! If this had been the answer when I was slinging burgers, all my family and friends would be thinner, have lower cholesterol and I probably would have been fired! So, here are some tips to help you get the best results with your quilts and your longarm quilter. Most longarm quilters cringe at the words “do what you think is best.” The quilting designs that I like may not be what you would like. The thread I choose may not be thread you would have chosen. Longarm quilters tend to like the quilting more than the piecing, and so our chosen quilting designs may be more outstanding than you would like. Our designs and thread colors may be bolder than you would like because to us “quilting makes the quilt,” not the piecing! So take the time to talk to your longarm quilter and make sure she understands your style and what you have in mind for your quilt. Tell her who the quilt is for (yourself, a small child, a college student, a friend) and how the quilt will be used. This will help determine how it should be quilted. Quilts that will be washed often, or that will be used to make tents or forts out of need more quilting than a quilt that will be placed on a guest room bed or used as a holiday table topper. Help choose the thread color. You may even want more than one color on your quilt if you’re having custom quilting done. This is completely acceptable and even normal. And what if you want different colors on top and back? Sometimes that works fine, and sometimes it doesn’t. Your longarm quilter can guide you in these decisions. Present your quilting design ideas to your longarm quilter. Bring drawings and pictures from books and magazines, or wherever you find them! Look for ideas all around you. I frequently thumb through my kids’ coloring books, and I carry a notebook in my purse to doodle on when I get an idea. I pick up paper napkins at restaurants and have even taken a picture of the tile in a bathroom. Be particularly open to designs that are one continuous line. Those are easiest to execute on a longarm machine. The more stops and starts your quilter has to do will make the job more time consuming and expensive. Discuss your options about batting with your longarm quilter. Some battings are best used for hand quilting and don’t work so well on the quilting frame. Some battings are more suited for the intended purpose of the quilt than others. Be open-minded and listen to the advice your longarm quilter gives. If she tells you that custom quilting or stitch-in-the-ditch (SID) is not a good option for this quilt, then it probably is not a good idea. SID is not always a good choice for many reasons. Sometimes it is because of less-than-perfect piecing, or seams that flip-flop, and sometimes it is because of bulky intersections in the pattern. Not every quilt is a good candidate for custom quilting. She can probably recommend a couple of allover designs that would look awesome on your quilt. And, if your quilter knows the purpose of the quilt she may recommend one type of quilting over another. Custom quilting is certainly not called for on quilts that will become forts or picnic blankets, or for the person who doesn’t know the first thing about quilting -- they won’t appreciate the extra time, effort, and money that went into it. Busy backing fabrics can help hide those wobbles and frequent stops and starts. So if you really prefer this type of quilting, but your longarm quilter doesn’t recommend it, maybe it’s partly because you brought a solid fabric for the backing and she knows all those things will stand out on that. Ask her if switching out your backing fabric would be a good option. Speaking of backing fabric, let’s talk about those seams. Longarm quilters prefer wide backing fabrics, but we realize that isn’t always possible. If you must seam your backing fabric, one or two horizontal seams are best for us. If the seam is vertical it makes it more difficult to load it on the frame and quilt it without any distortion. Remember it gets rolled around a pole and the seam will be thicker and bulkier than the rest of the fabric, and that pulls the rest out of shape. Also remember to ask your quilter how much extra fabric she prefers (usually 4 to 6 inches in both length and width) and remember to square it up first. Your longarm quilter thinks she has the greatest job on earth, just like I do, and nothing makes us happier than to make YOU happy. That is done by good communication between you and your quilter. Don’t be afraid to take part in the decision process. The result will be a completed quilt that you will love! Mindy Casperson has been quilting since 1997 and purchased her first of three quilting machines in late 2000. She now has a very successful quilting business, Angel Threads Quilting in her home studio in Pennsylvania. Since 2003 she has been teaching longarm quilting in full day workshops in her studio. She provides group and individual machine quilting training. Mindy is also a manufacturer’s representative for Nolting Longarm Quilting Machines and Hinterberg Designs. Mindy’s encouraging, enthusiastic, and entertaining teaching style has helped many new machine quilters. Visit her Web site at www.angelthreadsquilting.com. ©2007. Reproduction without authorization is prohibited
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When I was 15 I got my first job. I worked at a fast food, burger chain. It was the greatest job in the world….except for the grease! That stuff was everywhere! On the floor, on my face, in my hair. Yuck. But, anyway, I got paid minimum wage, which was a lot of money to me at the time. My family and friends came to visit me at work and they were my customers, too. The most frequently asked question at the time was, “Do you want fries with that?” Most often the answer was “Yes, please.”