A Little Skew Will Do

I have been trying to get UFO’s (Unfinished Objects) accomplished. I’m terrible for starting something new then going “squirrel” and starting something else. My goal is to get these things done BEFORE I start a new project. It is great in theory, let’s hope it works, lol!

I had made some placemats back in March and they got put in a box with several other projects (still to be finished). I wanted to quilt them but wasn’t sure about a pattern as they are a unique shape.

I also wanted to make them reversible, so I loaded cotton fabric for my backing to my Janome Quilt Maker longarm quilting machine, then floated a layer of thin batting on top as I didn’t want the placemats to be puffy. Using a thinner batting will help dishes and glasses, especially stemware, lay nice and flat without tipping over.

The Pro Stitcher Premium computer software can be added at any point to most Janome longarm quilting machines. It makes quilting a dream and the creative possibilities are endless!

I used the “Multi-Point” function to create the shape of my placemat. Simply move the machine head around selecting “Multi-Point” at each point, and you can create any shape you want. It’s that simple!

I wanted a fairly dense pattern that covered the majority of my placemat. I chose the windmill design which is one of the many built-in designs available in the Pro Stitcher Premium software. The blue lines on the tablet represent the shape of my placemat. |As you can see, the quilting design goes beyond my placemat lay out.

I could quilt this design as it, and just trim the design as I cut around the placemat, but why bother when we have so many editing capabilities available at our fingertips?

When you select the “Modify” tab, you can “Skew” the design, which allows you to transform and fit the design into your placement area. There are two “Skew” options from which to choose. Which one depends on the design and the shape, so, I find the easiest way to determine which to use is by simply pressing each one to see which one works out best. Sometimes there is very little difference between Skew 1 and 2, but other times there is a significant difference, so try each one. You can always “Undo” what you don’t like.

Skew 2 fit the area perfectly! Just the touch a few buttons and it’s done perfectly! I certainly couldn’t have freehand quilted that design with such precision.

When you are loading any project on the longarm, basting is your best friend, especially when using the Pro Stitcher Premium computer program. Some people may find it a waste of thread and time to baste, but trust me, you want to baste your projects! You don’t want your projects to shift and stretch while the machine is stitching. The basting keeps everything in place and saves a lot of hassles in the long run.

I’ll have to show these completed placemats in another blog post. I got distracted by another project, lol!

Happy Quilting!