How to Quilt With a Brother Sewing Machine

Many Brother sewing machines are designed for quilting. Some cost as little as a few hundred dollars, while the high end machines cost thousands of dollars. Their quilting features vary accordingly. Some machines accomplish with the touch of a button what others need two or three manual steps to perform. Yet all will assist you in creating a fabulous quilt.

Remove the presser foot and ankle from your Brother sewing machine, using a screwdriver if necessary. Attach either the Brother walking foot for straight line quilting, or the Brother free motion presser foot for all other types of quilting. Put on your quilting gloves.

Attach your Brother extension table to your Brother sewing machine to extend the flatbed sewing surface. Add additional flat surfaces at the same level if desired, such as an ironing board or another table, to extend the flatbed sewing surface even farther to counter the size and weight of the quilt. Position as much of the quilt as possible on the flatbed sewing surface as you quilt to avoid the drag of the quilt, which distorts stitches. This also avoids fatigue to your upper body.

Position your Brother sewing machine to start in the middle of the quilt sandwich. Divide the quilt roughly into four quadrants and begin sewing from the center toward the bottom right corner so you can see your quilting stitches as you progress. Follow the markings you have made on your quilt if you are quilting a defined pattern.

Remove the basting stitches or pins as you encounter them. Keep the feed dogs on your Brother sewing machine engaged and in their upright position if you are using the walking foot.

Lower the feed dogs and shorten the stitch length on your Brother sewing machine if you are using the free motion presser foot. Position your hands a few inches apart from one another on each side of the presser foot. Sew at a steady pace and move the quilt at a steady pace to create quilting stitches that are uniform in length. Adjust the stitch length setting if necessary to ensure quilting stitches that are uniform in length.

Cut the threads with your Brother sewing machine's automatic thread cutter as you complete the quilting of each quadrant of the quilt. Reposition the machine to quilt the next quadrant. Check the quilt once you have completed the quilting of all four quadrants to ensure that it has been completely quilted.

Add quilting stitches to any sections that does not have them if there are any. Use a seam ripper to remove the quilting stitches and re-quilt any areas where there may be problems, such as major puckers.