10 Simple Things (7) - Practice Your Quilting First

You completed the onerous step of basting your quilt now you are ready to dive in with the quilting. Hold up, wait a minute.

Machine quilting can be both infuriating and exhilarating. One way to stay happy is to make sure you aren’t having any tension troubles before you start. Make a quilt sandwich that uses the same batting and backing fabric. If you have a spare block from the top or something similar in terms of fabric use that. Then warm up and practice your quilting. You can work out any thread or tension issues this way, before you get to the quilt. This is also helpful in seeing if you need to change the pressure of your presser foot. Too heavy and it will pull your fabric when straight line quilting, resulting in the perception of waves in your piecing or whiskers in your finished quilt. 

It seems like an extra step but it will save you time in unpicking threads or the worry that you are going to ruin your quilt.