I knew from the minute I started making the Totoro quilt that I wanted to make the quilting special. I wanted to try doing different designs for the different sections the way Gemma and Jess do so brilliantly. However, I have a little Elna with only 6″ of throat space and no extension table or drop-in sewing table. She’s also a bit temperamental when it comes to free motion quilting, not liking the combination of bulky seams and quilting small curves faster than a snail’s pace. My sewing table is also too high because we had to raise it so I don’t hit my knees on the bar underneath – this means it’s not ergonomical for long periods of free motion quilting. Not ideal to get too fancy!
So small designs that didn’t take too long to finish as well as complimenting the quilt top and a buttload of patience and a dash of advice from Gemma…
The first design I knew the quilt needed was woodgrain for the tree trunk. This was nice and quick, despite a couple of thread breakages. I wasn’t trying for perfectly consistent and symmetrical wood knots, I wanted big, loose, and free-flowing as I didn’t want to add too much weight with the rest of the quilting to come.
I used 50wt Aurifil 2600 for both the top thread and the bobbin – it’s a light grey that blends in beautifully on both sides! For the leaves however, I decided to go with 40wt Aurifil 1114 for both the top and the bobbin too. No blending for these!
I’ve always liked the look of dogwood quilting, and what better time is there to try it out than for leaves?! Easier said than done… I had a quick read of the tutorial on Oh, Fransson! which recommended going from the bottom to the top of the column. That was my first mistake! Ellie Elna did not like that direction, so I started again working from the top of the column, down. Each 2″ square got it’s own “leaf”, but Ellie didn’t like all the seams in the corner points (more so for the dark green solid fabric, which has always been a pain to sew and this sounded its death knell). Cue many threads snapping despite slowing down, smoother movements, lots of support from Aurifil 12 spool thread cases and a plastic storage drawer. But I fought on and am thrilled with results! You can seem some empty patches in the picture where I didn’t quilt in the Hello Kitty Liberty squares.
For the sky, it was back to the Aurifil 2600 for some loopy meanderings. Yep, more small curves where I apparently took it too quickly at times. But fabulous texture and lots of added cosiness.
I purposely decided to limit the quilting on Totoro himself. I wanted him to stand out a bit more, so I simply outline quilted around the outside of the body and the tummy, nose and feet details. My daughter just loves the little tummy arrows showing through on the back!
Finally, Totoro’s eyes. I only had to unpick one once due to a few pop through threads to the back (black Aurifil 2692 top, 2600 bottom) and not quite centred properly! Which actually didn’t take too long, thank goodness. I was worried he might look a little… surprised, but it actually worked out perfectly.
So yes, I both loved the quilting process and seeing my ideas come to life, and also a very frustrating process of being limited by my machine’s (in)capabilities despite trying everything – tension, threads, support, batting, etc. It seems I will have to carefully choose which quilt tops I commit to free motion quilting whilst I still have Ellie.
Adrianne says
You’ve done such a great job of the quilting on this one. I FMQ on my little bernina and face that small throat space problem too – well done for pushing on!
Lucy @ Charm About You says
Wow Alyce the quilting looks amazing! I’m too chicken to try the dogwood quilting but it does look fabulous. I love those tummy arrows too and the eyes are just brilliant!
Kristy @ Quiet Play says
The quilting looks fantastic! I think it finishes this quilt off beautifully!
Janine says
This is wonderful! The perfect way to finish this quilt 🙂
Serena @ Sewgiving says
Ellie sounds a lot like my little Brother – you did an amazing job of quilting on this quilt. My fav part is the wood grain tree trunk!
Melissa says
Great quilting choices!!
Jess says
It looks great Alyce! Love the dogwood quilting, it’s perfect for the leaves – in fact all your quilting choices are perfect!
Janine says
That looks just lovely. For having an uncooperative machine, it sure looks snazzy!
Dasha Brandt says
Hello Alyce,
Just reading your post about threads snapping. Something I learnt recently is that the thicker threads require a much larger needle than I have been using in the past. So I go for a Topstitch needle 90/14 for that. Aldo discovered that if your thread is snapping, you should use a metallic needle. Apparently the eye of the metallic needles is Teflon coated and therefore a smoother ride for the thread. Haven’t tried that trick yet to confirm it.
You’ve done a lovely job on Ellie. It looks great. Congratulations on persevering. I would have chucked in the cupboard in disgust 😉
Jeifner says
I dream sometimes of a Drop-in table and cooperative FMQ machine. That would be so lovely. I especially like how the wood grain came looking on the tree trunk.
Susie says
Looks fabulous. I’m especially impressed with your quilting. So great to see fantastic work on a domestic machine.
Jo says
Totoro!! I will show this to my niece, she will flip! Love your quilting, especially the dogwood pattern. Must get around to trying aurifill thread one of these days, it seems everyone who’s work I admire uses Auriful.
Sarah Lou says
Sounds like the quilting was hard work but it looks amazing so it may have been worth it!
Dana - WaterPenny says
I am thinking of doing the dogwood/orangepeel quilting on my pixel bird quilt! This turned out great.
When I am quilting at my taller desk, I raise my chair (I have an office chair, but you can also get a cushion or sit on a phonebook, etc!) and then place my sewing pedal on a box under my feet so that I’m raised about 3-4 inches higher than I normally sit. It makes a tremendous difference in my control and comfort when quilting.
Gemma @ Pretty Bobbins says
Such a great quilt Alyce! I love all of the different quilting designs that you went with (and you definitely had a truckload of patience!). Thanks for linking up lovely xx