Quilting a King Quilt

I have just started to quilt one of my UFO, the Aviatrix Medallion quilt. Hence, in this post, I’ll sprinkle some tips and my thoughts on how I’m about to tackle quilting this king quilt on my domestic machine.

Taking it slow and enjoying the process so far. This time I decided to be more intentional with the quilting process. Rather than chasing it to the finish line, I wanted to take it slow and embrace the process as I go. Besides, that was the point of me diving into this craft anyway. To enjoy the process of making. 

I have learned that not all quilts need to be done quickly, some may take longer than the other and that is okay. When I need quilts to be done quickly, those are usually the last-minute gifts like these quilts here, here, and here. 

And I do love that I can choose a quilting design that suits the need to be quick like the one I shared in this particular post here : 3 all-over FMQ design for a quick finish.

However, with this Aviatrix Medallion quilt, I wanted to play around with the free motion quilting designs. I wanted to practice more designs while quilting a large quilt. Hence, I am very aware that I’ll be diving into long hours of quilting. With lots of breaks, of course. 

Quilting a King Quilt on Domestic Machine

This Aviatrix Medallion is a king-size quilt and since we have just upgraded to a new king-size bed, I find that this is the perfect timing. My double wedding ring quilt no longer lays nicely covering our bed and that left us with only one quilt to spread the bed with which is the the Swoon quilt I made before.

I can’t wait to have this Aviatrix Medallion on the bed. But in saying that, I am letting go of the pressure to get it done quickly. I am just excited and can already imagine it being on the bed. Being loved as with all my other quilts. 

This medallion quilt is going to be custom quilted, meaning that I am not just going over it with the same design all over but instead, each of the blocks/ rounds is going to be quilted differently. 

I am thankful that my domestic machine has a large throat (~8 inches) and I highly recommend this machine to anyone thinking of upgrading their machine cause I love mine so much.

You can check out Janome Horizon here on Amazon.

Quilting from the center out

Obviously, I am starting from the center out.

When doing large quilt, do it this way has been the best way for me. 

I do teach this when I teach free motion quilting on a domestic machine, but for allover quilting, this is done by filling the whole quarter of the quilt before the need to turn the quilt around to fill the next quarter.

By doing this, it saves so much struggle with tugging the quilt in your machine and the hardest part is only the center part. By tackling it first, you’ll be on your way to an easier process afterward. I talk about this process in this post and thoroughly explain it in my signature course Free Motion Quilting Bootcamp. 

Custom quilting on a domestic machine

With the custom quilting, I have to turn the quilt every round of design. This is the hardest in the center part as there is a lot of bulk in the throat of the machine. But I am  just taking the time to slowly turn, flatten the area that I’m quilting on. Then, focus on just quilting that area for a bit before I need to turn the quilt and flatten it again. 

So the tip here is just to take it slow. Take the time to prepare the area you’re going to quilt. Once prepared, enjoy some quilting time before you need to take a break again. When you are out of the space to quilt properly, take it as a sign to take a break. 

Quilting on a domestic machine can be tiring and be hard on your shoulders and body. You need lots of breaks. 

Especially when quilting king size quilt, you will need to plan ahead or time yourself to take lots of breaks. Maybe 15 minutes of quilting and a short break before continuing again. 

Stretch every now and then too.

Want more tips? 

Watch this video as I explained

12 Tips to Quilting a King Size Quilt with a domestic machine

So, does it answer the question of

Can a king-size quilt be quilted with a home machine?

YES, for sure. You just need lots of patience and learn the basics first by practicing small projects and small quilts. 

Quilting as a slow living part of my life

So far, I am loving the process. On the weekend, I am working on this in between the naps of my little one and house chores. My weekdays are pretty busy these days with a high workload at my Uni. Hence, I feel like taking a slow weekend is just the perfect break for me. I take the time to enjoy housework and some quilting time. 

Blogging is also something I enjoyed very much and find it relaxing. It slows me down as it requires me to evaluate my quilting process. But I am planning to take it easy and let it flow as it will. There is no pressure for me to get new things done every single week. Sometimes I will post a work in progress post like this one and maybe sometimes just tips for my readers like last week’s post. 

I do hope you enjoy this little snippet of my work in progress. 

Till next time, Happy Quilting.