Quilting on My Old Bernina

 My quilt is taking on a satisfying slight puffiness now.  I have quilted one half (I am doing it in two panels) thanks to the help of my old Bernina Minimatic.  I think the Bernina dates to the 1970s and I was not its first owner.  It is quite basic and very heavy, which make it great for ordinary stitching (straight and zig zag), particularly on heavy or thick fabrics.  Whenever I have it serviced the man at Wimbledon Sewing Machines says "It's a good machine." In fact, it reminds me of my mother's ancient Singer.  The Singer only did straight stitching but it's what I learned to sew on and it did a great job for me.

My newer Toyota, which I usually prefer to use,  has a walking foot (even feed), but it does not have a long stitch.  It has two settings for straight stitching and one is small and the other is tiny! Having done a few rows with it, I decided to try the Bernina. I was worried that it might bunch or push the fabric, but so far so good. That may be because I took the 'belt and braces' approach and pinned the quilt with large safety pins and then tacked (basted) it every two rows.  Lots of extra pins kept it in place while I stitched.

Pinned and tacked

A Satisfying Puffiness

First panel stitched. Hooray.

Good old Bernina.