3 quilting styles with the Husqvarna Viking Brilliance 75Q

It’s Friday – the end of the week, and I’ve so much more that I want to share with you about the Husqvarna Viking Brilliance 75Q.

Today, it’s all about quilting. I’m looking at three presser feet for three different methods of machine quilting. There’s NO time to waste – let’s get started.

Ruler work is a big deal for domestic sewing machines. In case you weren’t aware, ruler work is a form of free-motion quilting and requires a unique presser foot. The Brilliance 75Q has a setting that makes it very easy to install and adjust the Ruler Foot.

Let’s look at the set-up involved to do ruler work. I’m using the straight stitch plate as the needle will be staying in the center position. As with most presser feet, there are red markings on the Ruler Foot to help line up whatever you’re working on, and there are some dips in the side to allow visibility into your work.

The big question is, how are we going to quilt our project? That decision is the hardest part of the entire quilting process. I found this small project and decided it would be good to do a bit of stitch in the ditch using the Free-Motion Ruler Foot. Once we know what we’re going to stitch, the rest is easy. Yes – this piece is small, and I could easily have used the Interchangeable Dual Feed Foot, but I wanted to try the Ruler Foot. And when trying something new, it’s best to start SMALL.

I LOVE the Brilliance 75Q for prepping for free-motion quilting. It’s so easy!

See the icon with the squiggles on it? That’s the Free Motion Technique selection icon.

When I select the Free-Motion Technique icon, I get a menu with three options to choose from: Free Motion Floating, Free Motion Spring Action, or Free Motion Ruler Work. The best part is that once you’ve selected the appropriate option, the feed teeth automatically drop into the bobbin area. The tension, the recommended needle, and the presser foot appear on the stitch information screen. There’s NO guesswork.

Here’s the stitch information screen for ruler work. Notice that the Brilliance 75Q selected the A:1 stitch, which is the straight stitch. I left the fabric weight at the default of Woven Medium.  Remember that the tension and the stitch length will change according to the Exclusive Sewing Advisor and sewing technique. However, we need to remember that once we lower the feed teeth, the stitch length does not work, and it’s the speed of the sewing machine and the speed at which we move our hands that dictate the stitch length.

There’s one thing that we need to test before we’re ready to start our ruler work. Lower the presser foot onto your project and see if the quilt moves readily under the presser foot. If not, there’s a pivot-height setting that I can adjust. If I’m working on a quilt, I like to raise it to the maximum of three, and if I’m working on something delicate with one layer, I can lower it. I want the presser foot to glide smoothly over the work but not be too far above the work. The presser foot needs to hover above the project to help form the stitches, but not so close that I can’t freely move the quilt.

As I always do with machine quilting, I pull up the bobbin thread to the top, holding both threads, I start stitching. This trick prevents those ugly thread nests on the bottom of your quilt. I’m using red thread on top and black thread in the bobbin—no need to use matching thread colors or weights or types. I use whatever works, and there’s almost no need to touch the tension – well, that’s a very general statement, but the Brilliance 75Q handled these threads beautifully.

Once my threads are on top of the quilt sandwich, I’ll lower the presser foot and then move my ruler into place. Be sure to use the appropriate thickness of the ruler for the Ruler Foot. I need a thin ruler (⅛” thick) that will work on all sides of the Ruler Foot without hitting the ankle on the back of the Ruler Foot, damaging the ruler or the foot.

I hold the ruler in place with my left hand and move the ruler and the project simultaneously. When I stitched close to the end of the ruler, I’ll stop and move the ruler down to the next section and continue stitching.

Of course, there are lots of little tricks – this isn’t a full-blown tutorial, but hopefully, you’ve seen enough to get the hang of Ruler Work.

Here’s a short video that shows ruler work quilting in action. Keep the ruler snug against the Free-Motion Ruler Foot, and you get beautiful lines for stitch in the ditch or anywhere you require straight lines. You can also use templates with ruler work, and that’s a whole other blog post! Now, the small piece that I’m working on allows me to pivot the project. If I’m working on a large project that isn’t easy to turn, I’ll rotate the ruler (not the project) in any direction to follow the pattern.

If I wanted, I could have done more ruler work within the red border, but it’s small, so leaving the border unquilted will give it some dimension.

The next step is to quilt the center and the border. I’m going to use the free motion spring foot for that task.

The presser foot’s pivot height isn’t an option for the spring foot, so it’s greyed out. I’m still using the A:1 stitch, and the recommended presser foot is the Spring foot. All this information appears right on the stitch information screen! How handy is that! Again – NO guesswork.

I’m getting ready to start stitching, and again, both threads are on the top of the quilt sandwich. This time I’m using black on the top and the bobbin. I don’t want any of the stitching to be the dominant part of the project, so I match my thread colors to the project. That way, if the stitch length isn’t as consistent as it could be, that’s OK.

While I’ll be doing the next part of quilting freehand, I like to give myself registration marks to get even spacing. I prefer NOT to use marking tools that require a lot of effort to be removed. Chalk is one of my favorites, and in this case, most of the chalk was gone by the time I finished the project.

Here’s a quick video so you can see the Free Motion Spring Foot in action. Notice that the foot bounces up and down as it stitches. Notice how I’m keeping the Brilliance 75Q at an even speed, and the speed at which I move my project is smooth, not jerky. And it’s super easy to move in any direction. I am NOT pivoting my fabric.

Here’s the little piece – all quilted! Notice how the dark thread in the outer border and center are visible, but you can’t see the stitches. I used two different quilting techniques on the same project, and it’s small, so it’s perfect for practice. Choosing threads that blend in means that you can quilt anything, and it’s going to look perfect! Make the project a bit larger than this one and donate it to an animal shelter for pet mats or make placemats and donate them to a local food bank!

Here’s the back of the piece. I try to choose backings that have some relationship to the front, and my preference is busy fabrics that conceal glitches, should there be any!

I have one other small piece that I want to quilt using the Interchangeable Dual Feed Foot. But after the free-motion work, that was it for the day, so I shut the Brilliance 75Q off. When I started it up the next day, I got this pop-up message. Oh my! So, if I had forgotten that I was doing free-motion the last time I worked on the Brilliance 75Q, I’m getting a reminder. Even though we know we should check all the settings, it’s nice to get a reminder. Since I’m not doing free-motion for this next part, I deselected the free-motion menu.

Here’s the next project that I want to quilt. It’s an improv mini quilt made with leftover blocks from a larger quilt. It’s been sitting here forever, and I had no idea how to quilt it. Isn’t that the worst? We know that it won’t take long once we get started, but we can’t get started!

Since the piece was so small, I didn’t bother to baste it, but I gave it a good press with the Singer SteamCraft PLUS iron on the Singer Ironing and Crafting Station. I keep a pair of scissors in the crafting station’s drawer, so when I needed to trim some threads, the scissors were right there! That little drawer is super handy!

I auditioned numerous designs on the mini quilt. Yep – I seem to spend more time agonizing over the small insignificant pieces than I do with the large ones. Funny how that happens. I place a layer of clear cellophane over the top of the project and draw on it with a water-soluble pen. Then I can get an idea of whether the design is appropriate or not. I did this a “few” times.

Once I had decided how to quilt it, keeping in mind, I wanted to use the Interchangeable Dual Feed Foot; I needed to mark two lines. I used painter’s tape to “mark” a line on the diagonal through the piece. I used my long ruler to help get the angle just right and make sure the line was straight.

I chose my thread colors – white for the top and yellow for the bobbin.

I wound the bobbin and attached the Interchangeable Dual Feed Foot. Yes – I’m still using the straight stitch plate. I’m ready to go!

Two presser feet come with the Interchangeable Dual Feed Foot, and there are other optional presser feet for it as well. I chose one that was quite open in the front to make it easy to stitch beside the painter’s tape.

It was super easy to stitch right beside the edge of the painter’s tape to get a perfectly straight line across the mini quilt.

To get the second line of stitching in the opposite direction, I needed another diagonal marking. I used the same piece of painter’s tape and the long ruler, making sure that the second diagonal was 90 degrees to the first one.

Because the stitching lines started off the quilt, I’m not concerned about having the bobbin thread come through to the top of the quilt. So I used the CUT function at the end of the lines of stitching.

And look at those stitches on the back of the work. They are beautiful!

Now it’s time to do some echo quilting, and like I did yesterday, I’m using the edge of the presser foot on the Interchangeable Dual Feed Foot to get the distance. It just so happens to be ½” from the needle to the outer edge of the foot. Perfect!! I hate marking!

Here’s a short video to see this foot in action. Notice how the foot “walks” along the edge of the quilt. The feed teeth on the underside of this foot ensure that both the quilt top and the quilt backing advance at the same rate so there is no stretching or distortion.

Here’s the mini quilt after a couple of lines of echo quilting. Oh my – I LOVE IT, and I know it’s going to be perfect for this piece.

I’ve finished the quilting! And I LOVE IT!!! The texture is fantastic, and I think the design helps to accentuate all those diagonal lines in the mini quilt. And the best part? It didn’t take that long once I decided what I wanted to do, and it was super easy with the Brilliance 75Q to make it happen.

I had so much fun this week, and even better – I got some small projects done! It was so easy with the Husqvarna Viking Brilliance 75Q. I’m on a roll, I’m motivated, and I want to get more done. I’m off to find something else to quilt!

Have a super day!!

Ciao!!!

This is part 5 of 5 in this series

Go back to part 4: 2 ways to achieve a perfect ¼” seam allowance