Since we have lots and lots of videos here, you will need to know the best way of finding what you are looking for. Each post has the video(s) of the topic it is about. Sometimes there will be more than one video that is a continuation of the previous one. These videos will be posted together within the same post. To find what you are looking for, either use the search box or the list of categories posted in the right column.
The IQ system is constantly evolving, so please keep in mind that some of the older videos may show features that have been replaced by newer ones, or buttons that have changed position or names. However, the videos have not been removed because the methods demonstrated are still valid.
NOTE: this is an older video so several of the links Erin mentions are no longer active. I am not deleting this video because it does have useful information that's still relevant.
This is a training video covering the parts of the iQ system, care of the system and all the basics from pattern manipulation to design. The video uses the ClassiQ T550 tablet in demo mode, but can be helpful to anyone. This is a very long video but it has a time index at the start so you can jump to a relevant section.
In this video, Angela Huffman shows how she sets up and saves a master panto layout. This method can be a great time saver if you stitch a lot of pantos on quilts always at the same size, just as you did with paper pantos before adding iQ.
This video was made in 2011 and while the method is still relevant, some of the pages may be slightly different.
I use line pattern on this I Spy quilt for custom quilting. The emphasis here is to show how you can quickly change from one pattern to another using the pattern button.
Notice the pattern button has a little symbol on it which shows it can be activated by a remote control. The OK button also has that symbol, so one button on the remote will activate OK, the other button on the remote will change the pattern. I do not have a remote control so just use the on screen buttons.
I did mark-on-quilt the first two blocks so that I could size the patterns to fit. Having done that once, I didn't need to mark any other blocks because iQ remembers the size of the patterns once they have been used for line pattern. All the patterns used remain in iQ's memory until you exit back out to the main menu. At that point all the patterns are cleared from the line pattern memory.
I chose to go corner to corner because that is easy to mark. I also didn't care which way up the patterns were because this quilt is not directional. If having the patterns all the same way up was important I would use the flip X or flip Y buttons on the line pattern page, changing each design before hitting OK.
I found I could mark the inner border (half circle and loop) on one side, then 3 rows of the squares, then the inner border on the other side so they would stitch in one go. (see screen shot below) The patterns weren't very dense so the fabric draw up was almost non-existant. I did watch as iQ stitched just to be ready to scoot the fabric over a little if necessary.
My iQ ran at 1.5/1.2. The squares measured 4 inches. It took just over 13 minutes to quilt this section. (shown in green)
Here's a screenshot of the whole quilt. I did freehand stitching on either side of the seams in the pieced outer border so that doesn't show in the screenshot. iQ could have done that too. You can see the two blocks I marked in order to size the designs. You might notice how some of the rows appear to overlap slightly or have a larger gap between them - this is because I adjusted the quilt a tiny bit after advancing and realigning but didn't realign again after making the small adjustment. The overlapping didn't matter because I was using line pattern place the designs exactly where I wanted them.
Here I'm showing how to re-start a panto after shutting down. The key is to answer yes to the question,"Do you want to save the needle position?" when you shut down. This is so helpful for any type of quilting, edge to edge or custom, when you need to find where you were before you shut down.
If you have to shut down mid-way through a row, save the needle position where you stopped and you'll see that place when you start up the next day. The target will be exactly where you stopped so you can do the initial alignment to that place. When you get to the sew quilt page, iQ will go right to that place to start stitching.
In the video my machine moved to the right instead of to the left for the start of row 3 because it was moving to the saved position of the needle, which was at the end of row 2. I had set up all the rows of this pantograph with stop to cut threads as the transition so iQ wanted to get back to the saved needle position so I could cut the threads. Ofcourse, I didn't need to do that.
Zoltan has an excellent suggestion to help with this process. Before shutting down, place a piece of masking tape or something similar on the quilt under the needle then drop the needle to make a hole in the tape. Answer yes to the do you want to save your needle position question with the needle over the hole in the tape. Do not advance the quilt so the next day when you start up, you can align the saved needle position, which is the red target on the screen, with the hole in the tape.
This feature allows you to see exactly how the motors are moving your machine as it stitches. It is a great tool to use when you see a poor stitch out. Turn on this feature and watch the trace. If the trace line doesn't match the pattern on the screen, the speed and details probably need reducing. However, if doing so doesn't improve the trace, then the motors themselves should be checked. Look at the sensor wheels first to make sure they are running in the correct position. If they have o ring's, check for cracks.
NOTE: IGNORE THE START OF THIS VIDEO - WE NO LONGER NEED TO TURN ON THE TRACE IN PREFERENCES.
In this video I show the effect that dwell has upon the stitching. The dwell button is found in the ribbon on the sew quilt page. Turning dwell on makes the machine pause momentarily at the dwell points of a pattern. It can give greater definition to a design. However, if you are having trouble with thread breakage, turn dwell off.
In this video I (Helen) am working on a Milky Way quilt. I wanted to custom quilt it so decided to create and use a line pattern to make the custom quilting as simple as possible. Instead of stitching individual motifs in each pinwheel/star with many starts and stops, the line pattern stitches continuously making just one start and stop per row. I decided I needed to add stitch in the ditch, which I did manually. I talk a little about how I created the pattern I use, show how to restart after a thread break and how I compensated for fabric draw up.
A quick video showing how to load images onto iQ for picture pattern.
The pictures you load should be either .jpg or .png
I do not demonstrate the different modes of pattern generation. There are many variables so a take a few minutes to explore all the modes. The release notes for software version 12.10.13 have some very clear illustrations showing the different modes. Further changes can be made by altering other options on that page.
This video shows how to use the distance from needle button when adjusting a pattern. It allows a panto to be sized accurately to fit in the remaining space on a quilt without having to cut the threads and move the machine.
When I am adjusting the dashed right hand edge, ofcourse, I could have simply dragged the dashed line into position but using the keypad is much faster and more accurate.
