Creative quilting with the BERNINA 990

Trying out the various functions and stitches on a new machine works wonderfully in a small quilt project. In the upcoming posts, I’ll take you on a little creative journey with the magical BERNINA 990. I’ll show you just how special and unique this machine truly is. Maybe you’ll find one or two inspiring ideas to recreate in the next few articles? I’d be thrilled if you did!

BERNINA 990

14″ Sewing space to the right of the needle ✓10″Centrally Located Color Touch Screen with Multi Touch Gestures ✓BERNINA Placement Scanner & Camera ✓Giant Embroidery Hoop (410 x 305 mm, 16.1″x 12″) ✓BERNINA Integrated Stitch Regulator (BISR) ✓ Jumbo Stitch: Resize stitch patterns from 25% to 500% ✓Automatic Needle Threader ✓Automatic Stitch Plate Detection ✓

Learn more

In the following pictures, I’m giving you a little preview of what the finished quilt looks like. In the coming articles, we’ll explore various features of the B 990, such as:

Sideways motion and Jumbo stitches
BiSR (BERNINA Integrated Stitch Regulator) – much more than just a feature for quilters
Pinpoint Placement and Placement Scanner of the B 990
Quilting with the B 990
Shape Designer of the B 990

Fabric Selection

My fabrics, carefully chosen to match the magical colors of the B 990, are already prepared.

Thread Selection

For this quilt, I’m using Silk-Finish Cotton by Mettler in weight 40. This thread is available in two beautiful new kits with color-coordinated shades, each containing 12 x 1000 m spools – the Sense of Tradition Quilting Kit and the Passionate Quilting Kit. In my opinion, quilt patterns stand out especially well with cotton thread. Of course, you can also use embroidery thread.

The Original Quilt

For the design, I took inspiration from the quilt you might recognize from the B 990 marketing campaign. Here are a few images:

In this image, you can mostly see motifs quilted with the B 990. At the bottom right, there are also two appliqués – one quilted, the other decorated with decorative stitches.

The patterns in the two purple circles were stitched using the Shape Designer.

Here we see more beautiful quilting motifs, stitched with the embroidery module. I’ve also incorporated the leaf appliqués into my quilt.

My Quilt Top

When it came to the design, I used the original quilt as inspiration. However, I didn’t overthink things when sewing the pieces together. Here, the top is almost finished and lying on my table. I’ve already embellished some parts with decorative stitches before assembling them. I also pre-stitched one appliqué, as its lower edge needed to disappear into the seam. But more on decorative stitches and appliqués in one of the next posts. I don’t have a pattern for my arrangement and suggest to just go wild – Choose whichever shapes you enjoy, want to try out or the amount of fabric you have allows for.

Now the B 990 is ready and waiting for the steps in the next article.

Just look at how large the extension table is! Not only quilters will love it. It offers so much comfort. You can even fold out small feet underneath it for extra stability—absolutely no wobbling!