Method and system for freehand and realtime quilting with a computer-controlled quilting machine

A computer controlled quilting machine comprising:

• a sewing machine;
• a carriage configured for holding a piece of cloth in a planar configuration, the carriage being connected to the sewing machine, the carriage being movable to change the position of the the sewing machine relative to the cloth so as to sew a two dimensional pattern into the cloth;
• a computer connected to the sewing machine and the carriage so as to control the stitching of the sewing machine and to control the movement of the carriage to control the position of the sewing machine relative to the cloth;
• a user input device separate from the sewing machine, the user input device being movable by the user to manually trace a pattern without moving the sewing machine and thereby automatically transfer the pattern to the computer electronically;
• and
• wherein the computer operates the carriage according to the pattern being traced while the user is tracing the pattern to thereby sew the pattern into the cloth in real time as the user traces the pattern with the user input device:
• and
• wherein the computer is programmed to:
• receive a stitch length setting;
• store the square of the stitch length setting;
• compare a sum of a square of a left-right movement and a square of a front-back movement of the sewing machine relative to the cloth and relative to a position of a last stitch;
• and
• request a stitch when the sum of the square of the left-right movement and the square of the front-back movement of the sewing machine relative to the cloth and from the last stitch is equal to the square of the stitch length;
• track a frequency of stitch requests for a predetermined number of most recent stitch requests, determine an average frequency of said predetermined number of stitch requests, and operate the sewing machine to stitch at the average frequency of stitch requests.

A method of quilting comprising the steps of:

• a person selecting a computer-controlled quilting machine having:
• a sewing machine;
• a carriage connected to the sewing machine, the carriage holding a piece of cloth and positioning the cloth so as to enable the sewing machine to sew the cloth;
• a computer, the computer being disposed in communication with the sewing machine so as to control the operation of the sewing machine;
• the person selecting a desired stitch length;
• the computer storing the square of the stitch length;
• moving the sewing machine relative to the cloth to sew a pattern into the cloth;
• the computer squaring a lateral movement of the cloth relative to the sewing machine from a last stitch position;
• the computer squaring a front to back movement of the cloth relative to the sewing machine from a last stitch position;
• the computer adding the square of the lateral movement and the square of the front to back movement;
• the computer requesting a stitch when the sum of the square of the lateral movement and the square of the front to back movement is equal to the square of the stitch length;
• the computer tracking a predetermined number of the most recent stitch requests
• the computer determining an average frequency of stitch requests for a predetermined number of the most recent stitch requests;
• and
• the computer operating the sewing machine to create stitches at said average frequency.