Thread: handquilting in the ditch

how do you handquilt in an even line around the pattern your doing? Mine look so off centered sometimes. Ive tried the 1/4 tape but it was a hassel. Any suggestions?

I never stitch in the ditch. I only machine quilt now, I usually do FMQ in a large stipple. When I do straight stitching I go about 1/4" from the seam and did the same when I hand quilted, or I did a running stitch in an X pattern across the blocks.

kind of like driving, I always go beside the ditch when I hand quilt. the seam bump gives me a nice steady guide.

I am undertaking my first hand quilting project and I have done lots of trial and error to find what works. I also tried the tape and that was just a waste of my money and time. What I have found that works for me is to draw a line where I want to hand stitch using either a chalk pencil for dark colors and using colored (I'm currently using a green)slivers of soap for the white fabrics. The soap will wash out when I am finished. You could also draw your design on tissue paper and pin it to your fabric and sew on the lines. I gave this a half hearted attempt and then just went back to marking my stitching line.

I echo quilt most of the time. I too, use chalk...it wears off easily (sometimes too easily) I like the idea of using the seam as a guide!

Im trying to keep a straight even stitch around the blocks like along the seam but Im still "stitching" off center instead of straight line

she's talking about a modification of "in the ditch", I think. I've heard others say it's supposed to be easier to stitch just outside of the ditch, but my first ever quilt (a log cabin) also had a lot of "in the ditch" quilting and I didn't think it was that much harder, if at all, than the rest of the quilting on it.

honeybee, have you tried actually stitching in the ditch? Solves your problem of it looking off center to you and you might be surprised at how easy it is. :-)

Originally Posted by Fuzzykittenbutt

she's talking about a modification of "in the ditch", I think. I've heard others say it's supposed to be easier to stitch just outside of the ditch, but my first ever quilt (a log cabin) also had a lot of "in the ditch" quilting and I didn't think it was that much harder, if at all, than the rest of the quilting on it.

honeybee, have you tried actually stitching in the ditch? Solves your problem of it looking off center to you and you might be surprised at how easy it is. :-)

I didnt know you could stitch in the actual sewing stitch. Im still learning quilting. Have been quilting for a little over a year.

I'll say this forever - if i'm going to spend my time hand-quilting, I want my work to show. Use a frixion pen to draw a line - use the fons and porter pencil to draw a line and quilt on the line. The frixion comes out w/ heat, the fons &porter will come out when washed. And the frixion pen will also totally disappear w/ wash. Even a lead pencil will draw a light line and i notice that by the time i finish dragging my hand across the quilt quilting, the pencil line wears off.