I learned to do my quilting first, then finish the outside edges of my quilt with binding. Today, as I was struggling to decide on how to quilt this, I went into my books. There were pictures of how to machine quilt and in all the photos the quilt was finished, binding and all. Have I been diong it wrong all this time???

By the way, I was looking for information on how far apart quilting lines need to be. I have quilted along the dark in a ropey pattern and followed the dark line as it snakes along the quilt, but don't have anything crossing these lines. Do I need them? Ideas? I plan to stitch-in-the-ditch around the pattern and both sides of the sawtooth.

Hmm, I guess there are two questions here, but I'm going to leave it like this.

Your quilting sounds great, I always quilt my quilts with the binding off, then machine sew on binding and flip and hand sew binding to the back. Hope this makes sense. :D

There are a lot of people here with way more experience, but I'll share my .02. I was taught to quilt BEFORE binding, since the quilting process itself can 'draw up' the fabric a bit, which would then result in the binding not laying flat. So I'd say you're definitely doing it right.

As for how closely quilt lines should be spaced, usually the batting that I buy has guidelines on the bag or on the roll saying it should be quilted every 4 inches, or 5 inches, or 7 inches or whatever in order for it to be stable.

Hope this helps

I always quilt/tie with the binding off.

I always quilt with binding off. That way if I have any extra on the backing, I can ease it into the binding.

The photos in books are posed. Most likely the people doing the photography don't realize that binding is the last step in the process, after quilting. They just put an already finished quilt under the sewing machine needle as if the quilting had just been done. One would always want to quilt before binding.

Concerning the spacing of your quilting lines, it all depends on the batting you have used. Do you still have the batting package or insert? They always tell you how far apart the batting needs to be quilted. A traditional 100% cotton batting may need quilting lines no more than 2 inches apart, while a modern needle-punched cotton batting with scrim (such as Warm 'n' Natural) may do fine with quilting lines 6 or 8 inches apart. Whether lines cross or not is not as important as how far apart the quilting lines are from each other. How the quilt will be used can also have an effect on quilting lines.

A wall hanging that won't be washed frequently can stand to have quilting lines farther apart. A child's quilt that will go through the washing machine and dryer many times in a year will hold up better if quilting lines are closer together.

Incidentally, that's a lovely quilt!

Mary

I always quilt mine before doing the binding, but I have also quilted one that has originally been tie knotted. It turned out good. I had no problems with the back puckering either. It was a first time quilt that was done by a distant family member and someone spilled soda on it and she wanted to wash it. But...............the batting she got was cotton so washing it without close stitching was not an option. I have a hobby longarm so she asked me if I would do it for her before she washed it. As I was doing this, I thought to myself that this is a good way to quilt it. I have one that was done years ago that was tie knotted and I have been thinking about putting it on the frame and machine quilting it also. I don't know if putting a binding on a home machine and trying to quilt it would be a good idea because of the fighting with the bulk of it. On a frame it is pulled tight.

Barb

I am the same as sewhappy57. It's just the way I was taught. I think that you have been right all along. Keep up the good work.

It just didn't occur to me that they would make such an obvious error especially when the pictures are designed to teach! And this is a book I've been taking to heart - The Quilter's Bible :roll:

Thanks for the tip to check the batting tag. That's in the bottom of my batting bin, so I'll definitely check it out. I've used a cotton batt. When I talk about cross lines, it's because right now my quilting lines are close enough together, but they all run parallel so I need to figure out some way to divide up those long, skinny spaces.

I Quilt befor binding