How do you know how much quilting you need on a quilt?
 

Hi everyone. I finally have my first quilt all basted and ready to quilt and am working on the nerve to start quilting it. This first one is a simple quilt; just rows of 4 inch squares. I thought about just doing stitch in the ditch; but then I wasn't sure if that would be enough. How do you know how much quilting you need, how close together or far apart, etc etc? Please help give me some guidelines! Thank you in advance!

What did your batting package say? That is what I usually go by

Donna
Duh; I hadn't thought of that. I just looked at it and it says recommended distance 2 to 4". So if I understand correctly then, the stitch in the ditch would just barely fit into those guidelines right? I'm sorry;I don't know why this seems so hard for me to comprehend, when it's something that should be really simple

It depends on the batting you used. Some of the batting you buy has a scrim inside, and when there is a scrim you don't need to quilt as closely. Scrim is a polyester grid of sorts. When a batting says it contains 97% cotton, 3% polyester... it's the scrim that makes up the polyester part. Scrim is added to stabilize the batting through the years of washing, etc. It holds the batting fibers together. Hope this helps!

Christine-
http://quiltdasher.blogspot.com/

Hello! Look at the package of your batting. It will tell you how far apart you can stitch the quilt. You can do it closer but not wider then what is on the package. Also if the quilt has squares you might quilt across the squares versus in the ditch. I find it looks ncer that way. If you do not feel comfortable to just shoot from one corner to the opposite corner just draw lines with a special wasable pencil. Have fun! I can't wait to see the pictures. Oh besure to secure the quilt by pinning or spray basting, using a walking foot and set the stitch lenght to 3 or 3.5.

mainly how much your batting says you must do as far as distance in between stitches. but if you do a lot of quilting in one area, you wouldn't want to leave other areas with hardly any in them. just be consistent all over so it will all look good.

Depending on the pattern, SID may work. If you have very large blocks, you will need to do more quilting

Thanks everyone, I was snooping and appreciated the info as well. Teresa

I found a great chart that shows the differences in batting on the market. It's an exhaustive chart, full of information, I had to pass it along...
http://www.villagequiltworks.com/ima...ttingChart.pdf

Christine-
http://quiltdasher.blogspot.com/

Don't read the instructions on the batting package. Instead, think of the use to be made of the quilt. Will it be heavily used and washed. My guide is a quilt should have a consistant of density of quilting overall without large areas unquilted. If for a child then more quilting may be required If a bed quilt and only used by adults then the ditch may be sufficient. So think of the use. I don't know how a company determines the closeness of the quilting. Do they make one and quilt it at various widths wash, drag it around, wash it again etc etc etc. I'm going to ask someone at one of the companies this question. What test did they make. Also how do you want the quilting to show. Would quilting in ditch and then 1" out from the ditch add a decorative touch to the quilt. Would an X in each block add to the appearance? For me, scrim, needle punched, no scrim makes no difference in my decision.