I've read and seen in videos that it's not good to stitch over a row of stitches. What would be the reason for this? Does it weaken the stitch and eventually cause it to pop and start to undo an entire line of quilting?

Thanks.

Breaks the thread in your machine.

There are lots of patterns that backtrack, like feathers...

What a load of crap. There are no RULES in quilting. Hundreds of quilters make art quilts that involve thread painting which uses thread buildup as part of the design.
Going over a row of stitching does not weaken anything.
Where people get the thing about not crossing their stitching is from the stippling pattern. True stippling does not have any crossed lines. Meandering does. Most pantographs do. Most any other pattern does.
Just stop listening to the "they say" quilt police, and do your own thing. It's your quilt. Do what you wish.

I think that it's just a "cosmetic" thing but I"ve only heard of this "rule" when applied to meandering or stippling. In fact there would be no way to do loops or grids if you didn't sew across threads. I also don't think that even in meandering it matters much if you cross a few lines unless you're entering it to be judged. Hope this helped.

That's exactly what I do...my own thing...but I've wondered if I was weakening the integrity of the stitches.

So it's just a silly notion about a specific type of stitching. That's good to know and pretty much what I thought.

I wouldn't want the stippling cops to humiliate me by telling me my masterpiece wasn't true stippling.

:mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

I agree...it doesn't matter really. I talked to a very well know show judge about this very issue. She said that she could never figure out where these ideas get started, but that if they (as judges) examined every quilt to look to make sure you didn't cross or hit another stitch line when stippling....they would go crazy!

Do you own thing, have fun and don't worry about it. You never know, you might come up with the next "great stitch design!

Too much reading and too much video watching is not good for the "quilting brain" :roll: I would suggest marching to the tune of your own drummer and don't worry about the rest of the band. Do what you want; it's YOUR quilt. What is nice about the quiltingboard is that we fired the quilt police long ago. I don't plan on ever entering a quilt in a competition. I make my quilts for my enjoyment, and for people less fortunate than me to love and enjoy. If they are bothered by a few crossed stitches, then too bad for them.

what???? FMQ even does loops, that is crossing over stitches.

There are lots of patterns that you have to back track on so I don't think you need to worry about it. The only problem with stitching over a sewing line is that sometimes you can get a fabric wrinkle on the back. I just make sure my quilt sandwich is laying flat as I machine over a sewing line. I did a pattern where about six lines all intersected in one point, I did notice that this spot tended to volcano up a bit.