Harriet Hargrave also sets her straight lines with SID.

@Marylinsue: I wonder how much the layers would be able to shift around the SID. Never gone outside in but then I've nver used washable thread to baste either. Clever girl, you! I'd give it a try. One of the tutorials by Jenny Doan shows her daughter quilting from the edge inward. It was a small quilt but still.......

I am working on a smallish (42 x 42 inch) quilt at present and I SITDed the main lines before doing some wavy lines freehand on the background areas. I like how the shapes stayed pretty crisp and there is no puckering. I plan to use this technique again, but I do need to find ways to break thread less often.

I seldom use SITD because I would get puckers no matter how many safety pins I used, and that became a moot point once I started machine quilting on a frame. The other day I needed to use the SITD to help out a friend with her project. We used Elmer's washable glue to baste the batting and the backing together. That worked like a dream with the walking foot. We were impressed how smooth the back turned out. Guess I will be donating all those pins to the next silent auction!

Stitch in the ditch is something I never do .An old quilter told me that it cuts way to many threads and one should sew threads away from the ditch or an eighth in away.

I generally only stitch in the ditch if I'm going to free motion quilt very heavily. Sometimes really dense quilting will really distort your quilt...otherwise I do one or the other! ;)

WHY only use to baste Back and Batting together?

The only quilting on my friend's project was the three lines of SITD on each side, around four little blocks and an applique. We wanted to avoid stippling, etc. so that it would look more like a banner than a quilt. We were concerned the glue would seep through the front since the fabric is a solid color, not a print. Not only that, but also there were no plans to wash it since it was to be a wall hanging. I find a very light touch is all that is need to apply the glue..we did drizzling far apart and it was enough to hold the batting and backing together nicely for the DSM. I have used the glue to match seams, etc. but not basting. It really does work, smile. This is in response to Reply #26.

Wash away thread is my vote!

I love Elmer's glue for basting now. Tried it once and it was an instant love affair! I even like the subtle smell of Elmer's...takes me back to my childhood! LOL

I prefer the feel of a quilt with less quilting rather than more, so I seek out batting that only needs quilting 8-10 inches and do as little SITD as possible on MOST of my quilts, but then I don't FMQ on top of that. The very few FMQ quilts I've done have been glue basted.

I'm still pretty terrible at FMQ but it sure is a lot more fun than SITD. I haven't had any problems with breaking threads doing SITD but that might just be because I have terrible control and rarely actually am IN the ditch! I saw a picture of a quilt (on here, probably) that was done in SITD style but about a quarter-inch off of the seam; I thought that looked very nice and will probably try that soon. I think that would help hide how wobbly some of my lines are, LOL.