What stitch length do you prefer when doing regular machine quilting?
 

Just curious. I usually use 2.8 but have read that others prefer 3.0 or even 3.5.

I'm interested to see what people say, so thanks for starting this thread. I'm shadow quilting (first time) at the moment and using 3.5.
Annie

SID is usually 3 or even 3.5 depending on the batting.

My Janome 6500 comes on at 2.2 automatically, which is really small. I normally bump up somewhere between 2.6 & 2.8 for most projects. I may be using a to small of a stitch! I dunno!

Thanks for posting this! I would like to know the answer too!

My Janome 7700 also comes on at 2.2 and so I use that. It is large enough that it can be "ripped out" by pulling apart (quickly) on the fabric if you've started taking it out with the first stitch or two.

I assume you mean stitching the blocks/pieces together. I use 2 or 2.5.

When piecing, I set my machine to 2.0. Paper piecing I drop it to 1.5. If I'm doing quilting (through batting) I set my machine for "heavy" fabric and it defaults to 3.0. If I remember I'll bump it up to 4.0. Everyone has their own preference. Just because I may use a bigger or smaller stitch than you do, does not mean either of us is wrong. It's a preference, not something that is set in stone.

I also am assuming you're talking about stitching the pieces of the blocks together and the blocks. My default setting on my machine is 2.8 but I put it to 2.0, when paper piecing I put it to 1.5.

I use 1.8 for piecing and 2.5 for SID on my Janome 6600
but I'm not sure if the setting is the same on all machines.
Anyone knows?

I use 2.5 for piecing (the default on my Brother and Pfaff), and bump it up to 3.0 for quilting.

My Elna 7200 automatically sets up for 2.5 which is fine for piecing, I bump it down to 2.0 or just below for PP and when doing my binding etc. I bump it up to at least 3.5 or above depending on the wadding loft.

Hmmm... normally it depends on how fast I move the fabric for free motion. If I use my walking foot I set it to 3.0 or 3.5 for hatching. If you mean piecing I like 2.2 but I might set it slightly larger but not more then 2.8 for piecing. I set it larger just incase I need to take it out. 2.2 is just too small for me to take it out.

I use 1.8 for PP, 2.0 for regular piecing, 3 or 3.5 for quilting using my walking foot.accufeed.

Janome 6600 comes set at 2.2, but for piecing I bump it up to 2.8. I think 3.5 is big enough that rings, etc may get caught in it.

For piecing its 2.0 or 2.5 for the actual quilting its 2.5 to 3.0. rarely its larger to a 3.5 if I am using a larger or much thicker thread.

I have a Bernina, I piece at 2.5 and quilt at 3

I piece at 2.5 and quilt at 3 on all my machines

My Sapphire 875Q defaults on 2.5 - the stitches are too far apart for piecing so I bump it down to 2.0 - I think it depends on the machine - I really don't know what the 2.5 or 2.0 indicates other than one is bigger or smaller than the other - does anyone know what they even mean?

For piecing, I generally use 1.8. If sewing on the bias, I shorten the stitch to about 1.5. For quilting, it's around 2.2.

I just did some quilting with my walking foot and used a 2.5 stitch length (my default stitch length setting is 2.0, but I though that was way too short).

Millimeters? And I think 2.5 is too long for piecing too. I usually go down to 1.8 for piecing. It's a pain if I have to rip, but I make quilts with lots and lots of little pieces and I don't want any of the seams pulling apart before they get crossed by other seams. I set it to 3 when straight-line quilting.

Piecing is 2.5 and quilting is anywhere from 3 to 3.5 depending upon the loft of the batting. For low loft, I prefer 3 and for medium to high I find that it is visually nicer at 3.5.

I like using 2.5 on my Viking

Same here, although for FMQ I often set the stitch length at zero since I'm moving the fabric and determining the stitch length.

I usually use 2.5-2.8 unless I want thread to be more obvious like in shadow quilting, etc., then I use 3.5-4.

I like 3.5

On my Janome the default in Mode 1 is 2.2, but I recently discovered that the default in Mode 2 is 2.5 (handy). However, I sometimes use a longer stitch for quilting, say 3, and possibly a shorter stitch for piecing.

I piece with 2.0 on my Janome 6600 and quilt with the serpentine stitch, or FMQ with a stitch regulator, so the stitch is dependent on my hand movement.

When using my Janome 6500- I set the stitch lenght to 5.0 for SID. Sometimes when doing cross hatching on large blocks I set a very narrow zig zag about 1.5 then the length at 3. Again it depends on the denisty of the batting.

I have a Bernina and I usually use the same settings. Today I did some SID on a table runner & I bumped it up to 3.5!

I use about 10 - 12 for piecing and usually either 10 or 8 for quilting. I have only vintage machines and this is where it looks good.
Chris

I use 2.0 for piecing and 3.0 for SID

I have a Janome 6600 and use the default 2.2 for piecing but bump it up to 3.0 when I am quilting with the walking foot. I may try a 3.5 and see how I like it.

I usually machine quilt with a stitch about 2.5-3 if using walking foot. When I free motion quilt, my stitch is probably more like 2, I don't have a stitch regulator, and I have a better time if my machine runs faster, and my hands slower, thus the smaller stitches.

depends on the thickness of the batting but usualy 2.5 to 3.0

I use my vintage machines for piecing and quilting. 12 stitches per inch for piecing, 15 for paper piecing, and zero for free motion quilting. For SID, back to 12.