Moose

Greetings,

This is a question for machine quilters: When you start quilting, what do you do with the thread tails, how do you secure them and how long do you cut them off? Ditto when you stop quilting.

For example, do you bring the bobbin thread up before you have the machine "knot it" (forgot the technical term) or tack it a stitch or two and you cut it off all the way down to the fabric; then you do the same for the end of the quilting.

Thanks :)

Lisa T

Ahahaha!

When I first saw this I was going to say, "Well, I just let mine wave behind me unless it's raining and then I tuck it between my legs."

But I guess that's not what you meant.

mytwopals

Here's what I was taught from a book somewhere. Not that I'm anything close to being an expert.

1. Needle down, Needle up and pull up the bobbin thread. If the bobbin thread is left below, it can become all knotted up in your FMQ stitches.
2. Make a couple stitches in place to secure the threads.
3. Here you can do a couple of things:
a. Just clip off near the fabric. (This is what I normally do.)
b. Or, leave a tail and use a needle to hide between the layers.

At the end of a row of FMQ stitching, I just do the reverse. Step 2, step 1 and then step 3.

Moose

You'd be a pretty weird animal... tailS :)

Moose

Thanks. I suppose the next question would be which one do people prefer?

Cut the tails close to the fabric OR tuck them between the layers?

TIA

Lisa T

For a real answer, I do the leave a tail and put it in betweeen the layers. (When I actually do any quilting. I mostly make quilt tops and put them in a box.)

littlehud

I like to clip mine off.

MadQuilter

:twisted: My personal mission is not to kink mine when I sit down. lol

...and the stringy ones, I just clip them off. No seam has ever come undone on me.

Ducky

And me? I wash it and I can't do a thing with it. I have a lot of bad tail days.

Actually, I also just clip them off close to the fabric. If a seam starts to come loose before the block makes it into the quilt top, I just reinforce again. A quilt teacher told me I didn't need to worry about clipping close to the fabric, so I never have.

Lacelady

I bring up the bobbin thread, at beginning and end of quilting, then sew the ends in through the layers, using a self threading needle. What I don't do, and read that you should, is to knot the tail ends before burying them into the layers. This is one of the processes I do in front of the TV with my feet up!