Originally Posted by LindaM
Originally Posted by Lady Shivesa
Originally Posted by Candace
Not cheating, but the reason we don't use them more is that they don't look great on the quilt back and the 3 quilting layers, moving through the machine doing an intricate design, sometimes can make the design wonky.
I mainly would use decorative stitching on the quilt top before it was sandwiched and then it goes through the machine smoothly. Throw in 3 layers, and not so smoothly:>
I can see how that would happen. I tried a few different stitches on a scrap 'sandwhich' and didn't like the way most of them came out. A lot of them you can't make big enough, and some just get messed up working with three layers. I thought this 'surf stitch' came out pretty well going through three layers.
Although, I tried using a walking foot and it wouldn't work. Had to use what my machine hand book calls a 'special foot.' LOL
I have a Janome QC6200, and it does a beautiful job with its walking foot and decorative stitches as the 'quilting' - through the whole fabric sandwich. Have finished lots of quilts this way - even a king size quilt!
I'm a perfectionist. If I see where the decorative stitch is out of kilter even a little, it bothers me. My Bernina also does a great job, it's just that I'm picky.