Originally Posted by
teddysmom
If I'm STID, I would be stitching through the pressed to the side fabric and and the batting or am I wrong?
STID is exactly what it says stitching exactly in the seam. True STID quilting is not supposed to show, it is buryed in the seam line and yes if you press your seams open you will be quilting on the batting and thread used to connect the two peices of joined fabric that made the seam. I am sure you would be catching threads of the fabric as well assuming you used a fairly small stitch length. So you are not incorrect. If you are STID on seams where the allowance was pressed to the side you would be stitching through all the seam allowance you have pressed to one side.
When I hand quilt I never STID. I want all my work to show. So I will echo the seam stitching 1/4" away from the seam on both sides. Because I am 1/4" away if I maintainted my 1/4" seam allowance I am not quilting through extra layers of fabric. Some people don't like to do this echo quilt due to it kind of raising up the area where the seam is a bit between the two lines of quilting. Personally, I like that look, it reminds me of the antique quilts I have seen when the practice was very common because it reinforced hand peicing.