Originally Posted by youme
Do you stitch in a ditch for finishing in USA?
Here in Japan everyone handquilts and the instructor told me that we would sew 1/4" next to seams and then for finisshing stitch in a ditch up all over. It will stable the blocks very well.
And the additional quilting in the ditch would solve her "tenting" at the seam line. I also hand quilt but I never go closer then a 1/4" from my seam line to avoid the bulk of the seam allowance. One side will be find but the other side you are going through 4 layers of fabric and the batting, I would not be able to get small even stitches going through all that bulk unless I stab stitched. I am not a big fan of stab stitch because the quilting line on the back is usually not as nice as you get with the traditional running quilt stitch.
That said, I do understand what you mean. When you quilt 1/4 away on either side of your seam line it does tend to emphasize or give the appearance of the 1/2" in between to kind of raise up. If you don't like it, by all means quilt 1/8" away. God bless you for going through all those layers by hand!