Originally Posted by
Mitty
I think of SITD as what the goal is, sewing so that the stitching ends up hidden, so aim at whatever part accomplishes that for the individual sewer?
But is that the true goal? The goal of any quilting, first and foremost, is to join the three layers of the quilt -- that is, to have the thread go through all three layers. If you stitch right through the piecing seams, you're not going through all three layers of fabric. You're securing the bottom two layers together, but the top layer is just being tacked to the bottom two through the seam threads. You haven't actually stitched through your quilt top fabrics.
I don't intend any offense by saying this. It's just that we all want our quilts to last. The practice of machine stitching through piecing seams in quilting can break your piecing stitches, making them weaker, and it results in the quilt top fabrics not being secured to the bottom two layers. That's why I don't think this is a true example of an area of personal preference or opinion in quilting, but of misinformation being passed along through the years.