Originally Posted by
GarageDragon
Please forgive the ignorance of a newbie, but I don't understand? I understood the 'stitching up to' was maximum distance from a stitch, and so a 6" square would be fine in this instance. If it's not that, then wouldn't it also not be compatible with straight line or wavy line quilting (or tying)? Or am I totally misunderstanding?
Good question!! If you measure a 6" square corner to corner, you would have a distance of about 8.5" open. As another poster mentioned, you might not have problems right away, but with use and multiple washings, issues could develop. A 4" square measures around 6" diagonally, so that would be a better choice. If you tied it, you would certainly want the ties no farther than 4", I would probably go closer. The channel quilting is another question. You often see narrow (2" or less) borders or sashing with just SITD, no quilting in the border itself. This is kind of a toss up. Officially, there should be some stitching across, however, I've done this and the quilts seem to be doing just fine. As far as channel quilting an entire quilt, I wouldn't do it unless the quilting lines were 1" or less apart. Interested in other opinions!