Machine quilting question
The only machine quilting (walking foot) I've done so far is on some donated wheelchair lap quilts. (I have several tops of various sizes ready to quilt, however.) I found that starting in the middle and sewing out was a real pain in the tush, as I had to tie all those thread ends and bury them. That took more time than the sewing. By the second or third line, I was ready to try sewing side to side to see if I got any puckers. Fortunately, I didn't. They quilted perfectly going side to side. The lap quilts were spray basted, but really small.
Is there some magic solution to this problem? Is, "start in the middle" just an old wives tail? Is puckering more likely in larger quilts? How much larger? (I have two play quilt tops ready to go that are in the 50 X 60 range.) Is it just trial and error? Is there some easy way (read quick) to tie the thread tails? Or, even better, a way to do it that that the ends don't have to be tied?
I'd hate to have to rip out a lot of quilting because of a pucker, but I think machine quilting a twin size quilt and tying all those thread tails would make me swear off quilting forever.
bkay