quiltlady1941

I have not done many quilt using stitch in the ditch, can someone tell me what I am doing wrong. When I sew one way and then the other way across the last line of stitches the fabric puckers as I go over the line of stitches.. Should I pull the fabric so that it is tighter. why does this happen, I am using a dual feed walking foot that came with my new Brother.

I think this is the reason I don't do stitch in the ditch as I aways has this problem.. Thanks

Tartan

I kind of make a circle frame with my hands around the needle area as I approach an intersection. I pull outward with that circle as I sew through the previous line of stitching.

Dolphyngyrl

How do you baste?

Prism99

You can avoid that problem by heavily starching both the backing and top before sandwiching. This stabilizes the fabric so it doesn't stretch when you sew. The puckers are caused by stretched fabric. If you pull the fabric you will only be stretching and distorting more.

Gay

I have never used the walking foot for Brother machines as I feel it's too bulky and difficult to get fingers behind the needle area. What I do use a lot is my knee lifter, and raise the foot just a tad over lumpy joins, and I like to be able to 'spread' those areas with my hands at front and back. It's not really stretching the fabric much, just smoothing it out. Sometimes I find the pressure of the foot doesn't allow smooth sailing over joins, especially with batting.

nannykins8

I used to have the same problem at intersections until I lowered the pressure on the presser foot. The difference was amazing, no more puckers.

kathy

a longer stitch when quilting helps too

bigsister63

Do you pin or spray baste? I usually do not have this problem since I spray baste. Also check to make sure your presser foot pressure is NOT too low. This will cause the top fabric to stretch. Also I have found that iI usually do not have this problem if I use a walking foot.

quiltlady1941

Thanks Ladies some very good ideas and will try them out.. I did pin baste the quilt and lots of pins all along the seam so I don't think it was that ...I'll try the pressure foot thing and see if that doesn't help.. This is the first time using the dual feet walking foot on my new Brother so maybe I have to get use to it... and YES it is big! Thanks again

Deb watkins

How do you lower the pressure on the presser foot? I am not aware of how to do this.