I am doing my first bom. Actually the first time doing blocks. I was wondering if you are to backstitch on the blocks. Or does it even matter?

Jeanette

I was told it didnt matter as long as another seam was going to cross but Im a newbie so we will wait til someone more experinced answers :) I was thinking about this again yesterday good question

I hardly ever backstitch, but I think it is just personal preference. Sometimes backstitching makes the seam a little bulky if you aren't right on the money with both lines of stitching. If you'll have intersecting seams, they anchor each other.

About the only time I backstitch is when I am sewing the rows together on a large quilt just because of the weight of the quilt putting stress on the ends when you are moving it around. But even then I dont always do it.As long as your are not manhandling it they should be fine without backstitching

After doing seamstress work for soooo many years, it took me forever to not backstitch, kind of like getting use to a scant 1/4 inch instead of 5/8' seams!! Now I forget to backstitch when I make clothes!! Go figure LOL

sometimes i do ... sometimes i don't.

how's that for a clear, concise, helpful answer?

:lol:

seriously, though, i usually backstich at the join-points of y-seams. i will also backstitch if i'm not sewing all the way to the edge of the fabric.

otherwise, i usually don't backstitch. i do, however, keep my eyes peeled for seams that have "come undone" at the ends. (sometimes, the growing weight of the top, in combination with all the mandhandling, pulls the ends apart.) when i see those, i add some reinforcing stitches before i add the next patch, block, or row. if i don't, i'll have to hunt for those spots later to fix with a hand-needle and thread.

I usually backstitch because I used to make clothes. Just can't seem to break myself of the habit. Makes it a bear when I have to rip out seams though.

I was told to quilt using a smaller stitch (my machine is just under 2) than when doing regular sewing and this usually prevents the seam from coming undone until it is crossed over by another seam.

Like Melissa, I only anchor my seam if it will be a stress point later. My machine has a locking stitch that I use instead of back stitching and I use a thread bunny, then lock the stitch at the beginning and end of the seam. A thread bunny is a small piece of fabric that you put under the foot ahead of your seam to catch the thread end and get the fabric moving nicely before the edge of the fabric is under the needle - kind of like chain stitching.
I wonder, kd124, if you just use a smaller stitch at the beginning and ends or for the whole seam.

I just learned this:
If you are having your quilt professionally quilted by a long arm quilter they prefer you back stitch at the seams on the edges of the quilt to keep it from coming apart on the quilting frame.