Can't decide what color thread to use
 

I'm making a lap quilt for my daughter. It is red and white in the middle, then black and white border around that, then a black border around that with a solid black backing....I can't decide what color thread to quilt with!!! Initially I was going to do white, but since I have the solid black backing it might show, ummm, my mistakes too much!!! Maybe black??? But, then it might be too contrasting on the red and white middle section....Red gives me the same issue on the back....see my problem?

I don't even know how I'm going to quilt yet! There's lots of strips and little squares. So stitching in the ditch will take FOREVER. I might do a meandering pattern or a maze starting from the center. Not sure what it's called, but the one where you just go around and around getting larger and larger squares as you go. "Maze" lol. (Keep in mind I've never done either one of these before). I've done stitch in the ditch and the one where you sew a straight line on each side of the ditch. That's it. Newbie, newbie, newbie. :)

What do you think?

you could use black in your bobbin, white or red in the center part- then switch to black for the outer borders.
when doing stitch in the ditch you do not have to stitch on every one...you could (pick & choose) which ditches to stitch- keeping your quilting to the specifications of the chosen batting (some batts need to be quilted every 2"-4", others allow up to 10" between quilting lines- as long as you follow those guidelines you can choose any (ditches) that fit in your plan- allowing you to skip a few- maybe outline certain portions of blocks-
a picture would help us help you choose some quilting options.

http://i1259.photobucket.com/albums/...psf248bc2f.jpg

This is it. Oh!!! Black bobbin for the bottom!!!!! Brilliant!

I made a red, white, and blue quilt. I quilted it with a veriegated red, white, and blue thread. It looked really good.

Gosh, that's pretty! I like the idea of black (or even burgundy) for the bobbin thread. I would probably use red for the top but you could use most any color!

I agree, black bobbin and using either red or white for top. Good looking quilt, I am sure whatever you choose will only make it prettier.

I use variegated thread when I am afraid my mistakes will show up too much. It hides a lot of boo boos. I'm not sure I would like it for quilting in straight lines, but it looks great when using anything that is curvy like meandering or loops. Maybe one day my quilting will look good enough that I want to have every stitch show:D

I vote for the black bobbin and a red or white on top, either would look great. With all the straight lines in the quilt, I would try for a quilting pattern with something curvy....a simple meander/stipple would look great and break up the straight lines. Good Luck and have fun quilting!

Thank you!!! My daughter, age 9, actually helped me with this!!! I sewed up all the jelly roll strips and when she got home from school, she helped with all the little black and white boxes...then, just last night we were working on cutting the black border fabric and sewing it on. So, this thing isn't all lined up and perfect, but she can say she helped doing it which I think is pretty darn awesome!!!

Thanks for all your help! I think I'm going to go with black on the bottom and white on the top. :) As for the actual quilting, I'll be using a walking foot and am not really sure what I'll do yet....maybe meandering since I've just never tried it before I could probably get her to help me with it later and if it doesn't, uh, look right....well, a 9 year old did it!!! lol I'm terrible!

That is always my question too - what color thread do I quilt with. I just finished a Quilt of Valor and will be quilting it with white variegated thread. Only trouble is I bought red for the backing! What was I thinking. I'm certainly not good enough to have the quilting show that much on the back. Been thinking of using red for the bobbin. May have to try a sample to see how it might look.

What about a curved line crossing over every say, second seam line on the horizontal - much more forgiving than stitch in the ditch and would give it a nice 'flow'. Then you could work out the distance on the vertical, finishing with a curvy line or two on all sides of the border?

I recently quilted a similar one and instead of SID I did wavy lines down the middle of each strip. Very quick and easy. Did not try to keep them even or symmetrical.

That sounds cool, think we will try that. :)

Aaaaaah!!!! I'm scared to start quilting! I was practing yesterday on some scrap and ugh, what a mess. I was using the walking foot. Watched some videos this morning and I've decided I'm going to practice using my embroidery foot. Seems to me that's what most people are using in the videos (some kind of embroidery like foot). (Darning foot).

I saw someone do this little loopydeloop design where she would add some hearts or some flowers and I think I'm going to practice that today. I know I'm going to have to just jump in there and do it some time soon...but, for now, I've got my little practice rectangle to work on. (Which my daughter says is a perfect size for our dog Hunter to use as a little blankie, so yesterday I stitched an "H" for Hunter in there for him lol). BUT, he's just a puppy and he's going to be big, so this blankie won't last long. Good thing too, cause it's UGLY!!!!

Very pretty. It will look great.

Ha! I made a mess of it. It was sooooo much harder than I thought it would be. Scratch that, I knew it would be hard, I just didn't realize HOW hard!!! I had to walk away. My lesson: I am not doing free motion quilting on my other two works in progress!!! Working with a large blanket is very different from practice blocks.

The problem with doing contrasting threads for top and bottom is that if you tension is off even a little then it might show thru where you don't want it. I'd do a very dark red, burgandy or dark wine, something that will pop on the top but so dark you won't notice it on the back as much. Then you can use the same thread on top and bottom.

You have rows of blocks so how about going to Joanns or a store and getting stencils that will fit in each row, you can draw them on with a water soluable pen and then you can just sew using a reqular foot; no FMQ needed. I've done this on quilts and it turns out great. Lots of designs to chose from.

Yes!! That was the first thing I noticed. Black and white is too contrasting for a novice. :(

Picking thread color has been a process for me..and not an easy one. I have found that I am more satisfied with a color that does not match ANYTHING. I want to see the thread, but not have it POP out at me. I probably would have picked a light tan or a pale pink. I know it would have shown up on the black, so I might have changed thread for that. Its amazing to me that I can quilt most anything with tan and it looks good. I also love an Omni green called spearmint. Seems like its a neutral for quilting. I have used up a whole cone of that when I have not used up other colors.

Oooooh, that is very pretty!!!

A medium gray might also work. Don't forget to "puddle your thread" pull out a couple of yards of thread and spread it around on both sides to see what you like the best. When you practice free motion a trick a teacher taught in a class really helps me. Hum the "Skater's Waltz" it is the perfect beat and because of the movements we associate with it you relax and your movements get smoother. Just a suggestion that really helped me.

Here's the finished product! :) My daughter loves it and also loved helping me sew it, so all is well....even if it's not perfect and 1/4 of the way in I switched my quilting method. hahaha live and learn.

http://i1259.photobucket.com/albums/...psc48e42cb.jpg