Echo vs Stitch in the Ditch
 

Which is better for a scrappy quilt pattern (Yellow Brick Road), echo or stitch in the ditch? I am a new quilter, and will quilt my first quilt. Thank you for your help.

Echo is easier than SID. You can use your seam line as a guide. But personally, with a pattern like YBR I would ignore the piecing and do an all over design. Much less starts and stops. You can practice FMQ a bit before you tackle your quilt. Or if you want to do walking foot quilting an all over cross hatch done with a 2" grid looks great on just about everything, either on point or done on a vertical and horizontal axis. You can lay masking tape on your quilt and stitch next to it to keep your lines straight.

Echo quilting is much more forgiving. Veering out of the 'ditch' is more noticeable than a small wiggle in the echo quilted line.

Thank you for your help. I have tried to post a picture but can't get it to upload. I am so new at this; no telling what I am doing. HA.

Will pass on a tip that I have learned. A quilt is much more stable if you quilt across the seams. I no longer do STD with a straight seam. I use the curved pattern stitch that I have. It covers the seam and is quite nice. Do not have the pressure of STD. Here are a few photos of quilts. The Chevron quilt I made for my DGG, she was 3. She marked on the front with markers, some seams were coming apart, the fleece on the back was heavily pilled and stiff and cut a hole in it. The purple heart covers the hole, put on a new Minky back and I resewed the seams with the wavy pattern. The second one shows the curvy line of stitches on the front of the quilt and the next photo shows the wavy line on the back of the quilt that I made. The reason some lines are straight is because they are STID on white Kona fabric. Didn't want the wavy line on the white.
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I like to see the stitching on a quilt, but not, of course, if your are quilting in the ditch. If this is your first quilt, you may not be comfortable trying free motion. Some good alternatives have been presented here. Use a walking foot if you can (unless, of course, you are doing FMQ). Good luck. Show us a picture if you can!

Are you machine or hand quilting? If hand quilting, echo will be easier than SITD.

I have yet to SITD by machine. But I agree that for a pattern like YBR, a simple all over design like a meander (if you're machine quilting) would be the way to go. If you're working with a walking foot rather than FMQ, try checking out Leah Day's website. I think she has some tutorials on walking foot quilting.

Lulu - how exciting to be making your first quilt! I also recommend doing all over quilting with the pattern that you've chosen. Make a couple of practice sandwiches and try a loose meander or a loop-de-loop, both of which are very forgiving. YolaJean's suggestion for quilting across the seams is an excellent one too.

Usually, if you have a problem with photos on this site, the photo is too big. You'll have to resize the photo. You can do it in most any photo program. I think you can use Paint which is in Windows accessories.

bkay

I feel so blessed for all of the responses I have received. THANK YOU