A friend of mine on Facebook (Sarah Vedeler) does amazing embroidery on quilts. Of all the art quilters out there, her work amazes me the most.

Traditionally decorative stitches are done on crazy quilts. Using a different stitch for each piece. Decorative stitches are not usually used when quilting. Sometimes they are used on childrens quilts to add interest, and maybe just to use the stiches since our newer machines have so many. Same with the varity of threads available. I have used my machine embroidery threads on crazy quilts/childrens quilts.

Your sample and workmanship are beautiful. When I got my new machine, I used all the decorative stitches I liked around the edges of a cheater, crazy quilt with batting as my stabilizer and a contrasting color. Not knowing what I was doing, it worked well. When I placed my backing on, I used coordinating thread and stitched again. It turned out beautifully and no one is the wiser about whether or not it is a cheater. Of course, I dusted the machine inside frequently. Have fun with your stitches!

Loved the way your crazy quilt looked., beautiful. I have to try that! Always thought those stitches should be good for something.LOL

I just spent the afternoon making a sampler of all my decorative stitches. It took me quite a while. I made a quilt sandwich out of some scraps I have.

Some of them end up looking pretty utilitarian when they are stitched out, but some were definitely very pretty. I can imagine using them in a quilt. And the best part is that the look just as good on the bottom.

I tried out some variegated thread just for fun, and also some metallic thread. I am pretty sure some of them would have looked better in one color. Also, if you're nervous about the bobbin, I've had good results using monofilament thread in the bobbin with regular thread on the top. Then the stitches would be invisible on the bottom.

:thumbup: If only I had a machine that did embroidry I would use iy on the prayer quilts I make for my church. But I use a 76 year old Singer Featherweight and love it. Your stitches look wonderful on the shadow quilting. Good job

I use decortive stitches on all my quilts. Adds so much extra to each quilt. Plus decortive stiches secures layers of the quilt.

You have two options: You can use those decorative stitches thru just the pieced top or assemble pieced top with batting and backing and stitch thru them all. You can also use a heavier weight thread and get some amazing designs. Use a 90/14 topstitch needle. Most of all - experiment.
If stitching thru just your fabric top, you should stabilize it w/ several layers of spray starch and a fusible, medium weight interfacing. The layers of a quilt sandwich are stable enough to handle this type of stitching and don't require stabilizer.

I have used my decorative stitches to attach my binding. It can be really pretty.

The way I "lock" the decorative stitches on my machine is to leave a thread tail of the top thread and the bobbin at the beginning and end. Then I pull the top threads through to the back, and with the bobbin threads I "bury" them as if I were hand quilting. My machine doesn't have a locking stitch and a zero stitch length on the decorative stitches wouldn't look good.