machine quilting - do you knot or not?
 

I am fairly new to machine quilting and I am only straight lining quilting, no FMQ (at least not yet) I am wondering.... when you all machine quilt do you do the lock stitching or back stitch? I have noticed on every video that I watch no one lockstitches or back stitches. When I do lock stitch or back stitch it is very unsightly on the back side. What do you guys do?

I do not do either on the body of the quilt because I feel the quilting stitches hold the inter part of the quilt together. I do back stitch my binding where the corners meet.

Like Tartan, I knot and bury my threads using a cheater needle.

I'm in the knot and bury camp too!

I know some do a few stitches and clip their threads ... too dangerous for my likings! I would never feel "safe" that it would not ravel out with time.

Knot and bury when FMQing.

If I'm doing SID or straight lines, I set my machine to a tiny stitch of about 0.5 and do 10-12 stitches before changing to a regular stitch. Same at the end of my lines, then use an easy-thread needle to bury the ends.

For FMQ I do 3 stitches in the same place at beginning and end of stitching and bury tails. Happy quilting :)

Ditto. Same as everyone else.

I'm too lazy to bury threads. I either do a lockstitch or backstitch. I'm not entering my quilts in any shows, and the recipients of my quilts wouldn't know the difference!

it really depends on the quilt and where I have to stop stitching for whatever reason. Lots of times I do both on the same quilt. Whatever the situation requires.

I'm too lazy too. Besides, with the RA in my hands, I can't hold a needle to bury the threads.

I do a lock stitch, then cut the threads long and bury them.

I just start out at 1.0 stitch size and also end with that. no knots.

** Me too! :)

I agree this is a very good method.

I sew in place when I start or stop and then use the auto cutter. I re snip any thread left. I tried to ravel out a stopping point and couldn't do it so the stitching isn't coming out from the stitching in place. I use very thin thread that matches or blends so the over lapped stitching isn't noticeable front or back.

Here is a picture of my stitch in place and snipping the thread. It works great for me and saves a lot of time.

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Me too........

Because I am a little lazy and my machine cuts a very short end stitch I backstich there, at the start I back stitich, I could change to a tiny stitch but do not, but maybe I should. I see when I was trimming threads this morning a couple beginning spots where I did not backstitch came unravelled, so I will have to sew up when I am done quilting. Interesting to see comments about this topic. Thanks for asking.

I use tiny stitches at the beginning and end. I start with 0, then move up in increments until I'm at my regular length. Maybe 2-3 stitches per number.

Thank you for all of your responses! I never thought about changing the size of my stitches. I don't think I have it in me to knot and bury the ends...too lazy and I don't have too much spare time anyway.

Yes, if your machine does't have a lockstitch, take three stitches with your stitch length set to zero at the beginning and end each time. Also bring your bobbin thread up from the bottom each time you start.

I don't backstitch either, I put my finger just in front of my presser foot and start stitching holding the fabric down with my finger so that it barely advances, this causes very tiny stitches at the beginning and I also do the same when I am ending the row. By doing this I don't need to remember to change my stitch length and after a few stitches I just take my finger off.

If you are going to show your quilt, bury your stitches or you will lose points. Since I don't enter my quilts, I do a lockstitch, backstitch or very tiny stitches to start and trim threads.

If it was going to a show or was making it for someone else I would sink into the fabric. For myself and family I have a button to make few stitches on one machine on the other I go go backwards and then forwards a few stitches.
I did one quilt which I made the thread follow the stitch line this was because it was white with a white background and the thread could be seen through the fabric and I was trying to hide.

I'm a knot and bury kind of quilter.

I've not done much machine quilting yet, but I first bring up the bobbin thread and then take a few lockstitches with stitch length set to smallest setting. Then both thread tails are on top, easy to clip, and I don't have to go back and clip the back and try to pull out the thread tail where it got caught in the quilting.

I knot and bury my threads. I usually do it as I go along. If I wait and do the whole quilt the threads get tangled on the back so I do small sections of the quilt in stitching and then pull the top thread to the back, knot and bury the threads. I have a favorite big eyed needle that I use. This method also breaks up my sitting at the machine for too long and eases shoulder, arm and hand strain that I can get when I machine quilt. I also like the way it looks when I'm finished.

Thanks for the reminder! I had forgotten that I have a lot of threads to knot and bury on a king sized quilt where I did SID ... I must do it before I do the FMQ on that quilt. I always knot and bury as I've never found another satisfactory (to me) method of securing the thread ends. I've experimented but not been happy with the results so far.

Knot and bury - knot with machine or by hand prior to burying?

Yep I'm a knot and bury gal myself. Even as I piece together I pull the thread through and knot several times before cutting off the excess. Takes longer but I feel better about it not unraveling.

I'm with Tartan on this one.

I do a bit of both. If I am doing SITD I either backstitch or stitch in place, then cut the threads close (sometimes, obsessively, I'll bury the thread after stitching in place, but I won't bother knotting it then). For the tails left after FMQ I will knot and bury, and as an added precaution I will weave the end through the line of stitching (between the quilt layers). I think this helps reduce the chance of it starting to unravel, and (bonus) it hides the tail from showing through your fabric. I don't do that every time, especially if my quilted tlines are very dense.

I don't show my quilts so I am mostly concerned about appearance and longevity. Having had to unpick quilting a few times I can attest to how strongly back-stitched layers want to stay together!

Alison

I also don't fine the time to bury threads as cindi first mentioned. I am surprised that so many member do this technique with machine quilting. I can understand when doing hand quilting. I do a very small backstitch and I have won many awards in some very large quilt shows. Not doing any more competition anymore due to my disability.

Well, I usually backstitch a couple of stitches but on the quilt I'm doing right now, I'm making a knot on the back and clipping the threads. Like someone else said, it's my quilt and I don't mind...... besides, the machine I'm using on this one doesn't do backstitch. It's a 1916 Singer model 128 handcrank..... fun to sew with but no backstitch.

I agree.Life is too short and they aren't better.I take a few stitches in place.Some patterns I don't even do that.Sometimes the pattern crosses over it's self and locking threads isn't necessary.

When I took my first machine quilting class, the teacher had us bring up the bobbin thread, so it won't make a bird's nest on the backing, then take 3 -6 stitches in one place to secure the threads and the same at the end of the stitching. To me it's less work and by pulling up the bobbin thread in the beginning you can trim both threads at once. Hope this helps.

I too leave my ends long and tie a knot then bury them. If using silk or thick threads (bobbin work) you must do this, or the ends will come undone. I don't find it to be so time consuming. I will stop and tie off a couple at a time, instead of leaving them all to the end. I've tried to make small stitches at the beginning and the ends of my fmq and don't like the end result, it looks messy, I think. I use a quick threading needle for thinner threads and it goes fast to do a few at a time.

I stitch in place 4-5 stitches, and then continue on for machine quilting. Most of my quilts are for charity so I want to make sure I have secure stitches for the little ones.

I take several tiny, tiny stitches to start & end. If my end is going to be back where I started (outline of a square)...I don't lock the first few stitches...I take the last tiny stitches over the start stitches. If I were doing a wholecloth quilt...I'd knot and bury any stitches that were not in a seam, or at a junction of other lines.
Marge