Are there any good tips out there for starting and stopping machine quilting? I have found some tips that say to stitch in place or a few tiny stitches... but I worry that just cutting the thread without knotting will leave room for it to unravel. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

i just took a free motion class, and we were taught to take the few stitches and then cut close. the other option is to leave a tail of thread and, with a needle, bring it back through between the layers.

the option i liked the best is to plan to have very few stops and starts. i'm trying to figure out how that can be on a double irish chain that i am planning (with focus panels in the design).

anxious to see what other more experienced members say!

I watched John Flynn at the quilt show in Hampton, Va in February. He would start and end out on the edge of the quilt that would most likely be in the seam allowance for the binding, not part of the actual quilt. He would seew several real small stitches in that area and then continue on with the quilting.

That's a great tip! I'll have to remember that one!

I think this would work if you were doing a random pattern such as free motion stippling. I have trouble though with stencels that may not be continuous. I guess I'll keep doing what I'm doing - sew 5-6 tiny stitches, leave the tail thread and bury it in the batting.

Any suggestions on if I should knot the thread tail before burying it?

My machine guide says to take 5-6 stitches at the beginning and just cut the thread tail close to the quilt.

you know, i think she mentioned that the other night, but i just 'poo poo'd' it because i don't know why you'd pull a knot through and leave a hole (even though very tiny, i'm sure). that, plus the fact that i hate tying knots!

And you don't have any trouble with the threads coming loose?

I usually just sew a few realy tight stitches then cut the thread. All my books basically say to do that. How ever I have not quilted a lot and also mostly go off the edge so it realy would not matter. But I have a runner I made that I use on my kitchen table and it gets used a lot. So I wash it a lot and no quilting has come out, undone or whatever. I just did the tiny stiches in the beginning and end and it is fine. :D

Hello Gina. Sylvia here. If you have quite a modern machine you could have a way of sewing a few stitches in the same place, and then moving on to ordinary sewing. If you havn't got a modern machine then a few stitches oversewed at the beginning of your work will ensure that the thread is held and of course at the end of your sewing the back stitch will hold it very well. I have done this numerous times and have just snipped the ends and have never had to tie them. Hope this of help.