Needle Turn Spacing
 

I am making my first needle turn quilt ever. So many of the tutorials were confusing when talking about size of spacing between each stitch on the top. I saw at least one tutorial that said space should be the width of a needle. That didn't really look that great to me, so I changed it to 2x width of needle. But now I'm second guessing myself wondering if my niece's quilt is going to fall apart in the wash.

Does anyone know if this spacing is okay for bed quilts?

Twice the width of the needle sounds ok to me. I do mine as close as possible. HTH.

Most books I have say stitches should be 1/8" apart or less.

I think 1/8th is sufficient. With a little practice you will get your rhythm.

I love needle turn applique and I make my stitches as close as possible. Don't second guess, twice the width of the needle will be fine. The applique will not fall apart in the wash. The very first applique quilt that I ever made is still doing fine ....... even after 30 plus years of use.

Thanks so much! My spacing is just under 1/8". I think part of the issue may be that my thread is not a perfect match for my applique fabric. It's within a couple shades, but not exact for a few of the colors. I've learned that going forward I really need to order that Aurifil thread guide so I can actually match my thread to my fabric exactly (or at least closer than what I've got).

Only way to get better is to practice, right? So I'll just keep working at it & maybe can get down to 1/16" for the next one (with the proper thread!).

Also, does anyone here know of any great DVD's to learn more about needle turn? The books/magazines just don't match my learning style and I'd love to learn more.

Bree, make sure you give the thread a little tug so that it's snug after each stitch. The stitches along the edge look like tiny dots. And if you can swing the price, buy silk thread to match the applique piece. It's so forgiving, you'll probably not see your stitches even when they aren't "perfect". Just beware the silk thread doesn't grab the cotton fabric the way cotton thread does, so the stitches tend to loosen kind of quickly, and may need tugged on frequently to stay tight between stitches.

Bree, Switch to silk thread. Because it sinks into the fabric, you only need a few colors to match the tone of the fabric not the exact color. I added a very dark charcoal gray to this set and it suits most of my needs.
http://www.connectingthreads.com/Too...5__D20310.HTML

Bree, have you looked at the Piece O'Cake books? I read many applique books and they were confusing to me, but 'The New Applique Sampler, Learn to Applique the Piece o' Cake Way' was so clear, and the pictures are so good, it's almost like watching a video.

Also, if you google 'piece 'o cake youtube', lots of videos come up.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbbqaqCs7lM

http://pieceocake.com/