When you're stippling a border, do you keep the stippling inside the border and stop when you get to where the binding will be (guessing roughly where it will sit) or do you go right to the very edge of the fabric and then put the binding over the top?

I have gone right to the edge... makes me feel better about putting the binding on a more stable edge... but that's just one opinion!

i "try" to keep it from going underneath the binding.

i start stitching off the quilt in the binding area and then travel into the border section to do the design.

then when i'm done with the design area i'll travel off the border into the binding area.

this way the start and stop are hidden by the binding.

If stippling I go right to the edge, if using a border design I try to keep it outside the binding.

Ahhhh.... thank you. :-)

My next question.... if you keep it inside the binding, do you draw a line in chalk or just guess where the binding will be?

I go right to the edge...I like the way the wobbly line winds and peeks in and out of the binding once it has been attached.

me either...like I say...quilting is like internet...you'll never see/do it all.
I like all these answers btw.

I go right to the edge, then put the binding over, after squaring and trimming. And I don't mark where the binding would go, I just eyeball it. Like some of the others, I like the way the stippling comes and goes in and out from underneath the binding, and I think it stabilises the edge too.

I love all these questions about machine quilting and am taking it all in for when i learn how!

i don't mark the quilt where the binding will end up i just eyeball it.

i always trim my quilts again before binding and i found that when i stitched all the way to the edge the threads would be cut in many locations without the ability for me to knot them off or bury.

since most of my work is sold i have a fear that the quilting will unravel somewhere down the line in my clients homes.

so i really do try to keep the quilting threads out of the way of my cutting and squaring before i put the binding on.

Good point Klu, I have always thought that machining the binding on would hold all those cut threads. I do use quite a short stitch to do that, around 1.7 on my machine. But what you are doing with all the ends is bound to be stronger. What about using a fabric glue right on the cut edge (under the binding)?

i do use elmers school glue on the back to hold down the binding while i'm sewing it but i don't know how long that glue holds - i don't think it lasts very long.

Wow, I sure learn a lot from you all!

Great questions & answers! Thanks!! :D

I love reading all of this great information!!! :D :D :D

I go right to the edge. That way I don't have to worry that I'm going to be crooked and have open spaces on the edge.

I usually go right to the edge unless its a specific pattern I have traced on the quilt. I love reading all the different answers. Gives me a different outlook and sometimes even changes my mine on how to do things,=.

Hello, I am new here to this forum! Very nice place to visit indeed. I have 2 questions if anyone can help me I would appreciate it very much.

1. free motion or stippling- why can't I make my stitches smaller, they are quite large- I lowered the tension and the length of stitches. The motion I have some what down, just can't have that large of stitches, it looks terrible?

2. The chat room, I can see the room but I cannot respond, I think there are a lot of people inthere, is it possible it is just full?

Appreciate any feedback.

i can answer your first question = you're moving your quilt to quickly compare to the speed of your needle - either slow down moving the quilt or speed up the pace of the needle.

I agree with Klue on her answer to question #1. Since you stated that you have the movement of the quilt down, I would suggest you try speeding up the needle first. Since you are moving the quilt yourself, the stitch length you specify with your machine is irrelevant and should not affect your actual stitches. This is assuming your feed dogs are either covered or in the down position.

thanks so much, now that makes sense and I will give this a try, I am so excited to finish a lap quilt and a full size quilt. Thanks again. Yes, the feed dogs are down.

with your feed dogs down, don't adjust your tension, the speed with which you move your fabric determines the length of your stitches - sew fast, move slow.

also about stippling where the binding will be going: a longarm quilter told me to do this: after squaring up your quilt, go around the edges with a narrow but long zia zag stitch very close to the edge, then sew the binding over that. works great - makes the binding easier to attach, and assures that any stippling stitches that were cut won't ravel and also makes you feel better about it staying together better when laundered.

Just as a matter of interest.... when doing cornelli work on a cake (which is the same as stippling) we start and finish the stippling in the same place so it is like one continuous wriggly line.

I was reading these answers and saying yes...to all the methods. I can see the reasons behind them all. Then I saw what dojo had to say about the zigzag and thought, well, yes....that would work well too!

Klue, from the videos on youtube that I've watched using the glue method for binding...it is just a water based Elmers, so it would be gone in the 1st washing I think. I really understand why you would worry about the threads coming undone.

I guess I'll be doing a lot more thinking about this and maybe just not using a stipple pattern in the border would solve the problem though!

I love this forum! I always learn sew much! Thanks for another lesson! :lol:

Wow! You quilters are awesome!
Thanks for all the new (to me) info. I learn something every time I visit.