quilting from the center
 

Has anyone ever machine quilted a small quilt starting from the center. It is a flannel baby blanket and ready to machine quilt.

thanks,
Evelyn Morris

I just quilt with either straight line or stitch in the ditch - I start at one end and go width or length or the quilt and then go the other direction. I do have an older Pfaff with the IDT (?) feature.

When I quilted on my regular sewing machine I always started in the middle and worked my way out, seemed to have less problems that way, but I guess everyone is different, just try and you'll find what works best for you.

Yes, I have done that a time or two. I can manage a simple meander that to me is quite acceptable. Sometimes I start in the middle. The folks I give them to are so thrilled with a quilt and they wouldn't notice a mistake or where I started.

Most of my quilts are quilted with stitch in the ditch & I always try to quilt from the center out. I was told (when I first started learning to quilt) that it's best to start that way. The reason being is that you are less likely to have any (or as many) puckers as you quilt that way because any loose fabric will be forced to the edges. I hope that makes sense.

I don't machine quilt from the center out; I don't want to have to tie up all those loose ends!

Quilting from the center out is probably most appropriate for hand quilting with a hoop. This is because of all the times you have to hoop, unhoop, and move the quilt around, all the while snipping basting threads in the area where you are working.

Machine quilting provides options that make quilting from the center out unnecessary, although it's still an option. For one thing, you can heavily starch the top and backing before layering. This stabilizes the fabric so it is less likely to stretch, distort, or pucker while you are quilting. Spray basting allows all three layers to be in continuous contact with each other, increasing stability of the layers and providing additional protection from having the fabric stretch while you are working. Glue basting provides a similar level of stability. Both provide more stability for keeping the layers together than basting stitches (or pins, although pins are usually not used for hand quilting because they provide too many opportunities for thread to catch on them).

For myself, instead of quilting from the center out, I would heavily starch the flannel top and backing fabric before layering and spray baste. If doing straight or wavy lines, I would use a walking foot working from one side to another. The only time I would work from the center out is if I were doing individual quilting designs (for example, standalone block designs). Even then, I would probably stabilize the blocks first by stitching in the ditch with a walking foot. After that, it really wouldn't matter in which order the standalone designs were quilted.

Edit: Especially for flannel, by heavy starch I mean a 1:1 solution of Sta-Flo and water. Flannel benefits from a *lot* of stabilization by means of starch because it is such a soft, stretchy fabric. If the quilt is already sandwiched, you can usually get by with doing multiple layers of spray starch on both top and backing. It won't be as strong as the 1:1 Sta-Flo, though.

As Prisim99 said, if your layers are held together well, you can start wherever you like. I use Elmer's School Glue to make the sandwich, and it handles like one piece of fabric. Thick fabric. I usually sew at least a basting stitch around the outside first because the glued pieces could separate with a lot of handling. Mostly I quilt down one edge at least a foot or two in, then turn the quilt at the corner and do that on side two, three and four. Then there is just a small center left to do. Haven't had trouble with puckers.

I'm allergic to basting spray, so I pin baste my quilts from the center out & quilt them all the same way whether with a walking foot or darning foot (although increasingly I am using the darning foot even for straight line quilting, making it unnecessary to break thread very often.

I pretty much always start in the middle. I pin basted and work on my HQ Sweet Sixteen and I find it easier to work on the edges if the middle is done. That said, I do a lot of FMQ rather than SITD or long straight/wavy lines. On those I do go edge to edge but usually start with a middle line and work one way out and then the other.

It really can just be personal preference, how you want to baste and quilt.

I always begin in the centre to quilt. I was taught it was the correct and only way to do it. The habit just stayed. I tend to do an anchoring row left to right then top to bottom and any others I feel need doing before putting feathers etc onto quilt.
Since having long arm I quilt that from top down. I think this does have a slight slip downwards but only minimum.