Quilting YBR
 

Straight line, cross hatch or SID? If SID should I use a SID foot or walking foot. Thanks for any suggestions.

YBR = Yellow Brick Road?

Of the 3 choices -- straight line, cross hatch, SID -- I find SID to be the most difficult. Second most difficult is cross-hatching, mainly because it's so easy to create a little pucker when you cross a line. Heavy starching of both top and backing helps a lot with that issue. Easiest is straight line quilting. What I really like is using a walking foot and making *curvy* straight lines! They don't have to be even. It's a more modern look and very forgiving; variations are expected! It's quite easy to make gentle curves using a walking foot. Let me see if I can find an example:
http://pixiecupindustries.blogspot.c...ny-monday.html

I did this yesterday! I quilted between the blocks (SITD). Once I had finished I ran two lines between--in some parts these lines were SITD, but others were not. Basically a grid that turned out the size of the smallest square in the blocks. I would have preferred to FMQ,but my skills aren't yet up to it.

Edited to add: Oh, and I used my walking foot. My quilt is flannel top and back, so the walking foot really helped.

Thanks for your responses. I love the curvy lines look, but it looks like it would be hard to do. Angelia, do you have a picture? Would love to see. Thanks.

I love doing the wavy lines with my walking foot. I will post a pic for you when I get home this afternoon. This is one of the easiest ways to quilt a top.

It's easy to do wavy lines with a walking foot. If you try it on a test sandwich, you will find it's actually easier than trying to sew a straight line.

Aside from using a walking foot, starching both top and backing fabric helps a lot to prevent puckers and tucks. Using 505 basting spray also helps, as it keeps all 3 layers in continuous contact with each other. This lessons the ability of the fabrics to fold over and create a tuck.

I'll try to post one later today.

Craftsy has a good class about using a walking foot for quilting and also using the decorative stitches on your machine with the walking foot. So far I'm loving the class and learning a lot. I'm not skilled enough to do FMQ yet.

My new favorite quilting pattern is the wavy line. I have done several quilts with this and I love it. It is the serpentine stitch on my Janome. I use the Acufeed foot, or walking foot.

Here are 2 pictures of one of the wavy line quilts that I finished recently. Just use your walking foot and slowly rotate the quilt right and left a little as it feeds through. Stitch end to end so you don't have any thread ends, and it is super easy and fairly fast, depending upon how far/close together you stitch your wavy lines. [ATTACH=CONFIG]486018[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]486019[/ATTACH]

I posted a picture that shows how I quilted mine:

http://www.quiltingboard.com/picture...d-t251234.html

Jeanne, thanks so much for your photo.... not sure if I have the courage to try it that way or not. I have used my serpentine stitch before and was happy with those results. I have a few tops sitting waiting for their turn...maybe one will jump the line so I can try this.

Jeanne and Angelia, thanks so much for posting pictures. They are beautiful. When I finish my YBR I will try posting a picture.

I just want to make it clear that there is a difference between (1) using the serpentine stitch on your machine and (2) quilting wavy lines with a walking foot. The wavy lines are made with a straight stitch and a walking foot, but you move the fabric to the right and left as you sew. With serpentine stitch, you are basically sewing a straight line but using a stitch that creates waves to the right and left of your stitching line. Both are useful, but the look they create is quite different.

Hope this is clearer than mud......

OK, I give up. I am not in the loop, outcast, whatever, but thank you very much, I have no intention of learning a bunch of initials. I am completely lost in the initials and believe me, I am not a snob, I just can't understand why us housewives, mothers, office workers, senior citizens, grey panthers, old folks, geezers, whatever you want to call us can't write out a few simple words that we learned when we were in the second grade.

I will always start my day with the Quilting Board, but there are initials I do not understand, and somewhere in the translation I totally lose what the person is talking about and I just go on to the next thread. I found out that I may be losing something that is important and that saddens me, but have we become so lazy that we can't spell out a word? I am OTD, proud of it, learning every day, will be celebrating my 76th birthday next month and I will not let initials interfere with my learning of new words - not initials. Oh, incidentally, OTD is Older than Dirt!!!!!!! (Just thought I would throw that in!!!)

I am always trying to find new words for my vocabulary and to spell them correctly. So far it is working, but perhaps somewhere along the line my mind will begin to fail me and I won't remember everything like I can now, except where I put my glasses, and I may have to revert to initials, but until then .......................... Edie

I HATE SID so don't so it. Because the seams lay in different directions it is almost impossible to stay exactly in the ditch. I use a serpentine stitch over the whole seam and it can be slightly off and no one will notice. I've used it on several quilts and I like it a lot for utility quilting. You can adjust the stitch for denseness and width to your liking.

Edie,
i understand your frustration. When I first found this board I thought it was in a foreign language half the time. Then I noticed the very first post under the Main section of this board is the same and titled Quilters Dictionary and Acronyms. If you take a moment to read it, it is a fairly comprehensive list of all the abbreviations/acronyms used by many in their posts. Many are quite humorous, It really helped me translate posts. I think the acronyms are used so frequently by many that no one thinks about them anymore. They can be a timesaver when pecking out a message on a tiny mobile phone keyboard if you are not on a full computer keyboard. Anyway hope that helps a little!

Someone mentioned quilting end to end on this topic so as not to have threads. I always thought that if I did'nt start in the middle and work out something terrible would happen. Is it true I can stitch end to end without diaster? That would be so much easier. I am getting ready to start quilting a king size thinking outside the block quilt and trying to figure out how to quilt it. I don't do free motion and I don't really like the quilting process on my domestic machine...so anything to make it easier would be great.

I've recently been using the wavy line and like it very much. Cross hatching works fantastic for some projects and while you have to watch carefully so you don't mess up it can be an enhancing way to quilt

Love the wavy lines!

I do edge to edge quilting all the time. But my first rows/lines are in the MIDDLE of the quilt. Then I gradually work to the outside edges. Also I alternate the direction of the lines each time--the first line sewn top to bottom, the 2nd line sewn bottom to top, the3rd line top to bottom, etc. I usually sew 3-4 lines on the right of center then 3-4 lines on the left side so the quilting is staying fairly balanced on each side as I work out from the center. The wavy lines (with walking foot) are easier than trying to do even straight lines!! And there are no threads to bury unless your bobbin runs out in the middle of a line.

Maybe one of the more knowledgeable members will write out a list of the abbreviations. We could print it out and keep it by our computer. And, Edie, you're not older than dirt. I'm waaaay older than you and just learning this process. It is certainly helping to keep me more alert and interested in life though. Bless all the quilters of the world!!

Oops! I lost track. I love the wavy lines and definitely will give it a go. I'm almost sure I could handle that. I think it does give a more modern look to the quilting and think the young ones would really like it.

I'm in my 50's & don't know all the abbreviations so I found them on the main board & printed them out. I keep my reference pages next to my computer. I would never remember all those initials without my cheat sheets.
Jeri

There is a comprehensive list already done for everyone. Go to the Main homepage and it is always the first post, called Quilters Dictionary/Acronyms. It stays there all the time. Great resource!

On larger quilts..........this was approx. 63" x 72", I cross hatch using painters tape and a walking foot. I use a temporary spray adhesive to sandwich, measure from one corner using the 45 degree mark on my ruler and mark the longest diagonal line with wide painters tape (usually about 1 3/4" wide). I do pin down the center of the tape however, because the throat on my domestic sewing machine is just 6 1/2" and manipulating the quilt through the throat can dislodge the tape. I sew, using the walking foot, down both sides of the tape and then move it. If you use two lengths, you can use one as a spacer, so that you can sew down both sides of the next tape. Here is the Yellow Brick Road I did using the cross hatch method. I never have trouble with puckering and don't alternate the direction of the stitching. I try to sew with the bulk of the quilt to the left of the needle whenever possible.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]486211[/ATTACH]

Love your quilt EmiliasNana. The cross hatch looks very nice!

Prism, I am getting ready to use what I think you are calling a serpentine stitch, but my kids call it a sine wave. It can be adjusted to look like a loose curve up to a tight scallop. What worries me is not the first row, but the 2nd. If I start out with the waves parallel, they'll be off at some point for sure. I was hoping to sort of stagger them. Your wavy lines are starting to look like a better bet. Thanks for posting the picture. :)

hugs,
Charlotte

I even have trouble on the Ipad keyboard. Bifocals sure aren't helping. It's not right to assume we're all lazy, either. There are a lot of folks here with disabilities as well, and I, for one, want to say things as economically as possible. Plus, the initials are bigger and easier to see. :)

hugs,
Charlotte

Acronyms are here to stay...I was recently asked (in person) if I was going to "FMQ" my quilt. Not if I was going to "Free motion quilt" it, she pronounced the acronym! And every quilter knows what a UFO is, right? I hear that one all the time in the real world.

Someone at my guild recently printed off this list of acronyms (or one similar to it) and was reading it to the group and getting lots of laughs. Some of them really are very funny.

It did take me a moment to figure out what "YBR" stood for, though. That one isn't as common. (Doesn't bother me, though)