Securing ends.
 

I'm about to start quilting a pattern (walking foot) that requires a gazillion, gazillion arcs, each one being started and finished at a point in the quilt body......not "off the edge". So I need a method for securing all my start stop ends that isn't going to drive me to despair! I have done a search on previous posts and it seems that many of you secure your ends by simply doing a few stitches at length "0" at the beginning and the end and then just snipping the threads. This appeals to me as being a lot quicker than pulling my thread through, knotting and then burying the ends for each arc. Would this method survive on a quilt that is going to be used as a throw quilt and therefore pummeled about a bit?

yes it will

I agree that it will be secure. Instead of 0, though, I use a tiny stitch (such as .03). It is just as secure without thread buildup. Just 3 or at most 4 tiny stitches are enough.

Thankyou both...appreciated.

I also use that method. I do most of my quilting on my Bernina and it actually has a stitch to secure the ends. It works great.

I go back and forth a few times, start and finish. It holds up on the quilts I keep for myself.

I'm just going to jump in here - should all machines do a stitch length of 0? On my brother the smallest I can get it to I think is 0.2. I've made a few small pieces recently where I just forward/reversed a few times for the quilting

Your Brother probably has a slight misadjustment. A stitch length of 0 simply means the feed dogs don’t move at all. The feed dogs on your machine are still moving a little.

My Bernina has a stitich to secure the end (the scissor icon, right?) but does it also have a stitch to secure at the beginning? I would love to know. Thank you in advance.

For quilts that will get hard use and be washed a lot, I start a few stitches ahead of the beginning of the line, pull both threads up to the top, back stitch those few stitches, then start stitching. I backstitch at the end of the line, too.

I do several very small stitches almost on the same spot... I do, however pull up the threads at the beginning and end of the stitching lines.

On my Bernina 740 the scissor icon does not secure the ends. It just cuts the threads. I have to use Stitch #1324 to secure the beginning and ending stitches. Other Bernina models may work differently.

THANK YOU!! Thank You!! thank you!!

I do start with at least 3 very small stitches and try to remember to do the same at the end. Sometimes I do forget. I try to check my threads as I go and if I can pull the bobbin thread up with the top thread, I pull it up and tie it. I use a self-threading needle, which sits right next to my machine and with it, I bury the threads as I go. I always hated this part but the self-threading needles have really made it fast and simple.

It isn't a misadjustment - this is the lowest setting on the machine. I have been doing some reading since and it seems that this is actually quite common on many machines although I haven't found anything referring specifically to my machine (Brother Fs100wt)

My Bernina also has a knot button that secures the threads. I'm getting much better at remembering to use it! Before I discovered it, I would set the stitch length to 0 and stitch a few stitches because I had read of this technique. However, I found that the 0 stitch length would come undone sometimes. Then I did the teeny-tiny (.03) stitches at beginning and end of a line of quilting. For extra security, I usually bury my thread ends, using the self-threading needle as yolajean suggests.

My older Bernina 160 also has a lock stitch for starting and stopping. It is stitch 5. Your machine may have one somewhere....