I'm getting ready to put my first quilt together. It's already sandwiched and I will be doing SID. I was told when I start the SID that I need to start in the middle and work my way out. When I reach the edge I need to start over in the middle and sew out again. Is this right and why?

Thanks

Starting in the middle you will have a place for the fullness to go. If you start on the edge the fullness will bunch up in the middle with no where to go. My quilt tops are never perfectly square to the world so I never start on the edges.

In general, you want to start quilting in the middle and work your way out so that any excess fabric is pushed to the edges. If you were to quilt all the sides and then start quilting towards the middle, you could end up with a large "bubble" in the middle that wouldn't "quilt out".

Having said that, it depends somewhat on how you are planning to do your SID.

If you are planning to quilt around each square individually, then you do want to start in the middle and work your way out in a circular fashion.

However, if you are planning to stitch entire lines at a time, I would start *in the middle of an edge* and quilt from one end to the other -- e.g., start at the middle of the top and stitch continuously from the top to the bottom. My next line would be from the middle of the side across the entire quilt to the other side. This would still be working from the middle out, but an entire line at a time.

Even with pin or spray basting, there will still be shifting! That is the reason to start in the middle and work your way out. :lol:

I wonder if this has been my problem - I've always (when sitiching in the ditch) started at the beginning of a seam and gone straight across, instead of from the middle!
Now I can't wait to try it again!
Thanks!!! :D

So does it matter which side of the ditch you sew on? Does it have to be consistent?

Thats a good question. Since all of the seams are pressed to the side you will have more fabric to one side. Does it make a difference? And what if your seams are pressed in two differen't directions because of the way the block was put together?

Well thats just it. I'm new to this so I haven't even gotten that far yet. Thats why I was wondering what is the best way to SID. With more fabric being on one side of the seam I wasn't sure which side was the best to sew or should I try to stay right smack in the middle.

Thanks

I've stayed right smack in the middle - basically sewing on top of the seam line

Personally, I like to SITD on the side that has the most fabric! Makes me feel like I am stabilizing the fabrics and they will NEVER come apart! That said, it is better to stitch just off to one side of the seam rather than right in the middle, because then you could be sewing only on the thread that is holding the blocks together, if you press your seams open. There are sew many variables, that this becomes a personal preference. Someone on another thread was using one of her decorative stitches then went from one side to the other like a meandering stitch so she got both sides! I think you can do a search and find other threads that have dicsussed this recently on this forum. :lol: