I've been quilting less than a year and my machine quilting skills are limited to Stich Near a Ditch and Cross Hatching. I was looking at a quilt my grandson has - made by his great grand mother on his dad's side. She is a master quilter and I've admired many things she's made for my daughter and SIL. Here's what I learned by examining this baby quilt:

Her Stitch In a Ditch used a scallop stitch. A pretty big scallop at that. I pictured her weaving that quilt back and forth under her machine needle, but looked at my machine and ... low and behold! I have a scallop stitch! It looks so much better than a straight stitch and is not as slow and does not take as much thread as zigzag or others I've tried.

Her baby quilt has little boy backing - different vehicles - but the front will grow with him (he's 3 now and got this as an infant). It's batiks in what I would call jewel tones. So ... a baby quilt does not have to look like a baby - who knew? :)

Her binding was machine stitched using a zigzag. I've done that on table runners and on a quilt I made for this same child, but ... felt guilty about it! No more!

I've made 4 lap quilts for graduation gifts in the last couple of weeks and they are scalloped near a ditch and I'm a happy camper.

So ... for other newbies out there.... try it - you might like it!

:thumbup:

Looks fine to me.

I think I will try this. I am making a Turning Twenty for a wedding gift, and thought about doing the SITD, but I think I will try this instead.

Thanks for sharing

I like what you have done. I dont care for SITD so I do my stitches similar to yours.

Love this! Thank you for sharing.

Going to check my machine in am!

thanks for the tip, looks great

I'll see, bet I have that stitch on my machine. I wanted a wavy look but was concerned it would be wobbly, not wavy. Will check my machine tomorrow. Thanks for the tip!

This makes me much happier! My STID's are so wobbly they almost look like the scallop anyway...

I'd been stitching 1/4 inch from ditch - using the edge of my foot as a guide - I liked that better than aiming at the ditch, but MUCH prefer this!

I guess that stitch is called a scallop - didn't look in my manual to see. I set my machine to "3". Smaller than that and it's almost a zigzag, but with rounded edges. I'm happy with that, but the baby quilt I was looking at the scallops were much wider than mine.

Great tip! I'll have to see if my machine has that stitch. It looks much more "forgiving" than SITD!

Great fabric you've got there, love it!

Nice one! Thanks for sharing.

Don't know if I was supposed to, but I laughed right out loud at this comment -- "stitch NEAR a ditch", LOL!! It's SO me, too! :lol: :lol:
(and the reason I use that scallop often myself.)

Jan in VA

Well, for the sake of accuracy I cannot call mine Stitch IN a Ditch so started using "near". Glad it gave you a good laugh. I just felt so liberated when I saw that baby quilt with it's scallop. SAAD (Stitch AROUND a Ditch?) :)

I like Stitch in the Ditch but this seems better as it gets the weight of the quilt off the seams. Thanks for the idea.

Thanks for sharing.

Hey I have that stich on my Husqu!! guess what i`ll be trying? :thumbup:

That's how I do my STID. Makes your quilting look good!

Love that idea :thumbup: It would be much faster. That scallop stitch is the one I use when I finish my binding on the top of the quilt. I just run it all around on the top of the binding.

I have used this stitch on a lot of quilts. Learned from my mother. She used it so you couldn't tell if you hadn't got exactly straight but it was not as harsh as the zigzag. She was a smart lady.

Now thats a good new term for me too. I love it. Thanks for sharing that tip. I'm going to go see if I have that on my machine. I'll be doing it too. Happy SAAD'n :thumbup:

Jan, I often laugh at your posts. I also stitch near a ditch but have started using the decorative stitches on my 3 machines, depending on the pattern of the quilt.

Great idea! My stitch in the ditch seems to come out of the ditch anyway, so why not make it decorative. I'll be using my scallop or some other decorative stitch from now on myself.
Thanks for the tip!

Love it!

Did you have to adjust a certain stitch or did come this way?

Johanna
North Carolina

yep, i like doing curvy lines too instead of straight ones all the time. easier too.

Beautiful! Check out some of the other more open decorative stitches on your machine. I love to use them along the ditch, in borders and to sew down the binding on the front of the quilt too :D:D:D

Thank you for the information. Sounds like his grandmother is very talented.

That's like the stitch I use when stitching in the ditch!!

Great idea! Can't wait to try it. My SITD meanders a lot!

Great looking stitch...I am sure going to check out my options on my machine.

The scallop stitch is one of the decorative stitches available on my machine. I widen it out some by adjusting the length. If I don't adjust it looks like a rounded top zigzag - too narrow for me.

The scallop stitch is one of the decorative stitches available on my machine. I widen it out some by adjusting the length. If I don't adjust it looks like a rounded top zigzag - too narrow for me.[/quote]

Sounds like I am on the right track, because that is what I did to the #4 stitch on my Bernina.

I've been experimenting with the stitches in my machine and having a great time learning what they do. Several work for quilting. I've even put on my embroidery foot and free motioned quilted with some of them.

I wanted to thank you for telling us about the scalloped stitch in the ditch. I have used it on a couple of quilts since and love it.

You're welcome! I steal only from the best - learned this from my daughter's grandmother-in-law.

That's a # 4 stitch on my Bernina and I love it! It is so much easier than STD and I think it looks nicer.

Jan - your scallop in the ditch is a great idea. My stitches in the ditch are mostly OUT of the ditch too. I do have a STID foot, which I have learned to use fairly well, but it still isn't as good as I'd like. I don't have a nice smooth scallop on my machine that I can stretch out like yours, so instead I came up with another. I have a Janome 6600 and I use Mode 3, Stitch #11. I put one scallop in memory, then punch in another #11, but reverse it, hit the memory button again and when they stitch out, they look like the picture below. I use this in my borders, in particular, all the time. When I sew on my bindings (NEVER by hand) I use Mode 2, stitch #31 (picture below).

Nita

Nita,
Love your stitches too. I have to see if I can find the right one on my Bernina.