I hope I'm not too late to ask this on this topic... I, too, had difficulty staying actually IN the ditch on my first attempts. So, I chose a decorative stitch and used that pretty much OVER the ditch... just covered it up... It used a lot of thread, but I used a pretty thread and my quilty friends thought it looked nice. I added another quilt line diagonally/criss-crossed for more complete quilting using a straight stitch.

On another quilt (the one in my avatar) I used pretty thread over the ditch with a decorative stitch and then quilted inside the block using buttons. The pattern is a D9P.

I know there are no 10 Commandment-type rules for us, but is using a decorative stitch OVER the ditch frowned on by the quilt police?

Thanks again everyone!

I think for my first "real" quilt - I like the idea of using a decorative stitch over the ditch.

Very interesting.

I do a variety of ways
SID = stitch in ditch (done the right way)
SOD = stitch on ditch/seam (tired eyes and bad coordination)
SNTD = stitch next to ditch (could be the operator or the machine or both)

Whatever way works for me :) :)

I did mine with one of the design stitches on my machiine, it looked real nice

I have read that you shouldn't go into the seam because you can break the piecing threads and eventually they might come undone...So I go next to the seam on the low end...

I use a SID foot and will never do SID again without it!!!!

I also do it this way but my daughter took a quilting class at her church and she was taught that STD was done right next to the seam. So do it your way, and it will be the right way. ;-)

It isn't frowned on by quilting judges, apparently, since one of the big winners at a large local quilt show utilized this technique :thumbup:

Funny! Personally, I thought SID was next to seem. Maybe I need more wine!