Stopping and starting when quilting
 

When I start/stop a line of quilting, I always bury my knots. I'm taking a Craftsy class right now, and the instructor is doing tiny stitches when starting/stopping and then just cutting the ends of the thread. What do you do when you start/stop a line of quilting and is there a reason you do that over another method? Thanks!

I normally just do a few tiny stitches, although I try to choose continuous quilt designs, you sometimes have to start & stop around blocks and I find it easier then tying off, threading a needle & burying the threads.

I would go crazy if I had to bury my knots however I think it looks neater.

I do the same thing you do--tie off the end and bury the knot. I do this because I don't like the look of those little tiny stitches, especially if the line of quilting isn't all that long. Plus, the experts are always telling us to strive for consistency in stitch length, which this fails to do.

The Craftsy instructor is presenting another way to start and stop your quilting lines, but it's only a suggestion. You have to do what feels the most comfortable for you.

When I started quilting on the longarm I took tiny stitches, or stitches in place while wrapping the thread around the needle. After a while I started burying the knot instead, and now that's all I do. I have found that it's *almost* as fast, and I think it looks better.

I turn the machine length to 0 and stitch in place a couple of times. So far none of the quilt stitches have come undone. If the thread is a stark contrast to the quilt then I would probably bury the ends. I have seen Paducah entry quilts close up and most of the machine quilted ones have the tiny stitches at the start and stop. Most of the quiltmakers , if present, will let you look at their quilt close up and I ask how they do things.

It is just a matter of preference. IMHO, I like the knot & bury method for most of my work. I will use either method depending on the quilt and what it will be used for.

Do you like neat and tidy or get it done?
peace

I stitch in place and cut the thread. I'm not real concerned how the back looks.

I would go nuts too. I just do a couple of stitches in place. Do what YOU are comfortable in doing.

I do tiny stitches and snip about 99.99% of the time. Only time I've ever bothered to bury my ends was one time, when I was entering a quilt into the fair and I wanted it as perfect as possible.

We use and wash our quilts constantly and I've yet to have a stitched-n-snipped quilt have its quilting unravel on me, and some of my quilts have a LOT of start & stop points!