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MellieKQuilter 06-21-2011 12:07 PM

When I have skipped stitches, I think it comes from me moving the quilt to fast... I just had that happen in fact, and I am pretty sure that I am the culprit. You figure on the practice piece, there is no drag, not so on a quilt... good luck!

annesthreads 06-21-2011 12:15 PM


Originally Posted by sewgull
I enlarge stitches when quilting. Have adjusted the tension on machine? What thread are you using?

I don't think I can enlarge the decorative stitches on my machine. The thread is Robison Anton 50 wt cotton. the tension looks OK, as far as I can tell - not quite sure what I'm looking for with the decorative stitches, but the straight stitches inbetween are fine.

ckcowl 06-21-2011 02:45 PM

it is important to use the proper foot for your machine- for the chosen stitch -- if you try to do a decorative stitch with the wrong foot on you can easily break your needle- which can be dangerous- or mess other things up-

decorative stitches are great design features when used for quilting- be adventurous-
but if you plan to quilt a pieced top= your practice piece should also be pieced--not necessarily the same-but some seams- and the same fabrics-batt as the real thing--if you want to see how (your) real one is going to come out.

Candace 06-21-2011 02:48 PM

My Bernina has a gazillion decorative stitches, but I'd venture to say about 90% of them would look ugly on the back of a quilt. You can use them for embroidering the piece before you quilt, but as for actual quilting, the stitches that are the simplest will look best on the backing of a quilt.

bebe 06-21-2011 02:49 PM

in Cotton Theory the lady uses decorative stices for her quilts and etc
why not!!!!!


here is a link
http://www.quiltyard.com/whatiscottontheory.phtml

luckylindy333 06-21-2011 02:59 PM


Originally Posted by annesthreads
My machine (Janome 4800) has a selection of decorative stitches that I've very rarely used, but this afternoon I began to wonder if I could use them for quilting, as I'm quilting a wall hanging, a log cabin Christmas tree (very appropriate to be working on that at the summer solstice of course...!) and am totally stuck as to how to quilt the background. So, with no idea of how I'm supposed to go about this, I've been experimenting. I've tried 3 patterns, a snowflake and 2 stars, the idea being to do short vertical lines of stitches randomly on the quilt. They all worked well on my practice piece, but on the actual quilt there were a lot of skipped stitches and sometimes only half the pattern. I was trying to keep off the seams, but I'm guessing that the log cabin blocks may have been the problem, as the practice piece, with no seams, was OK. I started with the walking foot, but found that I got better results with an ordinary one. The simplest of the stars is now coming out OK.
I'd be interested to hear any advice or thoughts from the experts on here on using decorative stitches for quilting.

I use my Pfaff embroidery stitches for quilting sometimes. I have a serpentine stitch that works really well. I believe I did lessen the foot pressure to go through all three layers and it worked very well. I really put that machine through it's paces last Christmas! I use the smaller stitches on mug rugs and have used some of them doing decorative quilting on sweatshirts, too.

running1 06-21-2011 03:06 PM

I'm definitely a beginner, so I'm not sending advice, just my (limited) experience... I've used a decorative stitch along the seam because I didn't think I could stay in the ditch well enough... I just stitched the outside of the blocks and then used a cross-hatch for inside the blocks on one and sewed a button inside on another quilt with a smaller block.. Both came out looking cute, according to my sweet quilting friends (both of whom are also beginners)

I read with great interest the comment about so many holes in the fabric with decorative stitches... That could definitely become a problem!!

I'm watching this thread for all the advice the more experienced quilters have...

luckylindy333 06-21-2011 03:07 PM


Originally Posted by annesthreads
My machine (Janome 4800) has a selection of decorative stitches that I've very rarely used, but this afternoon I began to wonder if I could use them for quilting, as I'm quilting a wall hanging, a log cabin Christmas tree (very appropriate to be working on that at the summer solstice of course...!) and am totally stuck as to how to quilt the background. So, with no idea of how I'm supposed to go about this, I've been experimenting. I've tried 3 patterns, a snowflake and 2 stars, the idea being to do short vertical lines of stitches randomly on the quilt. They all worked well on my practice piece, but on the actual quilt there were a lot of skipped stitches and sometimes only half the pattern. I was trying to keep off the seams, but I'm guessing that the log cabin blocks may have been the problem, as the practice piece, with no seams, was OK. I started with the walking foot, but found that I got better results with an ordinary one. The simplest of the stars is now coming out OK.
I'd be interested to hear any advice or thoughts from the experts on here on using decorative stitches for quilting.

I use my Pfaff embroidery stitches for quilting sometimes. I have a serpentine stitch that works really well. I believe I did lessen the foot pressure to go through all three layers and it worked very well. I really put that machine through it's paces last Christmas! I use the smaller stitches on mug rugs and have used some of them doing decorative quilting on sweatshirts, too.

mic-pa 06-21-2011 03:10 PM

I have to wonder if you can open the hinged left side of the machine and change the pressure on the pressure foot. I have Janome machines and you can change the pressure on all of mine. the 3500 model is similar to your 4800.

Candace 06-21-2011 03:53 PM


Originally Posted by bebe
in Cotton Theory the lady uses decorative stices for her quilts and etc
why not!!!!!


here is a link
http://www.quiltyard.com/whatiscottontheory.phtml

Yes, if you look at her stitches, they're the simple ones that look nice on the back;>


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