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Should I ditch the stitch-in-the-ditch?

Should I ditch the stitch-in-the-ditch?

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Old 03-26-2013, 03:01 PM
  #11  
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Originally Posted by Silvia75 View Post
Do you stitch in the ditch around square or rectangular blocks when you start quilting? I always thought this was good for "anchoring" the quilt down before doing other stitching like FMQ. But now as I look at my latest quilt, it seems like overkill so after I am done with all the FMQ I have decided to pull all of these early stitches by hand (yes a very tedious process) because they seem to make the quilt look worse otherwise.Should i reconsider my strategy or ditch the stitch in the ditch?
Leah day touches on this. She uses it to give dimension and also to practice travel stitching. She uses the Hopper foot which makes it take less time plus you avoid presser foot tension issues, which is nice. I always got puckering. SITD has its place. Its much more impressive when you combine it with other design elements though, IMO.
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Old 03-26-2013, 03:21 PM
  #12  
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Default Using Water Soluble Thread

Question: If I were to baste a quilt with water soluble thread every 6-8 inches in each direction, would I then be able to do machine quilting from edge to edge rather than from center to edge? Please say yes!
I really dislike having to bury all those threads in my quilts. I'm already anxious to hear from you.
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Old 03-26-2013, 04:12 PM
  #13  
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This is certainly a personal decision. I have always SID on sashing and blocks when I feel the quilt needs it.
I find that seams stay straight and sashing doesn't wobble and get crooked looking if I SID first. Sometimes it isn't needed though. For me it depends on the quilt.
peace
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Old 03-26-2013, 08:23 PM
  #14  
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I took the same C Needham class at Craftsy, and SITD ESS on my current project. I love how it turned out, and will probably do the same for the rest of my projects
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Old 03-27-2013, 03:26 AM
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Although I am not an expert, I agree with Candace.
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Old 03-27-2013, 07:42 AM
  #16  
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If you are going to remove the stitces later, I would hand baste to anchor the block, then just pull the threads out. Otherwise you have to remember that you SITD is going to show as part of your quilting. Its really a matter of choice
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Old 03-27-2013, 08:23 AM
  #17  
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A recent quilt I finished featured a lot of diagonal lines. I did not want the verticals and horizontals in the final pattern, but knew that I needed to stabilize the quilt prior to the diagonal lines in hopes of keeping it somewhat square. Water soluble thread was definitely helpful for that - allowing me to stitch near the ditch first, and then I could focus on the other long seams without issue. Same for the smaller in-block designs.

Cheers, K
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Old 03-27-2013, 08:42 AM
  #18  
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I make my fmq practice panels into potholders, so there's no waste.
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Old 03-27-2013, 09:04 AM
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I don't STID, I can't do it well and it looks awful. I prefer to do an all over meander for things like log cabin quilts and such.
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Old 03-27-2013, 03:06 PM
  #20  
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Originally Posted by RugosaB View Post
I took the same C Needham class at Craftsy, and SITD ESS on my current project. I love how it turned out, and will probably do the same for the rest of my projects
I too took Cindy's class and will do ESS from now on. It really does make a difference in holding everything in place.
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