Rose Marie

I also use Fons and Porters glue stick to hold the binding to the back of the quilt. It hasnt gummed up my machine at all. But I am careful not to put it past the stitch line.

weezie

YES, you all are brilliant! I have a Janome 11000 for which I bought (separately) a rather expensive stitch-in-the-ditch foot and I was surprised to find that, when using this foot, my stitching was just to the right of the seamline stitches. I thought this was not right because I was under the impression the stitches should be right on top of the seam stitches. I am SOOOO glad to hear that I was wrong about that and that my stitch-in-the-ditch foot exactly does what it's supposed to do! Thank you!

sandpat

Hmmm, I better take a closer look at mine to see exactly where it stitches...as with most things...it just might be smarter than I am :oops:

Mousie

lol, sandpat, I don't think it's your less smart than your machine. I think some of them may have been kitty cats in past life bc they do what they want and expect us to follow suit. meooow! :D

Cat

I think the first reason for stitching in the ditch is to quilt the sandwich together almost as invisable as possible. But if invisablity isn't needed just durablity than put your stitches as you wish .

GailG

Me too. Hahaha. All this time, I've been moving the needle to stitch over the stitches. :oops:

This is something I've used and it works out great. One of Alex Anderson's guests on Simply Quilts had showed the "wobbly stitch." It's the narrowest zig-zag that your machine will make. It's barely a zig-zag at all -- just kind "off" being straight. Well, it works well for the times you just can't go "straight between the piecing." It kinda catches on both sides. I did a whole quilt with that stitch using a neutral thread. Worked out well. :wink:

sandpat

Well now, that does sound like a "Purrrfect" excuse to me~ I'll go with that one :wink: :lol: :lol:

mar32428

Just attended the local quilt show and saw many quilts with decrative stitching on the seams. I think anything goes today as long as it pleases the quilt maker.

mar32428

What's that old saying? When all else fails, read the book.

Sally Dolin

If you are stitching on the side with none of the seam allowance you will NOT be getting the reinforcing your looking for. If you sew on the other side your thread is going through top fabric, 2 seam allowances, batting and back. Much stronger.
Happy stitching
Sally Dolin