I've been quilting less than a year and my machine quilting skills are limited to Stich Near a Ditch and Cross Hatching. I was looking at a quilt my grandson has - made by his great grand mother on his dad's side. She is a master quilter and I've admired many things she's made for my daughter and SIL. Here's what I learned by examining this baby quilt:

Her Stitch In a Ditch used a scallop stitch. A pretty big scallop at that. I pictured her weaving that quilt back and forth under her machine needle, but looked at my machine and ... low and behold! I have a scallop stitch! It looks so much better than a straight stitch and is not as slow and does not take as much thread as zigzag or others I've tried.

Her baby quilt has little boy backing - different vehicles - but the front will grow with him (he's 3 now and got this as an infant). It's batiks in what I would call jewel tones. So ... a baby quilt does not have to look like a baby - who knew? :)

Her binding was machine stitched using a zigzag. I've done that on table runners and on a quilt I made for this same child, but ... felt guilty about it! No more!

I've made 4 lap quilts for graduation gifts in the last couple of weeks and they are scalloped near a ditch and I'm a happy camper.

So ... for other newbies out there.... try it - you might like it!

:thumbup:

Looks fine to me.

I think I will try this. I am making a Turning Twenty for a wedding gift, and thought about doing the SITD, but I think I will try this instead.

Thanks for sharing

I like what you have done. I dont care for SITD so I do my stitches similar to yours.

Love this! Thank you for sharing.

Going to check my machine in am!

thanks for the tip, looks great

I'll see, bet I have that stitch on my machine. I wanted a wavy look but was concerned it would be wobbly, not wavy. Will check my machine tomorrow. Thanks for the tip!

This makes me much happier! My STID's are so wobbly they almost look like the scallop anyway...