Free-Motion Quilting, Thick or Thin?
 

I'm about to dive into free motion on my regular sewing machine but have a question before I start. Can you tell I'm a bit apprehensive?

The spaces between the lines of stitching, do they HAVE to be thin? The folks at quilting shows always seem to have each line really close to the others. What about a 3/4" between? Sometimes free-motion seems to squash all the loft of the batting!

Opinions anyone? Favorite newbie suggestions?

You can quilt as far apart as the batting tells you.

It is not so much thick or thin. The amount of quilting needs to be balanced. So if you have heavy quilting on one area of the quilt you need to balance it through out. Good luck, machine quilting is so much fun! This is probably another reason you see heavily quilting quilts at shows.

They do not have to be really close together! Echo quilting is very close together and usually outlines something on the quilt. You can make a choice by what you think would look nice. The challenge is to make the lines equally apart as you quilt and that can be difficult the first time, so don't be too hard on yourself. If you like the look of seeing the loft, then you need a fair amount of space between quilting lines. Good Luck.

It really depends on the look you want to achieve. Further apart means softer and is good for bed and lapquilts. Close together I'd only use for wallhangings etc. anything you want a little stiffer. Good luck!

your batting choice dictates the 'density' of your quilting- and personal choice- some batts *like warm & natural* allow up to 10" between quilting lines- some batts like hobbs heirloom says to quilt 2-4" which can be quite 'dense'- it is a personal choice how close you quilt- as long as you do at least as much as the batting recommends- if you have a batt that says it needs to be quilted every 2" and you only quilt it every 10" when the quilt is washed the batting will separate and create (globs) in your quilt- it is important to follow the recommendations- but there are many to choose from and it's easy to find a batt that allows the quilting you want.
it does seem as if alot of show entries are really showcasing dense quilting- but it is not necessary- it is a choice.

very dense quilting can make an adjacent area that isn't quilted seem to lift and pop up more....it's like creating depth and definition

Really dense quilting does not usually make a comfortable snuggle or bed quilt ... but a great work of art. Just my opinion.

You can vary the denseness of the quilting over different areas to highlight particular parts if you so desire.

ali

I agree with Alikat - if I was quilting something designed for bed use and not for show, I would not quilt it that densely. I might if it was a wall hanging.

Are you planning on making up some samples to practice on first? Get some scrap (ugly) fabric, make a quilt sandwich with batting, and quilt both densely and sparingly. This will help you decide what you like best and also give you a chance to adjust your tension, etc.

Good luck!