Double Needle Quilting
 

One of the quilting magazines about double Needle quilting. Has anyone here done any of this type of quilting? magazines I subscribe to is writing (briefly) . I was also wondering if a person could double needles when doing red work machine embroidery? Thanks for any help you can provide. Maggie

Maggie, I have no idea but check out Youtube. They have wonderful tutorials on everything you can think of.

Using a double needle would be like a cover stitch on a serger--the bobbin thread crisscrosses on the back. Two top threads, one bobbin thread. So just be sure you know what the back will look like. Test it on some scrap. I tried it and did not like the result. Your project may be right for this technique. So test, test, test. My mantra.

You get 2 parallel lines on top, but the backside is a zigzag. In order to prevent tunneling, you need to reduce upper tension a lot. Test for yourself, but I did not like it for quilting.

For red work, are you wanting a heavier line? If so, I would just double the thread (use 2 spools and treat the 2 threads as one when threading the machine) or use a heavier thread. A double needle could be nice for straight lines, but you can't really turn corners with it. It also is probably not very good on curves unless the curves are quite large.

You typically use a double needle only for applications where you don't care about the back -- for example, a wallhanging, or the hem on a child's dress.

I have seen a demo on double needle quilting with only the quilt top and the batting; then the demonstrator added the backing fabric and switched to single needle and did some FMQ. She did this to avoid the zigzag look on the back. It depends on the look that YOU want. As others have said, do a test and see if you like it.

HettyB

i would not like it for quilting for the reasons previously stated

I have used double needle in a utility 9 patch. Yes it has the zigzag look on the back. The quilt is a scrappy 6" 9P alternated with a blue plain square. I sewed diagonally across the quilt through both blocks. It was a quick way to quilt. I liked the results..it has served well as an "inbetween" the sheet and fancier top quilt.

Haven't heard or seen double needle quilting but have heard and seen 2 threads in one needle quilting. Its awesome looking.