Silver Needle

I never backstitch but I make my stitches very short. If I need to unsew something I use my LED magnifying stand.

117becca

I back stitch because it guarantees that the blocks won't pull apart - like others have said, it doesn't take that long to do it, i don't notice an increase in bulk, and i got tired of fixing the few places where the seams have pulled apart.

IraJane

I agree wtih this. I'm not sure what its called but I also "swirl the seams" (seam allowance) when ever I can to reduce bulk. In order to do that it is necessary to undo a few stiches at the end, which you wouldn't be able to do with backstitching. I do backstitch on the outside seams of the quilt.

I've spent years sewing clothes and teaching clothing construction. There we backstitch all the time. It was hard for me in the beginning to not backstitch but all in the learning proces..

Mkotch

This is what I do, too!

rebeljane

I don't back stitch either, had no problems so far

stchenfool

I agree - with the blocks being sewn over more than once and then quilted on the top I feel there is alot of thread holding these quilts together.

jitkaau

You answered your own question - it will hold if you cross over the thread with another seam. You save on time, thread and bulk.It's also easier to 'unsew' if you need to.

lvaughan

I don't backstitch. The quilt I'm working on now is my first time to use Aurifil thread and I am sold. With the thread previously used the end of seams would start to open up, not with Aurifil. I set my machine at 2.0 and leave a small tail, quarter inch. With Aurifil thread the seams lay flatter and I haven't had even one seam start to open up. Love this thread!

jamsbuying

I do this also:

Originally Posted by Scissor Queen
The only place I ever back stitch is the last seams on the outer border. Everything else is crossed by another line of stitching plus I strip piece and chain piece and you don't back stitch when you do that. If you leave just a teeny bit of the chain between pieces it won't come apart.

Gabrielle's Mimi

I never back stitch. I teach my Learn to Quilt students to drop their stitch length to 1.9 or 2.0 as that prevents unraveling. On the outside edges if there is no border I use micro stitches to start and end seams. I use the "favorites" tool in my machine memory (Bernina feature, maybe some others too) to set a straight stitch at 18-20 stitches per inch, then I just do about 4 stitches to start or end a seam that I might worry about coming undone. Typically I do this on the seam that attaches the outer border since there are no cross seams. I've never had anything come undone on my quilts since I started doing this. One word of caution, however; it's impossible to unsew micro stitches.