stitch in the ditch???

[quilter46]

I am just curious about how many of you stitch in the ditch. I personally like the way my quilts look when I take the time to do it. I guess it feels to me like they look "finished". My girlfriend, who is also a longarm quilter, refuses to stitch in the ditch and she says that is why she can get a quilt done so much faster than me. So now I am second guessing myself as to see if it is necessary or not. What are your thoughts?

[Bonnie]

Well, my honest opinion, is that you are BOTH right...

When we are doing it for a business we sometimes don't SID for reasons of cost....to the customer, not to ourselves as much.

SID is a time consumer and if are doing it for yourself and you have ALL the time in the world, then you just do what is right for you and your quilts.

Now if your doing it for a customer and they don't WANT to pay for the SID there are several things one can do to fill the space up nicely but it sometimes doesn't look as complete as a SID quilt, but it will stay together just as well, and it won't cost your customer custom charges.

For me personally, I SID all my own quilts, and only do what the customer wants on the others.

So see I feel your both right.

[ThreadWaggle]

Well said, Bonnie! And I do the same thing.

[Quilting Heidi]

I almost always SID. Yes it is more time consuming but I figure if I'm going to take the time to custom quilt then I'm going to do it justice. If a customer doesn't want to pay me to custom quilt then I'll do and e2e. I hate to see beautiful quilts half quilted, just breaks my heart. I just think that SID makes the biggest difference and I explain it to my customers and I can show them pictures of with and without so that they can see for themselves. On my own quilts I ALWAYS SID first.

[goldringading]

Please forgive me being a newbie and all!!

I think that SID is the foundation of the quilting, it stabalises the quilt, gives definition and creates boundaries!

On a plain or whole cloth back the stitch in the ditch sets the scene for a double sided quilt, Did I tell you 'I just love the back of a quilt'...lol...!!

Just my two penneth!!!

What does it mean this post includes a poll?? Where is the poll?

Best Wishes

[quilter46]

Thanks for your input. I don't know what a poll is either. I probably clicked on the wrong button.

[lisalnewman]

Look at the very top of the page there is a button to submit your vote.

Lisa:)

[sewcrazy4quilting]

Here here to what Bonnie has written above, SID does look the best, but if the customer's pockets aren't deep enough for it then no SID is quite alright. I could have had my first customer yesterday, but she wanted a queen sized quilt with wavey borders done for > $70.00. I told her I could'nt do it for that, she told me she had a guy who would do a queen size E2E for $70.00, so I politely told her that if she liked his work and his price was right she should continue to go to him. Later another lady who over heard the conversation told me she knew the $70.00 dollar guy and that his customers were getting what they paid for. Some people are happy with less, but will take more if they can get it for the price of less. Cest la vie!!:cool: