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Stitching in the Ditch - Necessary? - How do you do it?


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Hello!

 

Complete newbie here, although I've owned my Lenni for a year now.  I've just had the BEST week ever, finally loading on 2 charity quilts, and then 2 of the 3 baby quilts I had waiting.  I used 2 different pantographs to stitch them and I'm quite happy with the results.  The 3rd baby quilt is for my own dear granddaughter, so I'd like to make the effort to have it look as nice as possible, but still only using a pantograph.  The quilt is a large panel in the center with 4 borders around it of various sizes.  The 3rd border is made up of 4" finished blocks.  I've read that SID helps to make the quilting look more professional and even, regardless of whether is is pantograph or custom quilted.  Do you agree?  I did find that the borders on my 'test' quilts sort of looked a bit full or bunched up as I quilted.  I floated the batting and top, basting as I advanced the quilt using marked edges to try and keep the width the same.

 

If I do want to SID, do I do that for the entire quilt, top to bottom and then start over at the top again for the pantograph, or SID, baste, then quilt one section, then advance, then SID, baste, quilt the next section??  Do I SID to outline the borders only, or also between each of the squares in border #3?  What about within the printed panel?  There are some rectangle type shapes within the panel that could be outlined.

 

Here is a url that shows what the panel looks like : http://www.ethelbird.com/mommy-me/mommy-me-panel/   

 

Thank you in advance for any and all comments/advice!  I'm going to go make binding for the other quilts while I wait for replies.

 

Have a great day everyone!

Sherry

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It's a matter of preference. Some people do all the SID first, some do it as they go. My "rule" is if I have large areas that will not have any stitching in them, I SID as I go. So, for your panel quilt, I would not do the whole thing at one time. But it also depends on the batting. If it is fluffy, I would SID the whole quilt first and baste the large areas as I went. Or I might even baste the entire quilt then go back and SID. You will need to experiment with what works best for you. I have recently become a huge fan of basting the entire quilt before doing anything else.

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I prefer to SID but only on custom work, not on pantos.  If I'm going to treat the border different then I SID the border.  I usually SID then do any background quilting.  If it is really dense background then I only do sections and roll and then go back and finish.  If you stitch it too dense and then roll your quilt forward you will likely have some problems.  If you decide to SID the whole quilt before roll forward make sure to pin the snot out if so you don't get any puckers.

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If I understand what you are asking, you are talking about two techniques that are not normally used together.  A panto stands alone as the quilting. Outlining/SID usually goes with custom quilting.  That being said, I have a baby quilt that has an appliqued deer in the center that is to be outlined and echoed.  the rest of the quilt is to be done with a  panto; but, the two(panto & SID) do not comingle.  

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Thank you for all of your comments.  I think I am going to have to at least do some extra pinning / basting in order to center this cute little quilt over a pieced backing, otherwise I might end up with the back looking very unbalanced.  As for doing SID, I think I should do around the borders, as I might try something 'custom' in them with an all-over pantograph just on the inner panel part.  I am so new to all of this and I'm not sure I'm ready for too much custom work.  Maybe I'm biting off too much this time with the pieced back. Nervous and excited at the same time, LOL!

 

Thanks again.  I really appreciate how this forum and the APQS community works so well to help everyone.

 

Have a great weekend!

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