Starts and Stops

by Sandy
(Iowa)

I showed a couple of wall hangings and the criticism on both of them was "Watch your starts and stops," even though I buried every thread there was. What are they referring to when they make this statement?

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ANSWER

The term "starts and stops" refers to the starting and stopping points of your quilting lines. You didn't state whether you hand-
or machine quilted your wall hanging.

In either case, you must make sure your beginning and ending stitches are secure. If they're not, the threads could unravel and pop up through the fabric.

In hand quilting, you just tie a knot and bury it between your quilt layers. But, when you're machine quilting, you have to reinforce your stitches.

There are three ways to reinforce your quilting stitches:

1. Backstitch over the line of stitches.
   
   
2. Set your stitch length to almost "0". Then, position your feed dogs up. Sew 6-8 tiny stitches at the beginning of your quilting line. Next, set your stitch length to regular.
   
   When you're about 1/8" from the end of your quilting line, set your stitch length to almost "0" again. Finish off with 6-8 tiny stitches. The length of this "knot" should be about 1/8 inch.
   
   
3. Leave a long thread tail, then tie a hand knot. Use a hand needle to hide the knot between the quilt layers.

Your critics might be looking at the fluidity of your quilting design. Do your quilting lines flow smoothly, without any gaps at the starting and stopping points?

When quilting is done correctly, you won't be able to see where your stitches begin or end. Since you stated that you hid your stitches, I can only assume they're referring to gaps or overlaps at the starts and stops of your quilting lines.

Why don't you ask these people what they mean? Use their answers to improve your quilting. Thanks for your question.

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