Hanging Loose
Markings #15 – In progress
I haven’t had much studio time since I got home from my workshop in Ohio a month ago. Last weekend I was feeling very unbalanced and unhappy about the situation so I abandoned the yard and garden for a day and finished piecing Markings #15 and started quilting it.
One thing I learned from other participants in the workshop was that I was making my life much more difficult than necessary. Before the workshop, when I would finished a line of machine quilting I would pull the threads to the back of the quilt and tie them off and tuck the loose ends into the layers of the quilt so it looked nice and neat.
Now at the end of each quilting line I pull the threads to the top of the quilt and just leave them there. After I’ve completely finished with the quilting I’ll go back and tie them and tuck them in all at the same time. This should be more efficient. It will certainly be easier than trying to tie the ends off on the back with the quilt right side up on my sewing table.
Makes for a rather snarly looking mess right now. Although it’s easy to avoid the threads when working on different areas. If they were hanging on the back of the quilt they would get caught in newer stitching lines and cause a serious problem.
A few years back I used to just take a 1/4" of very dense (.5mm long) stitches at the end of each line of quilting. That was certainly quicker and easier than either of these methods. I’ve since decided that even though it is very unlikely to happen, if the thread did decided to come loose after doing this, it would look rather tacky and unprofessional. I want my work to be the highest quality, and so I now tuck in the ends.
Posted by Lisa in: Making Abstract Contemporary Textile Art
Hi Lisa,
Nice photo. Is what you are showing here free motion quilted or do you use feed dogs and a presser foot? If the latter, how do you manage to turn the whole quilt each time you come to the end of a row? If you’re free motion quilting how do you keep your lines so beautifully straight and parallel?
Like you, I also don’t feel 100% comfortable with the dense stitching that is typically used to start a line of machine quilting, although that is how I work now. When you tie off your threads and “tuck them in” does this mean you gently pull the knot to the inside of the quilt? Thanks
Feeddogs up – this is not free motion. And yet – I turn the quilt at each corner. Check out this post for more discussion about machine quilting and a look at my set up – on huge quilts it can be difficult but I’m used to it so no longer really think about it much.
When I tied the threads off on the back I didn’t worry too much about pulling the knots through. Not sure what I’ll do here – I certainly don’t want knots showing on the front of the quilt – so I will either pull the knots through to the middle or pull all the threads to the back first and tie them and bury them.
I also prefer to bring all my thread tails to the top of the quilt and bury them in later. I find that an embroidery needle or a Clover self-threading needle is ideal for catching the tails quickly and easily when it comes to burying time.
Thankyou so much for sharing this, I have not liked the look the small stitches and hate to interrupt the flow of stitching. This is such a great idea!
Bev
first off, Lisa this is the best quilting blog on the web, imho. you are beyond generous with your wonderful information, tips, etc. i cannot begin to tell you how much coming to this blog has inspired, and motivated me. thank you!
i am about two years into quilting, i do mostly art quilts (i started as a painter)…and this is one of the most elusive things for me to grasp in machine quilting. i am at the stage where i want to take my art quilts to a more professional level, so i am going over my technique with a fine tooth comb, and one of the areas where i am stumped is thread ends. i have traditionally tried to end a quilting line in the ends…feeling that the binding, etc. will “trap” in the lines. this is not always possible and limiting, so i have done the “fix” stitch on my sewing machine, which basically sews in place for a couple of stitches, and i’ve recently started to do a small backstitch…i am beggining to think these are not adequate…i am going to try your method here.
again, thank you…and i think i am finally de-lurking.
kiandra
Cool picture!
And thank you for sharing your techniques here … if I ever get back to the machine instead of painting and collaging with fabric, I will return to this post.
~ Diane Clancy
http://www.dianeclancy.com/blog
Thanks Lisa. I too was tying and burying as I went along. I had the opportunity to try your method on my latest project. It worked great. Not having to constantly flip the quilt was the most pleasant part of the new approach! I also purchased some self-threading needles which really sped things up. The knots just seemed to want to pop under automatically as I buried them. No evidence trail. I agree with Kiandra, you’re always so generous in talking about your techniques. I’ve learned so much. Thank you.
Brenda – your suggestion for self threading needles was excellent. Thank you.
Kiandra, Bev, Diane and Kathy. You’re welcome – glad the tip could help.
Kiandra – thank you for the compliments. I’m glad my posts are helpful to some of you. Thanks for delurking to let me know – it’s much appreciated.
Lisa, I put the needle in and then out about half inch away from the place where I will start the quilting line, pull the threads to the top and keep working with all those threads on top.
After I’m done quilting, I sit down in front of TV and start working. Because of that first long (half inch) stitch it is easy to see from the back where to pull the threads. I pull them to the back and then tie. There is no knot on the top this way.
When I bury the two threads (together) in the batting, usually the small knot gets buried too and does not show at all.