Comments on: Hanging Loose

By: Marina Kamenskaya

Marina Kamenskaya — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 07:31:46 +0000

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.

By: Lisa Call

Lisa Call — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 18:06:48 +0000

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.

By: kathy

kathy — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 16:12:47 +0000

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.

By: Diane Clancy

Diane Clancy — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 21:17:39 +0000

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

By: Kiandra

Kiandra — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 17:06:30 +0000

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

By: Bev Longford

Bev Longford — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 12:34:42 +0000

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

By: Brenda

Brenda — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 00:55:54 +0000

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.

By: Lisa Call

Lisa Call — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 21:48:05 +0000

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.

By: Juanita Sim

Juanita Sim — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 20:40:59 +0000

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