lorli

First, thanks, everyone, for the advice during this past week. Today, I finally sat down at the sewing machine to start some quilting. I looked in a few books and online and all of the sources said to do a few straight seams from edge to edge, in both directions, to stabilize the quilt.

The first 2 seams (across the width of the quilt) went really well and it was fun. I thought - it will be easy to finish this by Christmas! But when I tried to do the first lengthwise seam, when I got to where it crossed the width seams, it made sort of tuck or pleat. I tried to ease it but couldn't seem to. So I took out, one stitch at a time, the sewing for about 6 inches on either direction and tried again and it still isn't right.

Is there anything I can do to fix it? Should I have started in he middle instead of edge to edge? I now have a headache from picking out those tiny stitches and gave up for tonight. I wonder if I ought to just pick out the rest of the seams and give it to a longarm quilter. Any suggestions?

QuiltingHaven

Have you pinned or used the spray to make sure everything was stable before you started your quilting? That would be my suggestion.

Daylesewblessed

What I do is start those first seams in the center of the quilt and sew to the edge instead of starting at one end of the quilt and sewing all of the way to the other edge.

thimblebug6000

Are you using a walking foot?

Barb in Louisiana

My daughter does mostly a stitch in the ditch on her quilts. She uses a lot of pins and starts on a middle row and works her way out. It seems that no matter where she starts, she gets some pleats. Maybe if she used the 505 spray to stabilize everything the back would be smoother. I will be curious to see what the experts say. IMO, a few small pleats are not a big thing to worry about, especially if they are on the back. If you just want to stabilize the quilt with the stitches and are going to do some free motion stitching, have you considered buying and using the water soluble thread for your basting? It will all disappear when the quilt is washed.

PaperPrincess

Great suggestions so far. How did you sandwich it? If you used pins, you may need more. Starting in the center is a good way to go, if there's a small amount of fullness, it will be pushed out to the edge. For straight seams a walking foot works well. Finally, it's not a good idea to practice on a real quilt. Take the stitches out, make a couple of small practice sandwiches and get used to the process, then quilt your real quilt.

Dina

Are you planning on using just straight lines, stitching in the ditch? If so, you can fix this. I don't know how to give advice for anything else, so that is what I am referring to....just straight lines, like a goal of so many straight lines from one direction and then others perpendicular to that... I use Warm and Natural, which you can quilt as far as ten inches apart...check the instructions on your batting to see what you need to do. I rarely stitch as far as ten inches apart though...

If your first two seams are okay, you could leave those, but pick out the third seam. (If you have pinned about every 4 inches, you need to do that...but I am assuming you did that since you did a lot of research first.)

Then DO start from the center, sort of. Start from the center of one of the lines. Sew all the way to the end in one direction, and then go back and sew all the way to the end in the other direction. Do that again a couple of times, smoothing out as you sew if you need to.

Continue sewing straight lines out towards the ends...basically sewing from the center as you suggested. (do perpendicular lines too...so you form boxes)

This isn't very clear, is it? But the idea is to sew out from the center, as you suggested. I used to do this all the time until I got used to the quilting process more. I stitch in the ditch though, and that is all I do. I don't stitch in all the ditches though, just enough to meet the requirements of the batting I use.

Good luck. This shouldn't be real stressful. It should be rewarding. It may not be fun, but it sure is cheaper to do it yourself than pay a long arm quilter.... You might want to review some of the research you made before you started too.

Dina

Prism99

The tuck/pleating when you cross a quilting line is caused by the fabric having stretched the first time through. It helps a ***lot*** to heavily starch the top and backing before quilting. Starch stabilizes fabric so it is much less likely to stretch or distort from handling. You have already sandwiched the quilt, but starch can still help. Lay the quilt out on a clean sheet and spray starch from outer edges toward center (helps minimize overspray). A fan will speed the drying of the starch. Do this several times to build up a layer of starch on one side, then flip the sandwich and do the same on the other side.

Sandwiching using basting spray (505 and Therm-o-Web are my faves) also helps because the spray adheres the fabric continuously to the batting. You didn't mention how you basted.

As others have mentioned, using a walking foot helps too. If your sewing machine has the capability, you can try reducing the pressure on the presser foot.

Also very important is how you handle the quilt while stitching. You do not want to stretch the quilt out to the sides, or in front and back, as you stitch; this will cause the stitches to distort the fabric. If you can manage it, probably the best method is to feed the quilt sandwich to the presser foot from above. That is, you hold the sandwich up a little in front of the presser foot and let the foot feed the sandwich.

All of the above have helped me be able to stitch lines across each other without any tucks or pleats. The most helpful for me have probably been starch and handling the quilt sandwich carefully -- no tugging or pulling while stitching. I prefer using all of these tips to starting to quilt in the middle of the quilt.

Edit: By heavy starching before sandwiching, I mean using a 1:1 solution of Sta-Flo liquid laundry starch and water. This is a heavy starch. Spray starch is much lighter, even when using multiple layers, but it still helps a lot.

quiltedsunshine

I had a student who had the same problem. The lengthwise grain of the fabric doesn't stretch, but the width does. That's why it was OK sewing in one direction, but not the other. If you had a walking foot, it would sure make a big difference. It's like putting feed dogs on top of your fabric. Using a textile spray adhesive is also very helpful.

Good Luck to you!

Bree123

I agree with everything Prism99 & quiltedsunshine have suggested. I always hate to suggest unsewing, but in this case, I actually do think you'd benefit from starting over completely with heavily starched fabric (I use Faultless Spray Starch and spray it at least 3x back & forth on each side to get it reasonably starched).