Saturday, June 09, 2012

tip #21 stay stitching


When you look at quilt tops for sale, you find there is deterioration of the seams at the edges, and sometimes fraying of the edges.
My mother taught me to stay stitch along all edges in garment sewing, and it is good to do with quilt tops too.
I sew about 1/8 inch from the edge of the entire quilt top before my final pressing.
It stabilizes the edge until the top gets quilted. I do this even with quilts that are going straight to quilting, as it keeps everything in order at the edge of the top.
One important thing is to check the tension of your threads by tugging the edge a bit after sewing about 18 inches. If it pops, or if there is ruffling, you know you need to address your tension.
The top shown is the Extravagant Welcome--off this week to the quilter!

1 comment:

antique quilter said...

I do that as well. My long arm quilter showed me this tip years ago. Good for you sharing it.
Kathie