Hello and welcome 😊. I'm glad that you've dropped by for a visit. I've got lots of projects on the go, but today I'm going to share with you the beginning of a scrappy quilt getting quilted. I finally finished piecing the backing - it just needed an extra strip of fabric, which luckily I had. If you're interested in reading about the construction of this scrappy orange quilt, see Related links below.
Stitching-in-the-ditch a scrappy quilt
I almost always start my quilting by stitching-in-the-ditch. This time, because I hadn't sandwiched the quilt as well as I usually do, I stitched starting only on one side of the quilt, as opposed to all around it. This way, if there is any puckering in the quilt, I'll be able to adjust it when I get to the middle or the other side (in theory anyways). I stitched about a third of the quilt and so far, everything is fine.
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| Stitching-in-the-ditch before FMQ |
For those of you who are not quilters, stitching-in-the-ditch is often done to stabilize a quilt before doing more extensive quilting. With my sewing machine's walking foot, I sew between pieced blocks. The trick is to stitch exactly in the seams between each block (in the ditch). If you do this correctly, the quilting is invisible. Unfortunately, for me it's more hit and miss - most of the stitching is invisible but some can be seen next to the seam. However, when a quilt is finished, you can't see any of this unless you're looking for it.
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| The lines indicate where you would stitch-in-the ditch, i.e. in the seams between blocks |
From the back, you can see where I've stitched so far. As I mentioned, I'm making my way across the quilt, to ensure that the fabric is nice and flat.
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| You can see the stitching from the back of the quilt |
I'm going to keep this post short since I'll be publishing another post on Saturday for A Quilter's Cove QAL linking party. Our March houses are green. I'm having a great time putting together some lovely colourful houses based on the Nyhavn (New Harhour) neighbourhood in Copenhagen.
What I learned
- I've just re-read my original post about this quilt. It seems that I wanted to FMQ using dot-to-dot quilting à la Angela Walters. Sounds like a good plan😁
- I had mentioned last week that I wanted to do more FMQ - so that's what I'm doing. This is the first step to starting.
- Instead of using my dining table to sandwich the quilt, I used my bed. I placed a cardboard cover on it (the ones you use for sewing clothing on to save your table). It's not as stable as the dining table so that's why I've decided to stitch from one side of the quilt to the other - so that I can get rid of any puckers that come up. So far it's working out well.
Related links
- Orange Scraps and a Baby Quilt, July 02, 2025
Linking parties
I'll be linking up to many fun linking parties. You might want to check some out, after you've linked up below. Monday Musings, Sew & Tell, Put your foot down, Off The Wall Friday, Patchwork & Quilts,
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I Quilted This!
Welcome to the I Quilted This! linking party that celebrates quilting on a domestic machine or custom quilting on a long-arm. Feel free to link up and share any recent project, even if you're not quilting it! Here are the posts from last week that included FMQ, ruler work and walking foot quilting. Thanks for linking up 😊 and feel free to grab the button.
Gwyned Trefethen made a lovely runner for the Project Quilting 17.4 Challenge, An other era. Here is her psychedelic and Op Art table runner which she called "Peace, Man". It sure has the right vibes!
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| "Peace, Man" by Gwyned |
Sally from Crafts, Cavies and Cooking also participated in the Project Quilting 17.4 Challenge, An other era. She chose the Art Deco era and made this lovely rug mug using foundation paper piecing. This also has vibes from that era!
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| Art Deco mug rug by Sally |
I also participated in the Project Quilting 17.4 Challenge, An other era but forgot to link up to my own party 😕 I chose to play with the Victorians by making a crazy quilt. I used lovely fabrics and then embroidered between the seams.
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| Crazy Quilt from the Victorian era by Andrée |
It's now your turn 😍
Dot to dot sounds like a good plan for practicing another style of free motion quilting!--TerryK@OnGoingProjects
ReplyDeleteI didn't realize quilting in the ditch was actually in the seam line, I always thought it was right next to the seam line. You learn something new everyday.
ReplyDeleteStitching in the ditch can be a pain and time consuming, but worth it. I do it a little differently and stitch almost in the seamline, on the lower side of the seam, so in case I pressed a block open instead of to the side, it doesn't weaken the seam. Have fun quilting! Thanks for sharing with us at Monday Musings. Have a great weekend.
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