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Free Machine quilting unravellling!!

sally_webster | Posted in Quilting and Home Decor on

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I am free machine quilting a hilly landscape on a vest. I am lifting and laying my needle, trailing my thread from one point to another and cutting them afterwards. Hope you know what I mean. The usual method I would use to *seal* my groups of stitching off is to machine a few stitches on the spot at the beginning and the end of each hill. There are sooo many, I have forgotton on occassion! I am now worried about my hills unravelling. The spool thread remains in uncut loops at the back. Will this be enough to hold it? Thanks

Replies

  1. Judy_Beaton | | #1

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    Hi Sally,

    If I were having this problem what I would do would be to carefully undo about an inch and a half of stitching on the right side and pull the little end of thread to the back and tie it off. Then carefully re-stitch the area that was undone. It is picky work I know, but I never like to leave stitching unsecured. I like it when both the bobbin thread and spool thread are accounted for and well tied. I hope someone comes up with an easier and more humane solution for you.

    1. S.Roman | | #2

      *You could spray the back with a light adhesive. I assume you will be lining the vest, so you could also iron on some interfacing and pay extra care around the areas you feel are not secure enough and the adhesive would hold them in.Also, you could just go over the area again being sure you secure that stiching.

      1. sally_webster | | #3

        *What kind of adhesive would you recommend?

        1. connie_w | | #4

          *Would Fray Check work?

          1. Marjiree | | #5

            *You can leave the stitching as is but they will probably ravel over time and use. You need to make a tie off stitches at the beginning and end of each row of machine quilting.So you can do this and overlap the existing stitch line by maybe 1/4"Directions:On a quilting sandwich made of the same materials as the quilt, draw one horizontal line. Then draw another horizontal line 1/4" below. In this space you need to achieve 16-18 stitches. These are Very Tiny Stitches that will not ravel. (Some machine will only allow you to create 12-14 stitches here.) Find out what your machine will do without creating knots on the wrong side. Make a note of this Tie Off stitch length. Now practice sewing a line on this quilt sandwich.Begin with the Tie Off Stitch Length and sew for about 1/8". Then you can either:-immediately switch to your machine quilting stitch length right away, or -gradually increase the stitch length within the next 1/2" until you reach your machine stitching length.Finish off this seam with another 1/8" of Tie Off Stitches.Make sense? Be sure to begin and end each quilting line with the Tie Off Stitches. Pull the top thread ends to the wrong side of the fabric and cut these and the bobbin threads close to the fabric.A great book is Machine Quilting Made Easy by Maurine Noble. (A worthwhile investment imo.) It is well written and illustrated and easy to understand. There are many samples to try out and save for future reference.*** sparklesMarjiree

          2. Kathy_Williamson | | #6

            *Fray check is good but I have had it squirt out onto my work. Now I always put it on a small paintbrush first and then paint it onto the spot where I need it. I wouldn't use it in this instance though, because it's for glueing loose threads together, and you'll just be putting a glob of glue onto your fabric surface. On such a nice vest I think it's worth the time to pick out a bit of each one, tie and bury it.

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