long arm quilting stitch in the ditch question

Good morning everyone

I am curious. I have no experience with long arm quilting. Personally I like my quilts quilted as simply as possible; I prefer stitch in the ditch 99% of the time. Usually I do this by fighting my sewing machine for power over the project, a major wrestling match. I was wondering if long arm quilt machines can be used for this, and if so, if there are any long arm (or short arm or medium arm if such things exist) quilters out there who do this. And if they will do it for a price. And of course, what the price and turn around time would be. Any info is greatly appreciated.

I have finally come to the conclusion that I love piecing a top, and I love the finished quilt, but I really REALLY don't like the actual quilting part (making the sandwich, basting, and quilting).

Thanks

Claudia

Reply to
claudia
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You are JUST LIKE ME! I love the piecing... but send out almost everything bigger than a baby quilt! I can't speak for all long arm quilters... but mine often does stitch-in-the-ditch as part of the other quilting she does. I'm sure she would do only that if that is what I asked. As for rates -- that would vary greatly based upon the design -- but I would think that it would be far less than custom quilting. Again -- depending on your pattern -- SITD could be an "easy" way to do it - - or time consuming if you have to do a lot of "jumping" from space to space.

We'll see what some of our long arm quilters have to say!

Reply to
Kate G.

I use a Janome 1600db to stitch in the ditch for all of my quilts up to queen size, (the largest I have done). The 9" harp area makes it much easier to pass fabric through and there is less of a struggle. There are now a number of other machine makers who produce a similar machine. Juki comes to mind. Both of these machines cost in the neighborhood of $600 , if you purchase then online. These are straight stitch machines. There are also commercial straight stitch machines for about the same price as the Janome and Juki, which come with a table and motor and would work for the job you have in mind. If you think about the cost of having the job done and add up the number of quilts you do in a year It might not take you too long to justify the purchase of one of these machines, That is one of the reasons I bought mine. Ease of use and cheaper than having it done, with no wait time for completion. Now, if you don't like stitching in the ditch, that could be a reason to send them out for finishing, but it seems to defeat the total creative process. You can use the Janome and Juki machines on the same table that you use you regular sewing machine and put it in the closet or somewhere else when you are not using it if space is a consideration. You might give that idea a thought. It might solve your problem and expand your sewing repertoire.

John

Reply to
John

I've had long-arm quilters refuse to do sitd because it is harder to stay on the line when the quilt is in a frame. They want to do lines that aren't supposed to match up to lines in the top. I just did a little quilt on my new frame and did some sitd free-hand and it wasn't too bad for a beginner. I suppose it would depend on how picky one needed to be.

Reply to
Idahoqltr

Yes, but it takes a lot of practice.

Most longarmers who do custom work (as opposed to allover quilting only) will do it. It will be pricey, because doing a good job at SID on a longarm takes time.

Ask around at your guild and local quilt shops for names, and call them to see samples of their SID work. Make sure you like the quality, and then ask about price and turn around time. A low price or fast turn around won't do you a lick of good if you aren't happy with the results.

Reply to
Kathy Applebaum

and if you don't belong to a guild you can visit and you will likely be given a copy of a newsletter than might have a few ads in it. The guild contact person will probably also be able to give a few names. Show and tell will probably present a few quilts that were done by local long armers. Long arm machines are getting to be so very common. Finding the good work is worth the trouble when you hear horror stories. Taria

Kathy Applebaum wrote:

Reply to
Taria

I have seen the horror stories. We were in a quilt shop in south Alabama (or north Florida - it's hard to tell the difference) and the owner was learning to longarm. She bragged about how easy it was and was very pleased with how quickly she had become so skilled. Oh my. Groan. Gasp. She had a couple of the quilts she had done proudly hanging on the store walls for all to admire. Birds' nests, hanging snarls, long loopies - everything you can think of and then some more. The quilts that have been longarmed for me have been a real thrill. It is wonderful to see your quilt top beautifully quilted by someone with talent and skill. Polly

"Taria" > Long arm machines are getting to be so very common. Finding the good

Reply to
Polly Esther

A woman in my quilting class sent her quilt to a "professional" long arm quilter & wanted it SITD. When it came back, some of us were gasping at how poorly the quilt had been SITD. Upon closer inspection, it wasn't the "professional" that was the problem. The woman who had pieced the top was not very accurate in her piecing, so it was very difficult for the long armer to SITD & the end result was not very pleasing. I would imagine if you are an accurate piecer, this would not be a problem - no doubt you are:)

Pauline Northern California

Reply to
Pauline

Just a thought, if you're fighting the sewing machine, that may be why you don't like the quilting part :)

Perhaps a different machine may change your mind. I know it did for me! My favorite part is now the quilting, especially free motion.

-Irene

Reply to
IMS

Good to see you back on RCTQ Pauline!

-- Jo in Scotland

Reply to
Johanna Gibson

FWIW, it's still quite possible to do SID with a longarm and bad piecing. Bad PRESSING is another matter entirely. :)

Reply to
Kathy Applebaum

Thanks Jo. I'm almost fully recovered!! Yeah!

Pauline Northern California

Reply to
Pauline

That could have been part of the problem too.

Pauline Northern California

Reply to
Pauline

And if you wonder why SITD takes practice on a longarm, try doing free-motion SITD on your own machine. Remember, on a long arm or using a frame, you don't have the feed dogs to help you guide the fabric. It's all basically free motion.

Julia >> Good morning everyone

Reply to
Julia in MN

Kathy: If you have a few minutes, I hope you will give us some tips on how to press WELL. It would be helpful for work we quilt at home, as well as tops we send to other quilters. Thanks so much.

Reply to
Pat in Virginia

Julia: Yep! I find SITD on my SM very challenging, to say the least. I've not been happy with my results. I will add that I do not have any guidance from the feed dogs with home SM free motion, because one has to drop the dogs to free motion. (You might be talking about something else though.)

Reply to
Pat in Virginia

Dear Claudia, do I remember correctly that you were asking about a thick batt not too long ago? Maybe that's why you don't like machine quilting. I would hate dealing with anything more than a single layer of Hobbs Heirloom! But you are right, piecing is more fun :-) No info for you about where to get quilting done, sorry. Roberta in D

"claudia" schrieb im Newsbeitrag news: snipped-for-privacy@b64g2000hsa.googlegroups.com...

Reply to
Roberta Zollner

Well, Pat, if you insist on dragging out a soap box for me, I guess I have to climb up on it! *grin*

First off, you need a HOT iron. Unless you have a really old iron made before "they" decided to protect us from ourselves, turn it all the way up. Doesn't matter where they claim the cotton setting is, turn it up. Unless you're scorching the fabric within 30 seconds, it's okay.

Second, I always use steam. Yes, I know quilt teachers sing the praises of a dry iron. IM(NS)HO, that's because newbies can use steam to really stretch that block WAY out of shape. But none of us here would abuse our fabric like that, so use that steam. If your iron doesn't give off a healthy amount of steam (or if the fabric is really stubborn), have a spray bottle next to the iron to give the fabric a quick squirt. Make steam your friend. (FWIW, if any of you are worried about stretching the block, the ironing board police will NOT arrest you if you take a *permanent* fine tip marker and your rulers and draw a couple of straight lines at right angles on your board. Now that I have the lines on my board, I never use starch anymore because I just don't need it.)

Setting the seam (do we all know what I mean by this? If not, please ask!) really is important. I'm all for skipping unneeded steps, but this does make a difference. Not sure why, but my pressing is always better when I've set that seam first.

Whether you press open as I do, or press to one side, make sure the seam is all the way open. At classes I often see people plonk their iron straight down, no doubt as they were taught in a beginners class, again to avoid stretching. Unfortunately, that sets any little folds into the seam. If you use your iron to *gently* move the excess fabric away from the seam as you press, the pressing will look better and your pieces will end up the size they are supposed to be. As you get more comfortable with this technique, you can press just about as fast as the plonkers.

Lastly, pressing is not something to rush though to get back to piecing. I used to be guilty of that, and the results showed it. Now I have a more Zen approach. I move the iron as slowly as it takes to get a good press. You can have the hottest iron in the world and the best technique, but if you try to press that seam in 1/10th of a second, the fabric just can't get hot enough for the iron to have a bit of effect on it. Moving just a bit slower doesn't take much longer, but makes the end result so much better that it's worth it.

Reply to
Kathy Applebaum

Most people do SID on their home machines with a walking foot and the feed dogs. Even though you have to turn the quilt a lot, it winds up being easier than trying to free motion the SID.

Reply to
Kathy Applebaum

Wow, Pat! I would never try to do SITD with the feed dogs down. Eek! Following on from Kathy's great post, I'd like to add that I have just done quite a bit of SITD on my current piece, to stabilise the blocks. I have fairly recently taken to pressing my seams open. This makes SITD

*much* easier, because you are not having to sew alongside a lump, or on top of a lump. Mind you, it couldn't be the only form of quilting, because (if you do it properly in the ditch!) you are only sewing across existing stitches into the batting and backing, rather than through fabric. . In message , Pat in Virginia writes
Reply to
Patti

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