hand vs. machine quilting

With the quilts particular destination, machine quilting might be the way to go. But, do you *have|* to go to the expense of having it professionally quilted? As you have not yet put it together, could you make it up in sections and quilt it in sections before putting the ready-made sections together? There are several different methods of sectional quilting - and it is sturdy and quite quick because the sections are so manageable under the machine. Sorry I can't give you any links from memory; but I think they would be easy to find through Google and similar. . In message , Charlotte writes

This is right up my alley! The HairyButt Gang are four indoor dogs ranging from 65 to 110 lbs. They sleep on my bed off and on all day and at least several sleep on it with me at night. I make simple quick quilts (log cabin, warm wishes, etc.) for my bed. Using LQS quality fabrics the quilts will last a year or two from being washed to death. I keep an old sheet over the quilt now- it makes the quilt last a little longer with fewer washings (I wash the protective sheet) every few days) but I never get to see the pretty quilt that way.

I would say do NOT even consider hand quilting the quilt! Either it will get washed to death like my quilts or they won't use it at all for fear of ruining it. Do them a favor and make it as strong and durable as you can and tell them to use it and enjoy it and you'll make them another when it's worn out. You may use my story to demonstrate to them what you hope for in them using the quilt and enjoying it!

Leslie & The Quilt-Terrorizing Furbabies in MO.

Oh boy, Leslie. Thank you such much for the hairy pictures; it does make me smile to see how Teddy has just climbed right in to being loved. Polly

Don't they look like the 3 Musketeers...just waiting for the camera flash :) I can picture them with the plumed hats on. LOL

Thanks for the :) this AM

What a handsome bunch of furbabies!!

Here's my documentation of how I quilted a queen size quilt in sections: I've also reduced the bulk of doing a large quilt by temporarily removing part of the batting from sides or corners, quilting the center, and then adding batting back and completing the quilting. That's what I did for the trip around the world here:

Julia > With the quilts particular destination, machine quilting might be the

Boy that is a darling photo. What a fun gang that is. My dogs are not allowed on beds. Cats I have no control over. Dogs have their own nice beds and I leave those alone so they don't have any problem not sharing mine. ; )

I have one quilt I machine quilted that has a lot of different areas of assorted quilted designs. One section is done one diagonals. Maybe

8" by almost the width of the quilt. Those are the only quilted sections that the seams have 'popped'. I don't know if I had the tension too tight or what but that part needs re-done while the rest is fine. I am really picky about which quilts I do by hand. I am limited in how long I can sit and hand quilt besides that it is slow so those few quilts I hand quilt have to go to verified special homes where they will be cared for properly and kindly treated.

Leslie & The Furbabies > This is right up my alley! The HairyButt Gang are four indoor dogs ranging

The diagonal quilting is on the bias, and the fabric on the bias will have some "give" to it. The stitching will not have much give and so is more subject to breaking than stitching on the grain line. That is true for hand quilting as well as machine quilting. It's probably best not to do a lot of long, straight, unbroken runs on the diagonal, especially if the quilt is going to get a lot of hard use.

Julia > Boy that is a darling photo. What a fun gang that is. My dogs are

Howdy!

And now from a hand-quilter :

Depends on the quality of the quilting, not the "hand vs machine". ;-)

Usually I quilt no more than 2" apart, no long tunnels or channels left un-quilted, no large spaces un-quilted. My quilts are quilted with

*good* HAND-quilting thread. Knots and endings are appropriately woven into the quilting. We have quilts the kids have used for 25 yrs that are still well-quilted; the fabrics have faded, the embroidery my mom did has pulled out, but the quilting remains intact. I've taken in older quilts (1930s onward) that were handquilted and still quite beautiful, w/ respectable stitching. I don't make quilts for animals, altho' Stanley dog does have an old utility quilt intended as a picnic cloth/play tent, that gets washed every other week; it's loosely quilted (compared to my usual), and holding up well, spread out on the love seat & ottoman where Stan sprawls.

Btw, crappy quilting is crappy quilting, no matter how it was done; I've seen plenty of inadequate machine quilting, it doesn't hold up, wears out the fabric, makes for a pitiful "quilt".

If you don't want to wrestle w/ a big king-size quilt, get someone else to do it. To me that's the deciding factor: do you really want to quilt it yourself?

Ragm> I am making a quilt for my D,DFIL. All the blocks are made and so all that

Thanks everyone, and thanks Sandy for reassuring me that hand quilting can be durable too. Not sure I want to spend the time to quilt that close together as it would be forever before I got it done for him. I think I'm leaning toward machine quilting at this time because of that. We shall see. At least now I don't have to be worried about the durability of doing it by hand as long as I use good thread and quilting close enough. May mean I don't do his because of time, but do some for myself with out any worries about my own critters and the washings. Again thanks everyone for your input. I really appreciate it.. and Leslie thanks for the picture of your gang. All very lovable faces there!

HMMMM I dunno -- we have no way of knowing if those poor puppies like having to use a purple quilt for their rest & play! We might have to report Leslie to some sort of agency for this!! Regardless of how mean Leslie obviously is to her babies, I agree that you should machine quilt the finished quilt! I only have cat babies right now and they can add a lot of wear and tear to a quilt! CiaoMeow >^;;^<

PAX, Tia Mary >^;;^< (RCTQ Queen of Kitties) Angels can't show their wings on earth but nothing was ever said about their whiskers! Visit my Photo albums at

Hello Charlotte I do both hand quilting and machine quilting. I have one hand quilted quilt that has seen so much abuse it is unbelievable. It is about 12 years old now, has been washed countless times, is King size and has even suffered burn holes in it. (DH smokes and dropped burning embers on the quilt I almost killed him for those incidents) The hand stitching holds just fine. I have also hand quilted a couple quilts for my young grandchildren who of course can abuse a quilt like you can only imagine and they too hold up like iron. Of course the machine quilts hold up well too. Since I do them here at home I know they too hold up like iron. I have never had one professionally done so I cannot speak to that. Keep us posted on what you decide to do. juliasb