Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Ditch Quilting


The next quilt on the frame is this French Braid that I started piecing at the spring quilt day. I decided to try stabilizing around the inside borders and sashing before free-motioning the braids and outer borders. Stabilizing, in longarm quilting lingo, means stitching in the ditch to hold everything in place. It's harder than it looks, and definitely harder than the same technique on a regular sewing machine. I guess that's because the machine is faster and you're further away from the very precise line you want to follow. You can use special rulers to help keep the hopping foot in line. The one I'm using here is a Versa Tool, and it has a straight edge for ditch stitching on one side, and the other sides have curves and angles that can be used for guiding other kinds of designs. It takes practice, and slowing down!

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