It bothered me for two reasons. First, the close lines of quilting are distracting in contrast to the sparse quilting grid on the rest of the piece. Second, the closeness of the lines highlights any irregularities or inconsistent spacing. And there is plenty of that!
I decided to rip out the two quilting circles, but then realized I only had to remove the inner circle, making the job much easier.
It's already much better, but after the washer erases the trace of needle holes I am going to love this. I did end up with a lot of loose threads to tie off. I've become a bit of a stickler for clean thread ends. It's always best to secure thread ends in the binding, but sometimes your bobbin runs out of thread in the middle of the quilt, or you make mistakes.
I used to backstitch or reduce stitch length to secure the ends, but that always looks messy to me and I know the threads will eventually work themselves free. It was an epiphany when I realized I could pull the top thread to the back, tie a secure knot with the bobbin thread and pull the loose ends and the knot into the batting. Seems obvious, but it was just an article of faith that the top thread stayed on top, and the bobbin thread stayed on the bottom.
In case it isn't obvious, here's what the knot looks like on the back of my runner.
it's funny, isn't it? those three lines did not bother me at all... but that's just ME, i'm telling you.
ReplyDeleteNice! I like the tutorial at the end there. Thanks! And yeah - 2 lines look PERFECT! 3 didn't. ; ) Good eye. Less is more.
ReplyDelete~Monika K. in Canada
Quilt Designer & Landscape Fibre Artist
You were right! .. the two look much more refined and sit well with the feel of the design.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to hear that someone else secures loose threads this way... I've always done it like this but was getting a little worried that there was a "right" way and I was the last to discover it!
ReplyDeleteGreat colours...you are so detailed...I'm way to lazy to tie knots in the back.
ReplyDelete@mandy - I'm glad to hear I'm not alone, too! If anyone has a faster/better way to do it, I would love to hear about it.
ReplyDelete*Light bulb* Ah, now I get it! I've been of the "secure with a few short stitches" camp but haven't really liked the way that looks and worry they'll eventually work loose, as you said. Thanks for your photos. It makes sense and sure seems like a better way to do it.
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to seeing the completed runner!
ReplyDeleteI once saw a long-arm quilter dab a tiny bit of that fray-stop liquid on clipped thread with a needle tipped applicator. She said she'd used that method for years. I've been too scared to try that, but it sure would be speedier, especially when doing cross-hatching.
ReplyDeletelove your stitches!!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful runner and congrats on being featured on the modern quilt a day blog! The inset circle patchwork/port hole quilt technique has been a recent discussion at the Eugene MQG (as in how can it be done!). Can you direct me to a tutorial or if you plan on posting a quick one on it? ;-) I haven't been able to find anything on it. I would love to give it a try.
ReplyDelete