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I tried to SITD on a quilt, but I ended up getting puckers. I had spray basted well, and even ironed the layers after spray basting, but when I SITD around the first border, by the time I got to the end I had a pucker in the fabric that I couldn't avoid. So I ended up ripping out all that stitching and just FMQ the whole quilt with a stipple.
Anyone else have this problem with SITD? I really am hesitant to try it again.
I'm having that problem with a jelly roll quilt and now in process of ripping it out. I'm going to try again and see what happens, I might just end up FMQing the quilt. But I saw someone's quilt on here that looked like that so maybe that's the way they are supposed to look...I don't know.
Are you using a walking foot or a regular foot? I have to admit even when I used my walking foot for SID, I got puckers when I came near a line of quilting going in the other direction like a "t" in the road, but never on a border.
I have never had that problem, but I always use a walking foot and lengthen my stitch a little. :)
Does it have anything to do with the thread tension? I need to know the solution because I'm getting ready to finish up a quilt for my daughter using SITD.
Yes, I did use my walking foot. And I made sure that all the puckers were ironed and smoothed out before starting. I don't know what the answer is.
My tension was fine...I always check my tension before starting.
Did you start in the centre and work out? Apparently you can smooth out the pucker a bit as you come to it (according to course on craftsy)...
No, I took both machine quilting classes and learned to do your outside border as a stabilizing stitch. Maybe I should have started in the middle? I was just going by what I learned in those classes. It's frustrating.
I only do SITD and always start in the middle, do upto 3 vertical lines down to one side then go to the the other side and to three, then back to the right, back to the left, etc. Flip the quilt, start in the middle, repeat process. Then go back and fill in other sections once the main quilt is stablized, this seems to create the least amount of chance of puckering along the runs.
I use a 3.5 stitch length with a walking foot, my machine does have automatic thickness adjustment though as well.
I practiced with longer stitches and the practice piece didn't pucker. So I'm going to use longer stitches and see what happens. I didn't start in the middle but think I will this time. Hopefully I won't have puckers :)
Yes I have had that happen. I think in your case...start in the middle and work your way to the borders. That allows for you to easy the fabric and the backing flat as opposed to always pushing it one way and that making it off and causing puckers. I also learned that the long stitch does help...it gives the fabric more "room" to wiggle around in for a proper fitting. I don't use the walking foot, although it is just cause I haven'tdone STID in a bit... but my machine came with a STID foot...it has a little prong inthe front that you line up with the ditch..keep that prong in the ditch and the needle follows. It works really well so that is what I have been doing. And or course..practice. I just finished STID a quilt and the way I layed the layers and section by section smoothed it all out... not a single pucker on the back...and the puckers on the front were cause I am not proficient yet...and because of a few seams I didn't have matched in the first place and it looks like a pucker.
I would definitely start in the middle and work your way out. If you start on the border and then move inward if the fabric stretches a bit on the back it has no where to go and will pucker. I have also had problems with puckers occasionally if I either stretched the back fabric too much when taping it down to make my quilt sandwich, or if I haven't smoothed it out enough. Good luck!
When I start in the middle I have very little puckering, maybe a little 1/8" Fold at the end of a queen quilt once i go around the whole border once I've quilted the middle. When I do the border first,I end up with a mess. Walking foot/Accufeed foot helps immensely. I only pin, no spray for me, it has made things work out so much better for me.
No matter what I do I always start in the middle. I have only FMQ one, but still started in the middle. I was just always told to start in the middle to avoid those kind of problems, cuz if t isn't already sewn gooing outward you can adjust it.
I always start in the middle, my mentor made sure that I knew that and repeated it constantly. Good luck with yours.
What basting spray did you use? Sulky spray dissipates after a short time. Some other sprays also lose their binding properties when exposed to air and they work more as a temporary adhesive.
I haven't had good luck spray basting anything larger than a wallhanging. Pin basting or thread basting really eliminates the puckers. Combining that with a good walking foot, flat surface area and starting out in the middle of the quilt usually you can avoid puckers.
when I stitch my borders...no matter what stitch I am using I go up one side and move over and down the other....turn and repeat...reduces the puckering alot....as well as using a walking foot...won't do it any other way...ask how I know!
I just did that exact style quilt tonight. I started in the middle, worked outward, did the borders last, no puckers. I knew I would have trouble with my perimeter, because it was wavy to begin with. This was a quick practice project, so I didn't rip, i can live with it as it is. Used a waLking foot and pins, I swear by pins.
Starting in the middle is really important. Besides helping you avoid puckers, you never have the whole quilt inside the harp of the machine at the same time.
I have puckers in an area that started when I spray basted my double. Its my first quilt and am disappointed that it did that, It was already wrinkled after I sprayed it but hoped that the quilting would take care of it. I am using a walking foot, but stitches are too small, so I have read here. I was at the local quilt show this past weekend and someone indicated that the more its quilted, the flatter it will lie, so maybe it won't show so much. I am going to swallow my pride and bring it in to the guild mtg for advise.
I was on here not to long ago complaining about my quilt puckering.I can tell you I don't
like using that walking foot but I did and I did lengthen the stitch a bit to much but finally got it done after a lot of ripping out.
Some times I wonder it the material it self has anything to do with it.
I posted a picture last week on the finished quilt.I washed it and it did fine.My daughter took it home.
Are the puckers in the border or in the part of the quilt onto which the border is sewn? It it's in the border, the border may be a little too long. I carefully measure both sides and the middle of my quilt, add those measurements and divide by 3 to get the appropriate length to cut the borders. Example: Left Side - 60" Right Side - 61" Middle - 59.5" Add all three numbers (180.5), divide by 3 (60.1), so the border should be cut 60". I didn't know to do this on the first quilt I made, cut a long border and sewed it onto the quilt. It was very wavy and had puckers.
I just measure the middle and cut my borders to that measurement....this last time had very little to ease in...the top didn't get as much handling as some do so it made a difference...and if I don't have a pucker somewhere I will have one the back guaranteed....that's just my luck so now I check the back frequently and I rarely rip as my quilts aren't perfect and are supposed to look homemade...I try not to pucker but will live with small ones as an added charm and usually once washed it is a lot less noticeable!
I have that problem, and one of my friends suggested using the darning food instead of the walking foot. Now my problem is that I cannot stay in the ditch!!!!!
All great advice, start in the center, use a walking foot, iron the puckers out. Somebody else was told to do the borders first in a quilt class, that doesn't make sense to me, because if you are off one tiny little bit, you will get a pucker in that last corner. I always work from the middle. I'm a pinner, and I use a lot of pins. My backing is pretty flat because I clamp it to my cutting table before I add the batting and top. I pin from the center. And I use an Accufeed foot (same as a walking foot). Once I did all those steps, I very rarely have a pucker, and if I do it might be on the very last corner of the quilt as I'm doing the last stabilizing before adding the border. I can live with that.