Saturday 31 August 2013

Blurred lines

Alas, not the Robin Thicke/Pharrell kind, just the annoying unable-to-sew-straight quilty kind.
I have been thinking about how to quilt my little plus quilt given my limited repertoire consisting of straight line variations. I decided that I might try some ditch stitching and sent away for this foot for my Janome:


It's got this guide thingy (that is a proper technical term you know) and I thought that it might help me improve my accuracy.


It might be good, but it isn't magic. I've still got lots of wobbles. 


Sigh. It will be a while before I can go around claiming my ditch stitchin' is bitchin' (very uncouth, sorry about that). I also have a very annoying cat to contend with when trying to quilt. She thinks it is her job to stop me. 


I'm looking forward to getting this one finished, blurred lines aside I am loving the overall look.

10 comments:

  1. Don't be hard on yourself Megan. I find stitching in the ditch is often the hardest! Sometimes our seams aren't straight to start with (not to say that would be the case in your situation!) :-)) Once its washed and dry you will not notice a few blurred lines! It will look lovely!

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  2. The finished overall effect will look lovely...trust me!!! I am no expert but sometimes it is to do with the way all the seams are pressed b4 starting the quilting- i.e. all in the same direction, so you end up quilting up against the less "bulkier" side of the seam. Linda

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  3. As far as I'm concerned stitching in the ditch is my nemesis. I won't do it unless there's an emergency. I agree with Susan, you won't notice and the quilt looks beautiful!

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  4. Love it (your post, not your stitching crisis). Ditto to what the others say. I have that gizmo for my foot but haven't tried it yet - camp Colin at the bernina shop said it worked best on seams pressed to the side. I press open so I wasn't sure it would be the answer. Meh - just say the wobbles are part of the design.
    Love your cat too!

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  5. Fact- I can't stitch the ditch!
    BUT that said, I reckon your quilt will look awesome. Remember that nobody else will look as closely at it as you do...

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  6. I agree - in the ditch is not my preference hardly ever. And my foot guide isn't foolproof either. I have better luck following my foot itself or marking with my hera.

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  7. Stitch in the ditch always sounds so much easier in theory than it is practice. It's not one of my faves either. I'll just ditto everyone else - it'll be fab when finished and no one will notice any little wobbles I"m sure!

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  8. I think everyone has the same experience. you just need to decide how much it annoys you. My cat does that too BTW - maybe there's an international quilters cat club that requires such behaviour?

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  9. I keep buying gadgets to improve my accuracy, too. and still get wobbles! or inaccurate seams. i'm hopeless, I suppose. at this point, i'm guessing only time and experience will improve me. fmq has been fun because it's supposed to wobble every which way, but there are issues there, too. i'm just going to shut my eyes and keep quilting! nothing else for it.

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  10. It's looking good, Megan! Make no mistake, in the ditch is one of the most challenging ways to quilt, in my humble opinion.

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