OK, quilting peeps. I need opinions here (please).
I have pieced the top of a baby clothes memory quilt. (Argh. This is the worst type of quilt on the face of the earth). Anyway, now I need to quilt it.
This thing is just covered with obstacles - buttons, buckles, zippers, appliques, bows, ruffles, etc. I had originally intended to do a very large meandering stipple so I could strategically avoid the obstacles. Hubby opined that would “ruin” the effect of the various pictures on the clothes. So - another option is to just quilt-in-the-ditch around the 5" squares.
I’ll present my detailed concerns/trade-offs in the hidden details, but what do y’all think?
Detailed concerns
QID approach:
Pro’s:
- Doesn’t obscure images/details
- Stitching will be mostly in the seams so thread color won’t matter much (I do not plan to keep changing thread colors if I stipple and there isn’t really a single color that won’t be distracting on at least some of the blocks).
Con’s:
- The seams are bulky in many places and the stitching probably won’t be straight
- I’m not sure I can stitch through some of the corners, even with a denim needle
- Some of the garment squares are things like bulky sweaters that would benefit from additional stabilization (i.e., stitching). Everything has interfacing ironed onto the back of it, but sometimes it doesn’t stick very well.
I suppose a third “hybrid” option is to do a meandering squiggle over the seam lines. This alleviates the problem with perfectly straight lines and some of the seam thickness, but then the thread color matters.