Ashley Hough

Stitch in the Ditch Quilting

Ashley Hough
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Duration:   5  mins

Stitch in the ditch quilting is a type of quilting that allows your fabric and piecing to be the main focus of your quilt. Ashley Hough explains how to make stitch in the ditch quilting easier by using a foot specifically designed for this method.

Quilting

To do stitch in the ditch quilting you need to prepare your quilt top just as you would for any other type of quilting, simply layer your quilt tops with batting and a backing fabric and baste as desired. If you plan to pin baste your quilt try to avoid pinning over the seams you wish to stitch along, unless you plan to remove them as you get to them.

Special Stitch in the Ditch Foot

Ashley demonstrates how to use a stitch in the ditch foot to make doing stitch in the ditch quilting much easier. A stitch in the ditch foot may come with your machine, depending on the type of machine you have, or it is one you can purchase separately. Most machine brands have their own kind of specialty feet which can be purchased online or directly through a manufacturer. Ashley first shows what makes a stitch in the ditch quilting foot special and explains what part of it needs to be lined up along the seam or the ‘ditch’ in the quilt.

She then shows how to place a quilt sample on your machine, line up the foot and begin stitching. She explains that while using a stitch in the ditch foot makes that type of quilting much easier, you should still start out slowly until you get the feel for it- just like any other type of quilting. While this type of quilting can be done over an entire quilt, it can also be combined with other quilting, like free motion quilt or other designs that involve creating decorative stitches.

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4 Responses to “Stitch in the Ditch Quilting”

  1. rdale2002

    Unable to view this video

  2. MARGARET

    Ashley I appreciate the accurateness of the stitching with the foot however my concern is that the layers of the "quilt" have moved noticibly(can tell which direction it has been sewn) and in this small block there is a noticible pulling out of shape which would be multiplied in a quilt ie 20 times in a20 block quilt. I have found a walking foot helps keep the layers together. Is there a way of getting the advantages of a ditch stitch foot with a walking foot?

  3. DEBRA

    I can see that it would easier to do this type of quilting in individual "sandwiches" but can it be done if you already have your quilt top finished and basted?

  4. rozani

    thanks for the tip, can you stitch without a walking foot?

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