Why Finish A Quilt Top?
For many quilters, the piecing of the quilt is the most fun. Quilting the top can be very stressful because all of your mistakes show. Even if you’re just stitching in the ditch (the term for quilting lines that fall in the stitching lines made by piecing the quilt top) if your stitching line goes astray it will be easy to see. Finishing a quilt top is not only important for aesthetic reasons; it’s also vital to keeping the quilt together. When a quilt top isn’t finished, the batting can shift, making the quilt uneven and lumpy. Quilt tops can be finished by machine or by hand. Stitching by hand allows for more artistry, but the newer sewing machines made specifically for quilters can allow you to make beautiful designs in your quilt top much more quickly than you could do by hand. It mostly comes down to personal preference and skill whether you want to quilt by hand or machine. The important part is that you do it! A big question for beginning quilters is how much quilting is enough
