Framing the Satin Stitch

          Today I am finally beginning the actual quilting process on an applique wall hanging that I have been satin stitching for literally months. As I have said before, satin stitching is extremely tedious. It seems that no matter what kind of stabilizer is used or how closely I attend to the machine stitching process, there are always little bobbles in the lines of stitching.

          I have come upon a method to minimize those little imperfections, sharpen up the lines of stitching, and add more dimension to the design. As part of my quilting, I simply run a line of straight stitching along both sides of all the satin stitching. I use the walking foot to do this and go very slowly, pivoting in small increments around the curves.

       The contrast between the "framed" and "unframed" satin stitching is shown in the photo below. The unframed satin stitching in the upper left hand corner does not look nearly as polished as the framed stitching in the lower left hand corner.

          This is a slow process, but with practice, it will be worth every minute you put into it.