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How to fix broken stitches in straight line quilting, after binding has been applied.

by Anna
(Toronto, ON)

Anna writes...

On my first quilt I have sewn on the binding to the front and not finished hand sewing on the back. I realized that in a line of my straight line quilting, I accidentally cut a stitch.

Is there anyway to fix this, can I rip out the row and re-sew or do I have to remove the binding.

Julie replies...

This has happened to me, too! And I would bet to a lot of other quilters as well.

Click the image
to learn more about
these needles.

The way I handled it was to 'unstitch' (not rip out) the cut line of stitching far enough so that I could pull the needle thread through to the back of the quilt (I like to use a self-threading needle like that pictured to the right), knot the two threads together and then bury the thread tails in the middle of the batting—just the same way I bury any other set of thread tails.

Then I'd re-quilt the line, starting in the hole of the knotted stitch and ending at the binding. Leave long enough threads at both ends so that they can be knotted and the tails buried as before. By doing it this way there wouldn't be any noticeable thread build-up in the quilting stitches and no back stitching.

Readers, if you have suggestions or have handled this situation differently, please use the 'comment' link below to share your thoughts.

Thank you.

Piecefully,

Julie Baird
Editor

Comments for How to fix broken stitches in straight line quilting, after binding has been applied.

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Stitches cut when trimming the excess fabric after quilting it
by: Donna

I just finished my quilt and was trimming the edges so that I could attach the binding. I noticed some quilting was very close to the edge and the threads were cut. These loose ends will be under the binding. Do I need to secure them or will the binding hold them in place?

From Julie... Since I stitch the second edge of my bindings by hand, if the threads are loose before quilting, I would fix them before binding.

I prefer to have the security that the lines of quilting are sewn completely to the edge before binding. That's how I roll.

The only time I might deviate from this plan is if the binding is sewn on by machine—both from attaching the binding (that's one line of security stitching) and then stitched down (that's a second line of security stitching).

I hope this helps in your decision.

~ Julie Baird

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