Grandma Judi

Thankyou so much for posting your hints on hand quilting. I am getting ready to hand quilt a quilt for the very first time and it is always nice to get advise from someone who has experience. I am making an envelope quilt for my daughter and I want it to come out special. Any suggestions?

Hinterland

It is good, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. I think it's great that there are so many handquilters, and I wish more of us would enter our quilts in shows.

Janet

Justlucy

Kristin: Yes you are right, leaves turning remind me of winter. I have been in florida now for 9 yrs so don't miss that. I work on my quilts year round, maybe not as much as I did up in NH but when I am in the Airconditioning here.
It is funny no matter where you live if you have a hobby you do it. Thanks for replying.

LyndaOH

Incredibly helpful tips, Janet! Thanks so much!

weezie

I have lots of hoops & a lovely pair of quilt frame ends and poles for them that are all going unused because I've learned I can only hand quilt with ease & accuracy using nothing but thimble, short, sharp needles, thread, the quilt (pin basted) and me. I can stitch toward me, but prefer going from right to left, which I can easily do when not using a frame or hoop. I think I've probably maxed out on my "stitches per inch" at 7 (on the top) if I want to get through all 3 layers (w/Warm & Natural batting). The stitching lines are straight, the stitches of consistent size and the quilts are for home use, so it's all good. I have no further aspirations in the hand-quilting category.

I've never mastered the method of just moving the quilt while keeping the needle stationary, either. I confess that I move both quilt and needle.

KLO

Wow, thanks for asking this question and to all who responded. So much great information. I have a wall quilt I started hand quilting years ago and reading these posts has made me want to go back and finish it. I will be trying all the suggestions to see what works for me. Thanks everyone!

Aquarius

I compared my quilting now with one that I made a few years ago. My stitches were much bigger then. Now I make them smaller but I still can only manage about 5 stitches per inch, which I think if great, especially for me.

Janet Espeleta

When I was teaching hand quilting classes I had my students use a good quality muslin to practice on. Don't get the 200 thread count kind as that is too dense. Mark it with a simple design such as tulip or heart. That gives you gentle curves as well as straight lines. The reason I had them use muslin is that dyes put some resistance on the fabric so muslin is easier to get started on.

Also, it is important to use a good quality hoop. (As a side note, I think it borders on "sinful" that the stores are charging such outrageous prices for hoops!) However, you want a good hoop that won't sag from the weight of the quilt. I quilt all sizes using a 14" hoop. I don't like them larger than that as I don't like to have to reach that far to quilt.

I highly recommend quilters dream cotton batting using the select or request loft. I have a lot of quilts quilted with that and the stitches show just fine. I also love wool batting, but it is much pricier than cotton or poly. A good poly batt is Thermore by Hobbs.

Also, I was taught to count my stitches the same way as the DAR people said to do. That is to count the ones on the top and the bottom. When you are sewing on a machine the top and bottom are part of the same stitch; however, when you are hand quilting they are separate. Personally I don't care for the look for too many teeny tiny stitches, but that is just my personal viewpoint. I have seen some that look like little tiny dots instead of stitches and that just doesn't appeal to me for some reason. The nice thing though is that there is something out there for everyone so you should do what you enjoy and the method you enjoy using and not get hung up on whether it is "right" or "wrong".

Borntohandquilt

I second this completely!

Kristin in ME

What is a stop?