Greeter Eva

In the last few days I read quite a bit about spoon quilting.
Could anyone tell me how you hold the spoon? Do you
have the inside of the spoon facing the needle or the bottom
of the spoon? I like hand quilting, but if I can speed it up ,
I certainly am interested. If someone can help me, it would
really be appreciated. We are finally getting summer here.
20+ celcius for tomorrow. We usually have had a lot more
warm weather by this time in Saskatchewan.

virtualbernie

I heard about spoon quilting many many moons ago but have never tried it. I believe you use the back of the spoon. I'm going to watch this thread to learn how! Thanks for asking!

AnnaK

I don' tknow if your'e talking about using the spoon in basting a quilt. That's the way I learned it. The way it works is to hold your spoon down in the area that your needle is going to be coming from the back to the top of the quilt. It basically avoids the needle getting caught in the quilt on it's way up. You can easily grab the threaded needle easier when it's on the 'bowl' of the spoon. Hope this helps. It's been a while since I basted that way. PS- I use a plastic spoon since it will scratch up your spoons. I may have to attach a picture but not sure if you meant basting or quilting.

Gwyn

I was taught to push the edge/tip of the spoon up from the back. This makes a bit of a hump. Push the needle straight down into the hump and then across the hump to just catch the fabrics in a tiny stitch. This is how I use it. I put my left thumb into the bowl of the spoon and under the quilt.

virtualbernie

Thanks Gwyn! When I tried it years ago I couldn't get it to work--now I know why--I was using the wrong finger! :) Going to try this out!

debbieumphress

I handquilt so this is a great tip. I am going to find a tutorial to watching too. I don't even use a thimble. I wear cloth bandaids. And I own a ton of thimbles, metal, leather, etc. Just can't get comfortable with them. Since I learned without using them, it's hard to convert.

nursie76

I watched a video with this method, and if I remember correctly, you used it as Gynn describes.
I believe it is used similar to the Aunt Becky device that was mentioned on the board earlier.

As with the Aunt Becky the quilt is rather loose in the hoop.

Gal

I am just a beginner, but hooked on hand quilting none the less, I read all the theory first before starting out and tried thimbles and such and the spoon although I had no picture of how I should hold the spoon, I did read some where that I should stitch over the back part of the spoon. I did try it (dessert spoon) and in principal it worked but it felt too awkward and not comfortable at all. I have ended up with my own style of hand quilting which is, 'bare hands'! I use my very strong thumb nail to push through the needle and nothing on the fingers underneath. I did prick my fingers a few times but very soon learned how to feel for the needle and guide it back up through the layers without a thimble. I much prefer to feel what I am doing, even though I have tried a couple of times more with a thimble. I do not take too many stitches upon my needle at one time. I work with my fabric lose in the hoop.

Gal

lab fairy

I never got the hang of a thimble either. I handquilt with a pair of needle nose pliers (mine, not husbands whose are really dirty :) ). After my Mother-in-law taught me how to hand quilt, I caught her sneaking a pair of needle nose piers into the church quilting bee. I got a good giggle from that since I got so many strange looks.

I use the pliers to push the needle through when I need it using the groove between the jaws. If the needle needs a good tug (I never get a good grip for some reason) I just clamp them down and pull. Maybe a little unorthodox but works great.

virtualbernie

I cut off the fingers of latex surgical gloves and put these on my fingers to pull the needle through the fabric.