greenini

It looks great! It gets easier the more you do it, really. If you want to practice, one of the hand quilting courses used a gingham fabric to help judge the size and eveness of the stitches. That is one of the keys, they say, try for evenness at first rather then size and size will come.

Pat P

Handquilting is like basketmaking. As long as you do it all,no one will very say or notice anything. Like anything else it takes practice. If you are a perfecionist you'll either improve or not enjoy it. My stitches were not 12 to the inch or whatever but they were MINE. I had a cousin that would shine a flashlight under the quilt to count the stitches, that worked for her, think she made all of 2 quilts in her lifetime. Good luck, don't give up! Remember more love than perfection goes into quilts.

Butterflyblue

BlueGrassgurl - Thanks for the video link, but apparently my computer decided to quit making sound, so I'll have to check it out later after I get the problem fixed.

Butterflyblue

I don't know why it is bugging me so much - I am SO not a perfectionist, esp. at quilting. Maybe tomorrow I won't care so much? I can hope.

I know one of my friends has a quilt with WONDERFUL hand stitching, and I commented on it, and she said it was because she ripped out and redid it until it was right. But that's the only one she's ever finished.

Butterflyblue

Texasjunebug - my daughter is 5 and is making a quilt for her baby doll. She made a little potholder for her play kitchen, and for quilting she just does stab stitching. I've tried to show her the other way, but it just doesn't connect, so I let her do what she can/wants to.

mommamac

I'm impressed with your results & don't think you are giving yourself enough credit.

When I first did hand quilting I used 'tiger tape' - it's marked to help you stitch evenly. Maybe this is something that would be helpful to you. Here's a link:
http://www.tigertape.com

merrylouw

Getting the hang of hand quilting takes time and practice -- just like any other part of quilting! So, just relax, take your time and enjoy the ride. First, practice getting your stitches even (not small). Then work on getting them smaller.

Yes, the flannel backing is probably making it harder for you, but it will be cozy.

And, finally, there's no hand quilting police here. The baby won't know the difference!

skydiver70

I think your doing fine. I like the way you basted it first, that helps to keep it from slipping. I can't make small stitches, no matter how much I try.

annlouise

Your quilt is beautiful and handstitching it gives it more of You. I finished the quilt in my Avatar with quite a bit of outline handquilting and I enjoyed it. I used pearl cotton and did big outline stitches - not big enough to catch your finger or toe but they stand out as another accent to the design. As soon as I outlined one or two of the stars I could step back and see the difference. It looked OK and believe me my stitches were not uniform or totally even but it looked good. I would do another using big handquilting for decoration and my quilting foot for straight stitch in the ditch and grid line quilting.

Butterflyblue

Mommamac - I don't know if my stitches are small enough to use tiger tape! Also I'm trying use things I have on hand, but I wonder if I could somehow improvise the same sort of thing at home.