Hand quilting problem
 

Hi folks
ive just started quilting my second quilt the first one was art gallery fabrics and Hobbs wool wadding and quilted like a dream now on my second I have bought a vintage hexi top with a selection of Laura Ashley chintz etc I’ve basted it with a bamboo wadding and quilting cotton for backing. I cannot get any sort of needle to do do more than one stitch at a time ! My fingers are so sore …. I’ve bought needle grabbers and thread wax and I’m using aurifil 12wt my favourite needle is. Size 9 Bohin crewel and I’m trying to use a hoop this time. Any suggestions ?

I don't have any experience with hand quilting, but is a crewel needle the right way to go ? Don't they have a blunt/rounded point, and are thicker? You will need a sharp needle I would imagine.

I'm not a hand quilter either (not enough patience), but I would suspect that all the turned under fabric in a hexie quilt could be hard to quilt. Do you think that could be the problem? Also, you might have to adjust the tightness of the quilt in the hoop. Or you might find that you prefer quilting without a hoop. I've tried both ways, and I prefer not to use a hoop. But I've done very little hand quilting!

(Crewels do have sharp points, and big eyes. They're often used for embroidery. I don't know if they're normally used for quilting.)

Betweens are normally recommended for quilting. Art gallery fabrics were a great choice for your first quilt, they are beautifully thin. I suppose the chintz is rather thick? Had you considered doing this one with big-stitch quilting? I don't know much about it, but I'm sure you could google and find tutorials.

You said the it was a variety of Laura Ashley prints. Are these the home dec type fabrics? Heavier home dec fabrics would be hard to hand quilt especially with a heavier weight thread.

found this discussion https://www.quiltingboard.com/main-f...ic-t44000.html

Although I am not typically a hand quilter, I do enjoy it and have done several quilts by hand. I always used a sharp needle that is fine, "betweens" work well. I second the suggestion above about big stitch quilting. I have seen some that are really lovely and that show off the fabric and blocks very well. Chintz is a very tightly woven fabric much like batiks. I leaned the hard way that batiks are more difficult to hand quilt.

I've hand-quilted everything from batiks and lawns to linens and denim. The best way to test out your method + materials is to do a short run of stitches without any hoop/frame, fully manipulating the quilt to figure out how much force and what angle you need to drive the needle through multiple layers. (this also will tell you if it's sticking on the needle eye, thread, or just not penetrating because the point is bad.)

My guess is that it's a tension issue between how much stretch your fabric has and how tightly it's pulled on the loop. Small pieced tops like hexies can be deceptively thick and rigid do to all the seams, so you might need to loosen the quilt on the hoop so you can angle your needle a little higher on the downstitch.

Aurifil 12 weight is probably better used for big stitch quilting. I use a 40 usually for hand quilting.