You wrote: "Thank you for taking the time to write this marvelous information. Books that I have found that mention the Big Stitch have very limited instructions.
I wonder where I could find that particular needle.
I'm using red perle cotton from a small skein; I guess it is Number 5.
In South Mississippi, we don't need a wool batt. It's supposed to be 97 today.
One more thing -- how do you end your line of stitching? Just like regular hand quilting?"
I agree about the heat! It's hot here in VA, today, too.
But a wool batting is very light weight, not all that hot to use -- I actually prefer my wool batted quilt to my heavier cotton ones in the early fall or late spring -- and it's like quilting throug butter! So helpful with these larger threads.
I end the line of stitching just as I do any handquilting, bu making a knot about 1/4" from the end of the line of stitches and burying it in the fabric just like when I started.
The needles don't have to be Richard Hemmings, just any sharp needle with a large enough eye to thread with these larger weight threads we use for Big Stitch. Glover makes Sashiko needles that are perfect, but also hard to find.
By the way, I use a thread cut about 20-24" long. I've found that the end through the needle often twists/frays making loss of too much thread if I cut a piece as long as Lorraine's site quoted above.
Jan in VA