When I hand quilt which isn't often I use a thimble on my underneath finger. It's the way I learned so it's the one I'm comfortable with. I tried the Aunt Becky but it was clumsy to me. I really didn't practice that much with it though. I would never quilt without some protection. I don't like pin pricks or my finger with holes in it. A callous takes a long time and lots of hurt and it looks ugly.