ann clare

I have been hand quilting for many years and love it. I always heard 9 to 10 stitches but was told it was more important to have even stitches. I never check mine. I thought that I was using a no.12 quilting needle and when I checked I found that I am using a no.10. Thanks for starting this thread.

Borntohandquilt

Janet,
for dark fabrics I use a colored pencil as well, but it must be water soluble. Watercolor pencils are available in almost every color and I always try to find one a few shades lighter than the fabric or the quilting thread.
For light fabrics I use a method called needle marking. With a darning needle or blunt needle you trace around your template or follow the slots in a stencil. This only works when the top, batting and back is already assembled. The needle leaves a crease mark on the fabric. Needle marking is only usable when you mark "as you go" because the markings do not last too long. But sometimes they stay longer than chalk lines and you don't have to remove the markings after the quilting is finished!

Boston1954

I purposely do not try to make my stitches incredibly small. When I take the time to hand stitch I want to be able to see them. :-) I do strive to make them as even as I can. This is more important to me.

zz-pd

sure wish I could help. Penny

Quiltmaniac

If you want the very best instructor, you can do no better than the late Roxanne McElroy and her daughter, Dierdra. Here is the website for "That Perfect Stitch" - a book and a video.

I purchased the book only, several years ago and although I don't do much hand quilting now, this is my go-to book. When I got it and tried her method my quilting improved instantly.

http://www.thatperfectstitch.com/about_us.html

vanessa

Thank you for this website. I have saved it to My Favorites and hope to order soon.

Quiltmaniac

You're welcome - and I love your quote - passed it on to our Pastor!

vanessa

Wonderful! I do too! I want my Bible to be falling apart one day too!

noveltyjunkie

I found this site when I was looking for information on hand quilting stitches, and this seems to be the best thread for what I am looking for.

Does anyone have any photos (or links to photos) showing the stitches on different hand quilting projects? (I have been looking at videos online but usually the image quality is not good enough to show the individual stitches)

I am handquilting a small quilt at present, using a hoop, and having endless trouble with it. I think my batting is working against me (polyester, because it is only for my daughter's doll, and I though there was no point spending money on it!)

My main problem is that I cannot do a rocking stitch which is any way acceptable. I get the theroy, but in practice the needle just comes up too far away! So I am just doing it one stroke at a time (is that what people call stab stictching?). Not only is this slow, but I am still getting horrible uneven stitches at the back- I can only imagine that this is because the back is moving with respect to the batting, because when the needle comes through to the top I am trying really hard to get it to come up near to where the last one went down, and it looks OK on the top, just not on the backing..... maybe I need more pins/basting? or to tighten up the quilt in the hoop?

Or could I be doing something else wrong? (silly question- of course I could be doing lots of other things wrong, but what are they?!)

Also, because it is a multicoloured quilt, I am using several different colours, for outlining, etc. Obviously these show through on the (white) backing. Is this considered acceptable/bad form?

Looking forward to your advice! This is a sort of sampler project for me and I am hoping to use what I learn in a "real" quilt later.

Thanks :-)

Quiltmaniac

Personally I have never found stab stitching to work very well.

As to the usual "rocking" method, it does take a lot of practice, and you are doing right in using a small piece to get the hang of it.

How well is your quilt basted? The layers will shift even in the hoop if it's not basted enough - I always think that "more is more" when it comes to basting and I probably overdo it but I think it helps.

Are you using a good thimble? If not, use one, you will soon get used to it.

Try quilting in different directions - by which I mean not only horizontally from right to left, but vertically top to bottom (my favorite), and even bottom to top, pushing the needle with your thumb (you will probably need a bigger thimble for this, using the side of your thumb).

As you are finding out, theory and practice can be two very different things - keep at it, and it will come. I still need to have a small piece to make a few needlefuls on before I move to the "real thing" to get my hand working properly each time I begin a quilting session.