Hand Quilter Help Needed
 

I am new to quilting. (Have sewn for many years). Anyway. I have a quilt that I have been hand stitching. and noticed that the layers are no longer smooth on both sides. So now I have to rip it out and try again. I used safety pins to hold it in place and I am using a large hoop. Which may be the problem.

First of all Best way to re-layer this thing and it stay sandwiched correctly. Glue? Pins? Basting? All the above?

Then for hand quilting I wondered if I used a large hand quilt frame, floor rack, or continue the way I have with a hoop and just do the layering/basting different.

Really appreciate any and all suggestions.


Diane

Are you starting from the center out? As I quilt I begin in the center of the quilt sandwich and work around the center smoothing outward as I quilt. This should keep your layers smooth.

BTW, I quilt in my lap with no hoop. I just thread baste my quilt sandwich and proceed as above. Maybe I'm just lucky but this works for me.

Yes I was starting in the center. However, I also think that maybe the hoop is part of the problem. You hand baste with large stitches only?

What size hoop are you using? I use a hoop that is pretty big.... about 18"x28" oval. I can't imagine using anything smaller.

I lay out my quilt and pin the sandwich together....pins are maybe 4-6" apart. I have used the spray that holds the sandwich together but I've found that if I use too much, the needle doesn't want to go through it or gets sticky. I start in the middle and work out. It is still difficult to keep it super smooth for me with a hoop..... no hoop wouldn't work for me, I don't think.

I now have a quilting frame that is probably 8 feet long and about 20" across. That works best for me. It's a home-made one that I bought at an auction years ago. The quilts that I've done on the frame are my best work. It isn't large enough for a king but anything less than that will work. I could post a picture of it if you have someone that could make you one.

The hoop measure 12 1/2 inches. But I have a 18" but I haven't used it much cause it was hard to handle and so big that I couldn't get my arm to the center of the hoop to stitch. so it seemed like I was moving the hoop more often than the smaller one. Hope that make sense.

I also thread baste and don't use a hoop. Also start in the middle.

I glue baste and use a 12 inch round hoop. I've learned on this last quilt that leaving the quilt in the hoop overnight seems to tweak the fabric making it pucker in areas. Once I quilt over it though, it goes back into place with no visible puckering. Since then, I've stopped leaving it in the hoop and the stretching is gone. I've pinned the sandwich and thread basted and in my opinion, nothing holds better than Elmer's school glue.

Try glue basting and or spray basting and don't use the hoop.

I like to hand baste with ugly thread( feels great to pull it out as I go), using I hoop. I find that I do better if there is about 3 inches of looseness in the sandwich when it's in the hoop...wiggle room. My stitch got better when I taught myself to "spoon" quilt...hold the edge of a spoon against the underside of the sandwich to bounce the needle off at regular intervals. My stitches are more even now . Keep working at it!

I pin baste and use a hoop. I'm quite happy with the Q-snap 17x17 frame. You can adjust the back/front tension on one side, while leaving the other bits intact, whereas with the round hoops, you often can't. I would hate to use a frame I couldn't turn so I've never used a floor frame.. The puckering might be due to having different tension on your back fabric versus the front. Maybe you're stretching part of the fabric and not stretching other parts? Etc.