But i don't seem to be improving. How do you get your stitches so small? Do you draw a line to follow? I've watched the tutorials, but would appreciate any advice. Thanks

Thin batting and keeping the quilt kinda loose in the hoop:)

I wouldn't worry about how small your stitches are; you want to think more about how even they are. The size will come in time. I'd definitely draw a line to follow.

The more you do it, the better it gets. I am learning that I get better if I am consistently doing it. If I let too much time go, I feel like I am starting over. No matter what, handquilting, regardless how your stitches are, is a beautiful thing because it is personal and the time you take is valuable. Happy handquilting time :)

practice on the smallest gingham check fabrid you can find - preferable the 1/8 or 1/16"

practice on the smallest gingham check fabrid you can find - preferable the 1/8 or 1/16"

I have been handquilting for around 15 years and I always draw a line to follow or quilt next to painters tape for long straight lines. Thin batting helps a lot. I do not like to hand quilt with W&N batting. It is good for machine quilting but not hand IMHO. I like the way a nice poly bat needles, like Quilters Dream. I like 80/20 blends to like Hobbs. My next handquilting project will be with wool batting. I understand that is very easy to handquilt but very expensive. Having the sandwich not too tight in the hoop helps. Start with a larger size needle, like a 9 until you get comfortable with a rythm. Some people only take 1 or 2 stitches at a time and some like to load the needle up. Find what works best for you to get them evenly spaced. Once you get spacing down you can try switching to a smaller size needle and that helps for getting them smaller.

Give yourself time. I watch Georgia Bonesteel on tv and am amazed at how easy she makes it look. She has been doing it for decades though.

I was hand quilting in a 16" hoop for the longest, and some times with no hoop at all. This past fathers day, my wife and son gave me a new Grace Z44 hand quilting frame. Quilting on this frame has made a huge difference in the quality of my stitches. The tension is perfect, and it holds it just right to quilt on.

I use to draw a line with a ruler, then hold the ruler next to the line and make my stitches go in or out every 1/16 of an inch. This gave me 8 stitches per inch. I practiced this and once I could do this without the ruler, I could still get 8 stitches per inch, and even moved a little tighter to get about 10 stitches per inch. This is tough though. I found that by not using a thimble, I could get better stitches, though I've not found anybody else that has the same results.

Good Luck.

Steve

Also,

I love using the "Clover" brand "Black Gold" needles. My favorite is the #10 Tweens needle, though I do use the #12 too.

IMHO, these are the best that I have tried, and I have tried many different needles.

Happy Quilting,

Steve