Hand quilting
 

I have been machine piecing quilt tops for about 3 years and then sending them to a long armer to finish. I would like to start hand quilting some of my smaller pieces and am looking for resources, advice, and wisdom from all of you. I started a piece yesterday and think my batting (which I grabbed from my stash) is too thick.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Congratulations on learning a new skill! You should start with thin batting, and not too dense. Can you split the batting you have? Are you using a quilting hoop?

There are a lot of hand quilters on here, we will be glad to help you. That being said, hand quilting was the only aspect of quilting I needed an actual lesson for. Sometimes it is hard to learn without watching someone else.

Ditto what she said. I'm having fun practicing.

Welcome to the wonderful world of hand quilting! I'm probably in the minority that does not find hand quilting with W&N difficult...probably because I've never used other batting. I use a hoop (mostly - sometimes not) in my lap; use Roxanne quilting 'between' needles - usually size 11 and a Thimblelady thimble. All of those tools are ones I have evolved to over the years as being the most comfortable for me. I also use a rubber fingertip (like used to be used for counting money/paper) to help with pulling the needle through and sometimes even small pliers. Also like Thread Heaven conditioner.

Ask away with your questions and we're all here to help.

Yay! You'll find hand quilting very relaxing and meditative. I machine baste my quilt sandwich with water soluable thread and a long stitch length. That makes lap quilting quite doable . I prefer it to using a frame or a hoop as it's more portable.

The most useful resource for me was Roxanne McElroy's book, 'That Perfect Stitch'. She has the very best photos I've seen to explain the dynamics of the traditional quilting stitch. I started out with that, but could not continue with the traditional stitch because of limitations due to arthritis in my hands. I was thinking I would have to give up on the idea of hand quilting, but then I saw a discussion on this board where someone mentioned Liuxin Newman's book, 'Perfect Hand Quilting without Pain'. The method is similar to the traditional stitch, but Newman's (she's Thimblelady) method eliminates the tension in the fingers and excess movement in the wrist.

I also use Roxanne betweens, Thread Heaven and the little rubber finger. The key thing is not to expect perfection right away, but just keep on stitching. I considered my first hand-quilted quilt a learning quilt, and just kept going, no matter how bad my stitches were.

You need to pick a batting that has no scrim. You might check to see if any of the local quilt shops have a quick beginning quilting class.

Thanks so much for the info

Poly batting is the easiest to hand quilt. I like Hobbs Polydown. Also, make sure your thread is "hand quilting thread", not just "quilting thread". Hand quilting thread has an extra coating on it so it is less likely to tangle. I suggest you force yourself to learn to use a thimble on the middle finger of your dominate hand. It is SOOOO awkward at first, but it becomes second nature after awhile. A hoop or some type of floor frame is the easiest way for me to do it. Make sure you don't have things stretched too tightly. If you are used to doing hand embroidery in a hoop, where you like everything stretched nice and tight, you will need to learn that it works differently when quilting. It needs to have a bit of give to it. Someone has described it as loose enough that it seems like your cat took a nap in it. :-)

Most importantly, don't expect perfection on your first quilt. Many years ago, when my grandmother was teaching me to quilt, her first requirement was that the stitches be small enough that no one would catch their toes in them. The second one was work more for even stitches than tiny ones. (I learned from the best. She grew up Amish and was a "professional" quilter who did custom hand quilting for many years. In fact, there was a quilt in the frame in her house when she died. I hope I go that way too.)

I have been hand quilting for over 40 yrs. (Yes, I started when I was about 12 yrs. old.) If you have any questions feel free to PM me. I would LOVE to help keep hand quilting going in this world of machines. (Nothing against you machine quilters. We need both!)