Hand quilting - Lost art???
#61
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Stanley NC
Posts: 981
I'm a newbie at hand quilting but I love the relaxation. Machines seem to have something against me. The bobbin runs out of thread near the end of the seam, the top thread breaks, the thread bunches up under the pressure foot. Oh, well....... BTW, are there any hand quilters in the Valdosta GA area?
#62
Member
Join Date: Sep 2011
Posts: 78
My Granddaughter asked me why I hand quilted when it was so much faster to do it on a machine. I told her because it looked different and it was considered an art and I loved it. She still looked skeptical so I told her if I was to sell a hand made quilt that it would sell for more than one done on the machine. That she understood. lol
#63
I do think hand quilting is going by the wayside. I hand quilt and think hand quilting is the only way to go. I am lucky enough to belong to a quilt guild that has many hand quilters. But, also, many of our members have a professional quilter machine quilt theirs. Each year we prepare a raffle quilt, and it is always hand quilted. So many guilds of today offer raffle quilts that have been machine quilted. When visiting quilt shows I see that many displayed quilts have been machine quilted. I think the hand quilted quilts are becoming fewer and fewer at the shows. Sad!
Last edited by DoxieFive; 11-29-2011 at 05:56 AM. Reason: misspelled word
#64
I do both hand and machine quilting. My hand quilting isn't the best, but I taught myself how to do it. My mom always machine quilted hers but she was given a hoop around the time she started working again (and before we had a computer to search youtube). My first attempt wasn't too great, but neither was my first quilt, so both were a learning experience. I hand quilt those that say to me that machine quilting won't give it justice or call for something other than straight lines and machine quilt the rest. I normally only have 1 hand quilting project at a time, but I have 2 at the moment as they are both christmas presents
#65
I started out machine quilting and never had an interest in learning to hand quilt until my quilting group was making a quilt to raffle off for the Food Pantry in our community. I felt I should learn and do my share on this quilt we were making but never thought I would actually enjoy it. Well, I REALLY love hand quilting! So glad I had a reason to learn and discover I enjoy it. I am hand quilting a christmas quilt for my daughter and as I work on this am finding that it may be difficult to part with the quilt when the time comes...lol. It has horses and ponies, little dogs and cats, sheep and a snowy farm scene all decorated for Christmas. I am hand quilting around all the little animals and quilting the ouline of the barn etc. It is like a little story but I don't know if my daughter will ever look at it closely and let it tell her the story....lol. Anyway, I am really enjoying hand quilting this quilt. I still do machine quilting on certain things. I made a quilt for my father in law that is about 84yrs old and did not want to take the time for hand quilting, all I could think of is he might pass away before I finished it and had a chance to give it to him so I machine quited his quilt. I don't think I could ever enjoy FMQ near as much as I enjoy hand quilting.....it frustrated me but I keep trying... Corry
#66
I am so happy to see when quilters post their hand quilted items.
I often wonder if if hand quilting will become like letter writing and fade away due to new technology -
Letter writing is becoming more scarce since the emails and texting have advanced.
What do you think? Will hand quilting fade away due to the new long arm machines and new ways to quilt as you go and FMQ - I certainly hope not but I hear less people talking about hand quilting versus machine.
I often wonder if if hand quilting will become like letter writing and fade away due to new technology -
Letter writing is becoming more scarce since the emails and texting have advanced.
What do you think? Will hand quilting fade away due to the new long arm machines and new ways to quilt as you go and FMQ - I certainly hope not but I hear less people talking about hand quilting versus machine.
#68
Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2011
Posts: 727
Hand quilting is my love. I am interested and admire the LA quilting designs and finished product but to me it is a "real" quilt if it is hand quilted!!! I am a quilting traditionalist in the true sense of the word....I know of several hand quilters in my small town here in the Appalachian mountains.
#70
No hand quilting is not dead. For 5 yrs I taught hand quilting at 8 quilting events a year and there were anywhere from 12-20 in each class (do the math) and continue to have full classe when I teach locally. In Sept/Oct I had two classes (Virginia and Atlanta) with 30 students. On the other hand I see few hand quilted items in shows where I judge.
I my opinion, handquilting is still being done, but it is not receiving the attention that machine quilting does in shows. It seems impossible to place a hand quilted piece into a show. So many competition quilts have thread work, micro stippling etc that is doable by hand, but would take years to accomplish. These machine techniques are certainly difficult and artistic, but should not be judged alongside handquilting. Locally they are, and it does not make for a level playing field or promote the method. I also realize that all things come in cycles, so I hope to see a move toward the rewarding of handwork.
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