Hand Quilting by Lady Texas

Title: Hand Quilting
Post by: LadyTeXas on November 24, 2007, 08:01:18 AM
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I only know how to hand quilt. I won a few ribbons for doing that & had the honor of being featured hand quilter at a local quilt show a few years back..

I have the greatest respect for the machine quilters but one of my favorite part of quilting is to do the hand work on snowy days with a warm quilt drapped over me. Lady T


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Title: Re: Hand Quilting
Post by: Merry Bee on November 24, 2007, 04:56:20 PM
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Hand quilting is so beautiful. My Mother would never consider doing quilting any other way, and her work was so awesome, that I have never tried to do it, except for a big feather circle or border on a quilt block. But most of mine is stitch in ditch or stippling on the machine.


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Title: Re: Hand Quilting
Post by: quilt with dawa on November 24, 2007, 05:23:52 PM
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I love to hand quilt; but not on the quilts for Cambodia
dawa


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Title: Re: Hand Quilting
Post by: golo on November 26, 2007, 06:38:54 PM
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I thought it would be so nice to do a quilt completely by hand so started with a BOM about 2 years ago...I might have half of the blocks done and its gonna be a lot longer to get them finished..by the time it comes to quilting it I will probably have to have it done, my hands will be crippled with arthritis... :santa_embarrassed:


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Title: Re: Hand Quilting
Post by: CC on November 27, 2007, 07:30:31 AM
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I love hand quilting too but I just can't do it well. even before arthritis began to get to my hands so badly. so i machine quilt. :santa_kiss:


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Title: Re: Hand Quilting
Post by: Sue in MI on November 30, 2007, 10:00:34 PM
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I always thought I would only do hand quilting, but I have shoulder problems now if I hand quilt a lot, so I do a bit of machine quilting, too. I absolutely love some of the machine done quilts I've seen, it's an art in itself, but I'll always prefer hand quilting. I cringe when someone takes a vintage quilt top and machine quilts it, some projects are really better suited to machine quilting and some are better done by hand.


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Title: Re: Hand Quilting
Post by: Grandma Chris on December 01, 2007, 03:31:59 AM
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I do both, I like hand quilting because I can sit in the room with the TV on and be with my husband. I quilt by hand without a hoop. My hands work better without a hoop. I have arhtritus, and the stitches rock better without the hoop.


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Title: Re: Hand Quilting
Post by: auntyjane on December 16, 2007, 07:12:21 AM
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I love hand quilting the best of anything in making a quilt. I like it that it takes a year to finish a quilt and that I don't have to keep changing projects, or figuring out what to do with them when they are finished.

I haven't read how the rest of you hand quilters MARK your quilts. Do you free hand it (as I do), or use stencils? Do you mark all at once on just the top? Do you wait until you sandwich? What do you use to mark with? (Especially on dark fabric.) Do you have the quilting patterns in mind when you finish the piecing, or do you make it up as you go along? Do you have favorite figures (like feathers) that you use a lot?

Lots to talk about!


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Title: Re: Hand Quilting
Post by: finisher on December 16, 2007, 08:08:24 AM
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Aunty Jane..I hand quilt too. I find it relaxing. As far as marking.. I think I've done a bit of everything. I have a nice supply of templates that I enjoy using for fancy work, but sometimes I just do in the ditch or 1/4" away from the seam lines. I have used a variety of marking techniques. I have had a problem removing the blue wash away markers at times..so they are not my first choice. BUT for dark fabrics I love..love.. love the Clover white marking pen The markings can be removed with water or heat. I have never had a problem with those. It's always best to mark as lightly as possible no matter what tool you use. One of my favorites is masking tape for background quilting for diagonal lines or grids. It's best to start out with your first line marked so it's straight and true..then from there just stitch along the tape then reposition it and use it over and over until it doesn't stick good anymore.Then just get a new piece. I have rolls of tape in a variety of widths.
If I am using stencils..I mark before I sandwich the quilt. I want to make sure everything fits just right. I love using cables for borders. The more lines..the better I like them. They don't have as many starts and stops as some designs and are easy. They look more complicated than they are.For real fancy quilts I do feathered wreaths and borders..but in some quilts those wouldn't show up..so it depends on the quilt. With some quilts they "speak" to you..and tell you how to quilt them. Others make you think more.


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Title: Re: Hand Quilting
Post by: Dara on December 29, 2007, 09:43:48 AM
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I tried my hand at hand quilting back when I was pregnant with my daughter. I made her this awful looking green and yellow quilt with ducks. (I hadn't quite mastered the whole seam allowance rule so it came out horrific!) I hand quilted that ugly thing with these huge hideous stitches. I finished it up right after she was born and decided that I couldn't let such a beautiful baby be wrapped in something that horrible...so I set out to make her a beautiful quilt. I sat down a few days after she was born with all the pink and purple fabric and made a little quilt top. And I went back after the hand quilting thing....after I did some research and figured out how to do it! LOL So far it's beautiful...of course I've been working on the stinker for 4 years and it's still not done. I'm hoping to have another little girl so I can look like I made it for her! HeHeHe


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Title: Re: Hand Quilting
Post by: jennQT1 on December 29, 2007, 11:21:26 AM
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Has anyone used the method of quilting with your thumb? I read somewhere once that it's easier to quilt in all directions using that method. I've been hand quilting a large wall haning for quite a while in a hoop. My biggest problem is that I have only mastered quilting towards me. I'd like to invest in a stand for the quilt but I need to be able to quilt in more than one direction in order to use a stand.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated :santa_smiley:


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Title: Re: Hand Quilting
Post by: Calico_Chris on January 01, 2008, 12:22:23 PM
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Aunty Jane, your post made my day, I'm on my first quilt, machine pieced and am hand quilting. I started the piecing in late august. I'm glad to hear someone say it takes a year. We took our tree down yesterday and I reassembled the frame/quilt and was just saying to myself as I looked at my progress and decided where to start back up. "Its going to take me till next august to finish!"
Now I don't feel like a dunce and alone.
Finisher I was thinking cables looked harder than they are, I'm quilting a "bow" now and its curved but is going smoothly.
My biggest trouble with this entire project is quilting too near(or into) the selvage 1/4 underneath. I believe that the "ditch" yall refer to is the side of the seam where the 1/4 is not. Well.....how can you run a straight line when you have ironed your 1/4 to the dark side, the ditch cant run in a straight line. Do you keep switching from one side of a seam on block A then the other side of the seam on block B,Maybe I'm not understanding something or I shouldn't iron towards the dark. Am I making sense?

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Title: Re: Hand Quilting
Post by: finisher on January 01, 2008, 01:07:11 PM
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Chris..when I stitch in the ditch I stitch along in the piece that's not got the seam allowance there. I do switch which side of the seam I'm stitching in from place to place..but nobody has ever noticed or mentioned it. It's really just a thread or two of a jump. The eye just doesn't notice it. I have even had quilts in judged shows and there was no mention of it.Remember..you are staring at the stitching fairly close up as you sew..nobody else is going to be looking that close. There are places that you will have to go through where seams meet..etc. and will still have to deal with that thickness though. I generally stab and stitch one stitch at a time in those areas.
Cables are easy breezy..there are few starts and stops..you just slide your needle through from one area to another to sew...or you can stop where your lines will cross and tie off your thread. I use fairly long thread and sew as far as I can in the hoop..pull the needle off the thread..and start the line next to it..again pulling off the needle and doing the next line.Once an area is done..move the hoop and rethread the needle and continue sewing. Sometimes it looks a little like spaghetti. :santa_wink:


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Title: Re: Hand Quilting
Post by: betweens on January 01, 2008, 03:51:47 PM
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Calico.. you are not the only dunce It usually takes me more than a year to hand quilt a quilt as well.. it is the joy of sitting there admiring all the wonderful blocks as you go and the stitches that you create the effect they make.. just enjoy the process. This is the time where life is not a race..

Deb- with the tall white hat marked "double dunce"


Quote from: Calico_Chris on January 01, 2008, 12:22:23 PM
Aunty Jane, your post made my day, I'm on my first quilt, machine pieced and am hand quilting. I started the piecing in late august. I'm glad to hear someone say it takes a year.


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Title: Re: Hand Quilting
Post by: Marian on January 10, 2008, 04:44:13 AM
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I, like you, love to hand quilt. It is so relaxing to me. I also like to quilt on snowy days. I have two liding glass doors in the rear of the house where I quilt. They overlook a flowing creek and a hill. It's so pretty in the fall and winter time. Lots of light there for quilting as well. I have machine quilted too, but prefer to hand quilt if given the choice. I won a ribbon a couple years ago at the fair, my first one and it was exciting. I have a gracie frame now and i enjoy using it. I always have some hand-quilting to work on as well though.
Marian in Ohio


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Title: Re: Hand Quilting
Post by: Bluebird on January 10, 2008, 03:55:58 PM
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I am attempting to hand quilt again. I have done a few small things, not very well tho. What I cant understand and do, is make the stitches the same length on the back side as on top.. Can anyone help me with that? What am I doing wrong? Going in and out at an angle maybe?.

Feel free to email me or catch me in chat sometimes..





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Title: Re: Hand Quilting
Post by: quiltermarynel on January 10, 2008, 10:29:09 PM
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That is a good question. (Not that I am planning to do any more hand quilting anytime soon. There are too many quilts in my head to take that much time with one.)


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Title: Re: Hand Quilting
Post by: finisher on January 11, 2008, 06:46:45 AM
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Yes..it sounds like you are pushing your needle through at an angle. Sometimes if you have your quilt in a hoop you'll not have it in there loose enough to get a good rocking motion with your needle. I know there are some videos of hand quilting on www.youtube.com. Maybe if you look at those you can get a better idea of the rocking motion? It's so much easier to see it done rather than have someone tell you.


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Title: Re: Hand Quilting
Post by: breezepines2002 on June 17, 2008, 06:22:30 AM
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I love hand quilting too,, that's all I can do,, I sit down at the machine and my mind goes haywire, my hands and mind don't go together, I can do a small piece 12 inch block or smaller but those big ones, my hat goes off to all of you that can do it..your a rare breed.. bonnie


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Title: Re: Hand Quilting
Post by: finisher on June 17, 2008, 08:06:18 AM
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Bonnie..machine quilting doesn't agree with me either. I've done it..and it looks OK but it just makes me tense up and I don't enjoy it. :1087: Some would say those with the patience to hand quilt are a rare breed too?


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Title: Re: Hand Quilting
Post by: golo on June 17, 2008, 08:15:14 AM
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The only hand quilting I do is sewing the binding on by hand..... PAWS!!! where are you?? I am binding a quilt today and a wallhanging... you can help me.... I am like QM... too many quilts to sit and hand sew must machine quilt....


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Title: Re: Hand Quilting
Post by: Pawstoquilt on June 17, 2008, 09:11:31 AM
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Quote from: golo on June 17, 2008, 08:15:14 AM
PAWS!!! where are you?? I am binding a quilt today and a wallhanging... you can help me....

:2funny: :2funny: :2funny: :2funny: :2funny:

I would love to but........................................




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Title: Re: Hand Quilting
Post by: quiltermarynel on June 17, 2008, 10:23:58 AM
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Applique relaxes me, hand quilting does not. We are who we are. At some point we just accept the knowledge and get on with the living. I admire hand quilting, but it's not what i do.