Hand Quilting Tips

One of the perks of being under the weather with bronchitis for most of the past three weeks has been lots of quiet time in my little stitching nest.  I've made terrific progress on the hand quilting of my huge reproduction English paper pieced hexagon quilt.  I pieced it during 2015(?) and I started the quilting early in 2017 and my goal is to finish by the end of this month!

Many years ago (1975) when I took my first quilt making course, the teacher taught us to hand quilt in a hoop.  Her name was Fran Soika and she is a legend in this area -- partially because of her distinct design style and skilled workmanship, but also because she was teaching quilt making when no one else was.  It would be interesting to take a survey of how many current quilters were impacted by Fran's teaching.

I invested in the best quality 14" hoop many years ago and use it to this day.  The one drawback of hoop quilting is managing the edges of the quilt.  I can't recall for sure that this is what Fran taught us to do, but I can't think who else would have shown this to me either -- so Fran gets the credit!

Easiest way is to baste a 6" wide strip of fabric (about 20" long) to the edge.  I baste it just to the quilt top, not the batting (which is usually wide enough).  If the backing is also too narrow, I baste a second strip to the backing.  And thread basting is the best solution -- I've tried pin basting (felt lazy that day) and that was inefficient to say the least.

Now I can work my way along the edges of the quilt and maintain the same smoothness and tension that I have throughout the center of the quilt.

I'm using a simple grid of straight lines on this border since the print is too busy to show off anything fancy.  I mark the lines as I go with a Clover Chaconer -- another tool I've had for years.  It's refillable and while I have several colors, the white gets used the most

I mark 6 to 8 lines at a time since they do rub off easily with all the handling. 

Another trick I learned from the gals at Old South Church in Kirtland to eliminate quilting thread knots has come in handy!  I start with a thread that is twice as long as I need for a line.

I take two stitches without a starting knot then stop and divide the length of the thread equally.

The two parallel lines from the center of the picture towards the left are my divided thread.

One half of the thread lays off to the side (the tangle in the picture) and I complete the first line (needle heading to the left) continuing until I get the waste fabric strip basted to the edge. 

I pull the needle off the thread and return to the starting point and repeat.

When a section is finished and I remove the basted strip of waste fabric, I have all these loose ends.

Now I rethread them on the needle, finish that line and take a few stitches parallel to the edge of the quilt securing them. 

The excess thread is snipped off and this edge is ready for the binding. 

It's a very elegant quilt and it doesn't fit any area of my home so not sure what it's destiny might be?

At the end of the month when the quilting is finished and the binding fabric chosen, I'll save a sunny day to take lots of good pictures to share it's beauty with you!

Mary

Linking up with FINISHED OR NOT FRIDAY over at Busy Hands Quilting 

and Midweek Makers at Quilt Fabrication