hand quilting tutorial

 
Hand quilting is easy and relaxing and there is no reason to not give it a go at least once.  The straight line quilting on my 'anticipation of summer in a stripe' quilt took a few hours a day over two days to do.  It is a lovely way to spend time whilst watching a film or your kids or chatting over a pot of tea.  You can do it in the garden, park or beach!!  Don't let the thought of all those bemused stares put you off!

My finished quilt measures 56 x 58" and I did my quilting in vertical lines (echoing the formation of the quilt, see yesterdays post for a pic), spaced 3" apart.  My stitch size is just under half an inch in length.

I used regular white cotton sewing thread, though apparently it should be special quilting thread.  I also sew with a regular sewing needle.  Before beginning to quilt, I sandwich the three layers of my quilt together and pin baste every 2 -3 inches.  I use large safety pins, they should be curved ones but mine aren't!!!

I also chop my quilt sandwich to around three quarters of an inch bigger than the finished size all the way around.

 

The first thing you will need to do is mark your quilt.  Here I'm going to show you how I did this on this particular quilt but there is more on marking if you scroll to the bottom of this post.

The first line of stitching I made, I just spaced my stitching a quarter of an inch away from a seam line, so that was easy.  I start all my lines at least an inch away from the cut edge.  This is to ensure none of the knots get chopped off when I cut my quilt to finished size

To mark the remaining lines I used a Hera marker - the white tool in the picture above.  This leaves a crease mark wherever you use it, so no marks to get rid of afterwards.

I mark a small amount at a time as I stitch.  This is because if you do all your lines with a Hera marker at the beginning they will be faded away by the time you stitch most of it.

I use a small square ruler to mark 10 or so inches at a time, stitch the line, then mark the next bit.  I space the line 3" away from the previous line I worked on.  See pic above.

 

The knot - I use a thread, roughly the length of my arm.  I wrap the end bit three times around my finger then draw the thread end through.  Some folks use a quilters knot but I use the above.  I find wrapping the thread around three times is just right, wrapping twice means the knot doesn't stay put and wrapping four means it is too big and could damage the fabric.  Practise before you begin to check three is right for you and the thread you are using.

 

Pull your needle and thread through - ensuring it is at least an inch away from the cut edge - pull the knot right through into the quilt sandwich, it should make a pop sound as it does but stop before you pull it back out again!!  This is best practised with a mini quilt sandwich in your hand so it makes more sense.

 

Your knotted end is now encased forever in your quilt!  Cut off any excess thread tail peeking out of the quilt.

 

To make the stitches, you are just sewing in a straight line.

To ensure these stitches end up the same size on both sides of your quilt, you need to make sure your needle goes through the quilt straight (perpendicular) and not diagonally, see above.

 
Place your non sewing hand under your fabric and as you bring the needle back out to the front of the quilt, you need to gentle push the part of your quilt you are sewing so the needle comes back out as perpendicular as possible.  When you do this in practise it makes much more sense!!

 
Making two or three stitches at a time is much quicker than sewing each stitch seperately.

 
When you get to the end of you length of thread, remove the needle.  Make a knot (same size as before) about one stitch size away from where the thread last exited the quilt. 

 

Re-thread your needle, after the knot!!

 
Pull the stitch through until it pops into the quilt sandwich. 

 

 

Cut off any excess poking out!

Continue with a new thread, starting and finishing as before until done!

Then simply cut your quilt to size and bind.

 

A little more on marking

 
Instead of using a hera marker, you could use one of the wash off pen markers.  This is what I used on my 'scraptastic coin quilt' (see tutorial in sidebar).

Personally, I found it a lot of hassle to wash the pen marks off afterwards as they keep reappearing but they do eventually come out.

I marked this quilt by making a triangle shaped template, marked around it...

 
Then lowered the template downwards and marked again about an inch away and so on.  I only quilted the white stripes between the coins and left the coins themselves unquilted.  I think this took me 1-2 weeks to handquilt.

 
I also hand quilted my hot water bottle covers (tute in sidebar).  

I used a hexagon template and marked around it with my hera marker.  As above I would mark and quilt a few at a time before marking the next lot.

And that's it, an intro to handquilting.  I hope you enjoyed it and give it a go!!!!  Also I would love to know if you handquilt and any recommendations you might make, especially with regards to thread and marking or anything else you think I might find useful..........I might know the basics but I'm always ready for more info!!!!

Comments

[Julie]

Wow, thanks for this great tutorial! I've always wanted to try hand quilting, but I've never really known where to start. This is perfect :)

[Janice perkin]

brilliant tutorial - thank you

[Molly]

Thank you so much! I wondered what you did with the knots. I can't wait to try this on my next quilt! It does seem like it would be relaxing and I get so stressed out with machine quilting.

[jacqui]

thank you! i might be brave enough to actually finish a quilt now!!

[Kelli]

Great post! I love your quilt!!! To mark straight lines on my quilts to hand quilt along, I have bought various widths of masking tape and quilt beside that, It doesn't leave residue on the quilt and each length is reusable.
xxx

[Susan being Snippy]

your method is interesting and well done, I especially like that you explained how to 'bury the knot' many beginners don't thnk of this. One suggestion that I have, if I may be so bold is that your stitches should be somewhat smaller - the real traditionalist will say 8 to 10 stitches to the inch! Whew and that takes alot of practice, but even at 4 or 5 stitches per inch the whole quilt sandwich will be stronger. Large stitches can get 'caught' on variety of things and then pull the whole length out, so smaller is better. The reason for using a quilting thread is because it doesn't twist up and knot when you are pulling it through so saves some aggravation... also a quilting thread is usually stronger than regular thread so if it does happen to 'snag' it will not break so easily and you will not be re quilting some of those lines...

[wendy]

Thanks for the tute! I didn't know the part about the final knot, I usually just lay down a circle of thread and take a topstitch, then pull up and it makes a knot, but it's not pretty.

As a total hand sewer who taught herself to quilt, I learned something today!

[trish @ spiritofplace.com]

There's a rocking motion that I use to handquilt which makes it easier to have smaller stitches on the needle, (just checked - I seem to have about six stitches to the inch). This website seems to be the clearest description and is pretty close to how I manage it: http://www.threadsmagazine.com/item/3734/perfect-your-hand-quilting-stitch

[Louise]

I love all the marking techniques - excellent. Especially the hex one - brilliant had never thought of that. And I use Perle 8 thread as it's really quick, looks pretty and it's nice and strong!!

[cate]

thanks for the great tutorial! i've hand pieced before but never hand quilted. - the idea with the knot is geneuis! cheers!

[Jenny]

Good idea about the masking tape. I found a residue free version that gave me a really precise edge. Have a look:

http://www.tesa.co.uk/consumer/solutions/tesa_painters_Tape/clean-professional-results-when-painting-and-varnishing,33055,1.html

[Rosey]

This is a life saver - I've been staring at my thread ends on my doll quilt swap quilt wondering how to get the finishing knot through!

[Collette]

A great tutorial! I hand quilt and would recommend using quilting needles which are much smaller than a regular sewing needle and designed for hand quilting, this will allow the stitch size to be smaller and neater. Love the fabrics!

[Carol]

This is a fantastic tutorial. Many Thanks!!! :)

[Cheryl]

Excellent job. YOu did a great job of explaining and your photos are great too. Thanks.

[Kimmie]

Thanks for the tips in this tutorial. I have been searching for help as I have launched into my first handquilting project.
I am not loving the needles I bought at Joann Fabrics. They said they were quilting needles, but the tiny one I began with was too small. The next longer one bent upon the first few stitches (cotton fabric, medium fill batting), I attempted using a bent needle in the package I purchased (yikes!), AND also tried a gigantic long needle, which honestly was just too long and too fat.
Off to look through my stash to see if I can find something that might make hand stitching easier.
Nice to meet you. Your quilting patterns are beautiful. (I am stitching a rail fence quilt-5 block. No fancy pattern, just quilting the middle piece and the two outside blocks in each quilt square, just a bit outside each block).
Not finding it relaxing yet, but praying it comes...as it is a king size quilt. ;-)

Kimmie
mama to 8
one homemade and 7 adopted
*in process to another adoption!

[Linda Higuera]

I too taught myself to quilt in memory of my grandmother. Took me years to figure out how to bury the knot but makes your backing so much prettier. I have never machine quilted, preferring to sit and relax my mind with hand quilting. The best I've been able to get are five stitches to the inch.

[Susan in TN]

Your tutorial is nice, thank you. I love to hand-quilt also. I like to be able to relax. I mostly make one stitch at a time, and it's hard for me to get better than 5 stitches per inch, but I keep working on it.

Susan in Tn

[Keri Foster]

I just found this blog post doing a search on hand-quilting - I'm a knitter so I already do my crafting everywhere I go. Handquilting seems like a logical progression. :)

Anyway, I wanted to thank you for the tip about the Hera marker. I have one that I used for papercraft and I didn't even think about using it for sewing! Great tip, thanks so much. I can't wait to use it to make beautiful patterns like your chevrons and hexagons.

[yummy_lavender]

Thanks for all the tips! This is really thorough and very helpful for beginners!

[Kim]

Wow! so glad I came across your blog ~ This tutorial is great! I am a self taught hand quilter and I'm always looking for new and improved methods/techniques. Your hexagon is a marvelous idea ~ I <3 it! Just love the ideas you have about marking the quilt patterns and the detailed instructions ~ and the pictures! The pictures are great! I'm now a subscriber and can't wait to check out your other tutorials! I'm working on an applique quilt for my daughter at the moment and trying to increase my stitches per inch... Great job ~ can't wait to learn more! <3 Can't wait to learn more! Adios from Arizona!

[Wanda]

I want to try hand quilting. Your methods and pictures are great. Thank you so much.

[Jennifer]

thank you aneela for this - I have been trying for several days to hand quilt a quilt I made for my daughter - and have been trying so hard to get tiny little stitches - this page encourages comfort and liberty in hand stitching, and frees me from the bondage of tiny little stitches :) thank you

[Tanya lee]

Great tutorial. I'm a machine quilter but I'm heading to the hospital for a month with my son. So I want to bring hand quilting along. By the way I love your embroidery book and fabrics. I taught myself embroidery on our last hospital visit. Thanks so much