IN THE KNOW
Are you a hand quilting pro? No? Well, luckily for you, Suzy Williams is, and she's got tonnes of tips and tricks to help you let your hands do the talking on your precious quilts
Are you a hand quilting pro? No? Well, luckily for you, Suzy Williams is, and she’s got tonnes of tips and tricks to help you let your hands do the talking on your precious quilts
These hands are made for sewing. And that’s just what they’ll do. After those two lines, if you don’t have a certain song stuck in your head, I suggest you take a quick YouTube detour and check out Nancy Sinatra. She’ll get you in the right mood for what we’re talking about today.
Sassy hand quilting is the name of the game! Throughout this series we’ve covered great ways to spark your love of quilting again and now we’re diving deep into the soft and textured world of hand quilting. Before you back away saying, “No, no, Suzy. Not for me”. Let’s listen to some age old wisdom from Nancy one more time: “You keep samin’ when you oughta be a-changin’...”.
If you can write your name, you can hand quilt
With the beautiful invention of the sewing machine, hand quilting has slowly fallen out of favour with most crafters and quilters. Let’s face it, it’s not efficient and in our go-go-go culture, it doesn’t have a natural place. It’s easy for us to base our success on a stack of quilts made rather than hours spent making. In fact, most days I’m in the kitchen I step back and think, “That took me how long? Why did the recipe say 15 minutes prep time? LIAR!”
Hand quilting is a lot like a good wine or stinky cheese – it’s an acquired taste, but once you’ve acquired it, it’s what you really want most days.
The supplies
There are a few supplies involved in hand quilting, but they are small, cheap and easily accessible. The two obvious things you’ll need are needle and thread. I’m of the mindset that if I’m going to put in the time hand stitching, I want people to be able to see those stitches from across the room – that’s why I like to use a thick 8wt. thread. If you can’t find thread that thick, doubling up embroidery floss or 12wt. thread has a similar effect.
If you’re working with thick thread, you’re going to need a needle with a large enough eye to handle your thread’s girth. My favourite kind of needle is an embroidery needle ranging in size from 6 to 8.
Before jumping into my favourite topic of thimbles (how I LOVE a good thimble!), you should know that traditionally hand quilters use thinner wax coated thread and shorter, narrower needles. If you go to a craft store you can probably find specific quilting thread and quilting
Hand quilting is a lot like a good wine or stinky cheese -it ' s an acquired taste, but once you've acquired it, it ' s what you really want most days
needles. Those will get you a traditional hand quilting look.
Onto THIMBLES! My grandma was a collector. Not to be mistaken for a hoarder. No, no. She was very tasteful with her collections. Walking into her house she had a collection of beautiful baskets hanging from the rafters, huge glass jugs full of various buttons and rows of ornate thimbles perched in glass cases mounted on the walls.
The time spent delicately pulling those thimbles from their shelves and gingerly placing them on my sticky little fingers are probably the reason I still adore thimbles to this day. I wouldn’t suggest using a hand painted porcelain thimble for daily use, but if you do acquire one, don’t be stingy letting little girls try it on. It could spark a chain of events that reshapes her life! For practicality, I opt for a snug leather thimble. It’s thick enough to cushion the needle during the repetitive rocking motions, but malleable enough to feel a bit like a second skin.
Once you own the holy trinity of hand quilting – needle, thread and thimble – the rest of the supplies are fun fluff! Well, helpful fun fluff. A pair of snips for snipping threads, a needle threader for helping that thread get through your needle and a marking tool if you like to sew along a guideline.
I’ve become particularly attached to my Hera marker when it comes to marking up the top side of a quilt. This nifty tool leaves no visible mark with ink or chalk, just a crease in the fabric. If you want to know what I’m talking about, take the dull side of a butter knife and run it across some fabric. See the crease?
The technique
Hand quilting techniques can vary, but the one that will serve you best in the long haul is popping your knot through the top layer of fabric (so that it becomes invisible, buried into the batting), and rocking your needle with the pad of your thimble. I call this the Knot, Pop and Rock it method. Once you get in the zone you can meditatively chant it in your head – knot pop and rock it. Knotpopandrockit. Now are you ready, hands? Start sewin’.
Once you own the holy trinity of hand quilting -needle, thread and thimble - the rest of the supplies are fun fluff! SUZY QUILTS