Our fall-focused indoor and outdoor decorating ideas are guaranteed ways to make the perfect first impression when family and friends come calling on Thanksgiving—or any day during the season. Great tutorial!! – The Willow Market, Pingback: 3 Fun & Fresh Quilted Pillow Patterns - Suzy Quilts. I learned a lot and have been quilting for a long time. You explain everything so well and give so many practical tips that it seems your way of working is more like mine. Use a running stitch and try to make them as small as possible. I think a running stitch will be best for your hand quilting project. Very easy for a beginner.Tie a knot at the end of the thread. Since most people do not have easy access to a sewing machine, it is a good learn to 'hand sew' project. All those little puckers give it character! The side you insert the needle into first will be the side on which you finish the knot. However I didn’t like the idea of having to do a whole quilt nor the idea of having to use a frame or a hoop. I really enjoyed your hand quilting tutorial….since I’m new to your postings, I’m wondering if you have instructions on marking for Baptist fan quilting….I would love to use this design for a hand quilted project. Is a running stitch what you would always recommend? I laughed and learned. Thank you so much for responding! Thanks for posting! I think multi-colored thread on a light background can look really cool! I have only hand quilted 2 quilts so far and even though my stitches can be a little uneven, I love the look and the feel. this website. Great question! :D Also, I don't pin the squares together as I sew - feel free to do it at first, but trust me, it'll only slow you down! I have reread this page like 10 times and it is saved in my phone :)My question: I bought fabric (patterns) and two charm packs (solids), but the charm packs are 5x5. Sew this seam starting a quarter inch from the corner and ending a quarter inch from the end. You should use as small of a needle as you are comfortable with. Great tutorial! One of these days I’ll try it and write all about it! (Just like tying a shoelace.). Thank you so MUCH for this revelation! I know practice practice…. It’s also a great reason to grow your thread stash. Sew down through a square's center, leaving a two-inch tail on top, then up through the upper right corner, down through the bottom left corner, up through the center, down through the bottom right, up through the center, down through the upper left, and up through the center again. (I keep saying this because sometimes I forget to do it.) I have a friend of my mother´s pattern for the ¨Cathedral Window¨ and/or Saratoga quilt. See the next step to learn about finger-pressing.). Draw the pencil line on the back of the fabric. Suzy, loved your video. Also, did you start in the middle and work your way out and what did you use to mark those perfect semi-circles? The cheapest and easiest alternative is using a piece of masking tape. You'll be sewing the binding on in one continuous line! Use a color that you can see easily.Since you will be sewing through 2 layers of fabric, you only need to mark the pencil lines on half the pieces. Master the ins and outs of our favorites. Now that you have all of your supplies (and there aren't many), it's time to learn the 3 basic steps to hand quilting: Knot, pop and rock it. The next steps is to decide where you would like your stitches to start. I started in the bottom left corner and grew those crazy rolling hills outward. Sometimes I recommend products, and if you click on those links, I may earn a small commission. :D. I left the Bay Area right around the time the "Internet" was making it on the scene. Lay the top excess over it, lining up the raw edges, and pin. I usually make my quilts by hand. You covered straight line hand quilting, but if you do a circle or any curve, do you stitch fewer stitches before pulling the thread through? If you start with machine quilting, then you can add as much hand quilting embellishments as you have time for. (Note that you can keep it white cotton on both - but I'm not a fan. At least every hour put your needle down, stand up, walk around, drink some water, and figuratively hit the refresh button. Pingback: How to Sew Curves in a Quilt - Suzy Quilts. Make a few back stitches at the other edge of the quilt.Quilt in the next seam working toward the side edges.Take the safety pins out as you get to them. Quilting: sewing through multiple layers of fabric to create one thick layer - typically involves three parts: cloth top, batting middle, cloth bottom. 3 years ago. Then, the trick for tight, uniform stitches: Keep your needle perpendicular to the fabric, and pull the thread straight through, not at a slant. It’s a woven fabric made by Free Spirit Fabrics. Make sure the seams feed through nice and flat and that your fabric doesn't bunch up in the bias tape maker and you should be fine! I change my needle whenever the stitches begin to feel sluggish. It also comes in so many colors and is inexpensive. The quilt is made with Tula Pink fabrics. Not that I think that this will be a walk in the park. You're brilliant and I can't thank you enough, Reply Share it with us! I usually keep the quilting pretty simple for a scrap quilt. I think I remember that lovely flowered backing fabric from some other post but can’t find. Anything larger I send to a longarm quilter. I too like to add big thread quilting to the quilts that I’ve already quilted. How I wished I had that resource to find all these surplus stores you speak of. I want to make it as a wall decoration (which I plan to hand quilt), rather than in a full-size type quilt. I used the same technique I show in this post (How to Sew Binding on a Quilt) except instead of hand stitching a whip stitch, I used my same thick #8 thread and sewed a running stitch. I love the way just a small amount hand quilting can give the quilt a vintage look. Thanks. Fold over the bottom excess as shown in picture 8. Attempting my first keepsake quilt, using my daughters baby clothes (used iron on interfacing to give the stretchy cotton more structure). Do you (and other hand-quilters here) “gift” hand quilted items? If you are checker boarding a light and a dark fabric, press to the dark--a rule from back when I used to read quilt books. Set your stitch length to the longest. Thanks! You could even do the majority of your quilting with your sewing machine and then add a few knots here and there for extra cuteness! Thank you for such clear simple instructions. Be sure that you are not messing up the lower layers.Once you are certain that nothing needs to be moved again, it is time to use the safety pins.