Not too long ago, I had a fellow blogger ask if I had a blog post about how I go about my hand quilting process. It took me by surprise because I had never thought about it...it is something I guess, that I take for granted.
It was
Stacey who asked me about it, and I agreed to do just that, one of these days. So, I thought...why not now during Blogathon Canada????
This afternoon I decided to put one of my own quilts in to hand quilt so....here is my process.
In this first pic I am showing you a homemade version of quilting frames.
They are rough looking, but work like a charm!
That groove you see here on the left is where my quilting bars rest. I have 4 sets of bars ...from crib to king size. All I need to do is move the 2 ends farther apart to fit the larger ones in.
This is how I stitch the back of my quilt in to the frames...wrong side facing up...ok?
Now the other side stitched in, and next I roll the backing around one of these bars. I work at about 3 feet of the quilt at a time.
Here it is...the side I start quilting at with the ends all tied in.
The side that is rolled....see the little lever thingy there on the right corner of the picture?? That fits against the wooden cog to keep the quilt tight. It's on the far left in the above picture too.
See...all nice and tight....
Now I stretch the quilt batt over that tight area, and the excess falls down behind the quilt.
Here you see the quilt top....stretched out the same as the batt. It falls down over the back area with the quilt batt. as I progress with the quilting I will roll in one side and roll out the other.
Next step is to pin baste the quilt top to the other 2 layers.
Now...this is the pattern that I am quilting on this quilt...
This is my favorite type of thimble and hand quilting needles.
As I finish this row across the quilt as far as I can reach, then I will roll this side under the quilt bar..and roll the opposite side out. Continuing in this manner through the whole quilt.
I will post more pics as it moves along. I hope you weren't too bored with my explanation.lol.
Make sure you visit our fellow Canadian bloggers this week...there will also be giveaways.
Thank you. I find it fascinating to see how other people quilt. What kind of quilt batt do you use?
ReplyDeleteWhat a great post, Marjorie!! I am sure lots of quilters and non-quilters will find this process very intriguing, especially when nowadays the focus is so much so on machine quilting. Your frames are perfect! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteYes, a great post Marjorie! Very informative.
ReplyDeletewow! impressive
ReplyDeleteso interesting to see how you go about your hand quilting thank you for sharing this with us
ReplyDeleteLooks so much easier than trying to hand quilt in a hand held hoop! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteWas wonderful info! Thanks for sharing!! :)
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing such detailed pictures and a description of your hand quilting process, Marjorie. This is such valuable info! Your quilting is beautiful!
ReplyDeleteGreat post Marjorie , I have a similar frame and love it !
ReplyDeleteThanks for taking the photos to show your process! I really appreciate it!
ReplyDeleteyes thanks for showing photos on how this is done. very cool. makes me look at this in a different way now. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great post! I am in awe of all hand quilters...it really does make such an enormous difference. After this, I just might have to try it myself - maybe big-stitch quilting first! Thanks for this wonderful share.
ReplyDeleteGreat post Marjorie! Thanks for taking part in the Blogathon today. I WILL seek you out next time I'm in your area. :) Hope you get lots of visitors today!!
ReplyDeleteWow, that quilting frame is totally AWEsome!! :)
ReplyDeleteHi Marjorie. Very interesting! But I must admit I am puzzled by the whole quilting frame thing. I do some hand quilting, but always in a hoop (even for larger quilts) so I can always turn the hoop to stitch in the same direction. How do you get such nice stitches in different directions? Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteWonderful to see your process.
ReplyDeleteNot bored at all! Very interesting! SOMEDAY.... I'm going to hand quilt SOMEDAY....
ReplyDeleteYour frame is nearly the same as mine, I load a quilt the same way. Try to hand quilt at least one quilt a year..
ReplyDeleteJust visiting thru with the blog hop. I enjoyed reading about your hand quilting. You are a saint as you do it for others even if they pay you. I can't imagine how long it must take.
ReplyDeletewow hand quilting…way to go lady…never in my lifetime
ReplyDeleteSo cool! I've always just quilted in a little 12" hoop. I'm inspired to give the big frame a try!
ReplyDeleteGreat explanation! I've never quilted in a frame. I used to use a lap hoop that I would spin whenever I needed to switch directions. I can only stitch from right to left and could never figure out how I would manage in a frame since it would be too big to spin, lol!
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the pictures and information. I have a better idea of how it is done on a frame with rolling bars. I hand quilt with a hoop or with one of those PVC pipe floor frames. A group of friends help me thread baste my quilts when I want to use the floor frame.
ReplyDeleteWhen I get my Grandmother's Flower Garden top finished I am going to hand quilt it. I hope I can do nearly as well as you!
ReplyDelete