Back in the day, quilters didn’t have many of the luxuries we now take for granted, but they still made beautiful quilts. Now, we opt to hand quilt not out of necessity, but for the nostalgia and it’s soft look.
If you have been looking to try out hand quilting but don’t know where to start, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered! Not only can you learn to hand quilt, but we’ve got quilting tutorials for hand-quilted embroidery, hand-appliqué techniques, hand quilting designs, and more! Check out our hand-quilting tips below.
Videos:
Basic Hand Quilting Techniques
Before you even get started hand quilting, you need to acquire the right supplies! The basic supplies you’ll need are:
- Hand-Quilting Needles: You’ll want specialty needles called Betweens. Most hand quilters opt for size 10 or 12, which is indeed very small. The short length makes the needle easier to control, but they are sharp enough to penetrate many layers of fabric.
- Hand-Quilting Thread: This thread is specially coated and slightly heavier than regular thread to glide through all three layers and prevent fraying.
- Hand-Quilting Hoop: This is thicker and stronger than an embroidery hoop, and you’ll need this to hold your fabric firmly in place.
- Thimble: Trust us, you’ll want one even if you’ve developed a quilting callous! It’ll be worth it.
Hand Quilting Techniques and Ideas
Besides just adding a beautiful hand-stitched thread path, you can also get creative by hand stitching different fabrics and textures onto the tops of your quilts.
Use buttons, jewels, and anything else you’d like! By holding these artistic elements in place with an iron-on adhesive like Mistyfuse, you can keep these embellishments from slipping around. You could use a glue stick too, but it tends to be a little stiff and hard to get a needle through.
Beautiful Redwork Hand Quilted Embroidery Designs
An increasingly popular technique in the traditional quilt world are redwork and bluework. These are not new techniques, but they are seeing a resurgence in use.
Redwork and bluework simply mean to embroider old-fashioned hand-quilting designs on muslin fabric with blue or red embroidery floss. The stitching is beautiful, but don’t feel restricted with the traditional color palette! You can use these beautiful stitches in many ways.
In this video tutorial, Heather Thomas chooses a piece of black silk dupioni backed with a piece of synthetic stabilizer to stitch on. Heather then uses a straight stitch in many creative ways to create an interesting grid design for her quilt. You can create all kinds of little art pieces like this to attach to the top of your quilts!
How to Hand Applique: Starch and Press
So you’ve learned to hand stitch, but want to take your quilting creativity to the next level? Try your hand (pun intended) at hand appliqué!
Our mantra for hand appliqué is: trimming, starching, and pressing. Using a starch-and-press technique used to be done with a potato, but we won’t make you do that—you can use modern liquid starch!
Hand appliqué allows you to make many different hand-quilting designs and an overall more interesting quilt. This technique may seem fussy, but many find starch-and-press a welcoming alternative to needle turning. It’s much quicker!
That’s it!
We hope we’ve given you the tools to get started in hand quilting. And if you’re already a hand quilter, maybe you learned something new!
As tedious as it may seem, hand quilting is a beautiful tradition preserved because of its ability to provide accuracy and control. Many of us also carry fond memories of hand quilting with their grandmothers or older generations of quilters.
Do you have any great hand-quilting memories? Let us know in the comments below or connect with us on Facebook!
I did hand quilt small Christmas wreath wall hanging, not as precise as it should have been, but I did finish it after it sat for years!!! May not have been perfect but I was proud that I finished it and I hang every Christmas!!! Would love any help or tips you have to share!!!! Thanks
Starting first baby quilt in a few years and it will be hand quilted. Looking for recommendations on batting. Thanks!
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Sarah
National Quilters Circle
I have tried my hand at handquilting but without any professional instruction… so I am very interested in learning to do it correctly…
Heather, in your video on starch and press appliqué, you first say that the seam allowance is 1/2″ which makes it sturdier than needle turn. Throughout the remainder of the video, you say 1/4″ seam allowance. Please confirm whether it is 1/2″ or 1/4″. Thanks for your informative videos!
Hi Patricia. It should be 1/4″ for the seam allowance. We apologize for any confusion.
Ashley
National Quilters Circle
Enjoy these topics
We are looking for sites that we could put on our guilds website to keep our members active in quilting and together during this season of Covid 19. We are a guilting guild of about 20 ladies. Would we be able to have permission to do this? Thank you.
When I hand quilt I can make it perfect on the top but the back of the quilt looks horrible.I found using a Hoop is difficult when the fabric is So Taunt. How can I make the back as lovely as the top. ?? I use the correct needle, thread but the hoop seems to be my Biggest Problem. Thanks in advance for any suggestions. *
Have always wanted to give it a try!
How close to the edge do I hand quilt? I am thinking about having to square up the quilt in preparation for binding and am worried that I may have to cut through my handquilting if I get too close to the edge. In the event that I do quilt too close to the edge, how do I square up for binding preparation without jeopardizing my stitches? thank you.
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I have a quilt top that my mother pieced by hand decades ago and I would like to hand quilt it. I have been afraid to start because the fabric is so old and I have never done any hand quilting. Do any of you have any suggestions on what is the best way to get started on this project? Thank you
I have a large quilt top with a lot of appliqué. I’m getting ready to hand quilt, do I go around the appliqué first?
Hi Dolly,
thank you for your patience, here is the experts response:
Hi,
This is up to you and how you want to quilt your quilt, however yes, I would recommend going around each of the appliques.
Cheers,
Ashley
National Quilters Circle
Hi i hope you can help me. I used to quilt a lot, haven’t quilted in 7 years. So when a friend in Washington state told me about a hand quilter in Texas i was so excited. I mailed her my kaffe fassett fabric quilt top. She had it for 5 months and just last week she text me to say she could not finish the quilting. Why? Because her business had taken off and she is plan old busy with her family. Now I have a 1/2 finished quilt and have no idea who to send it to. She did send me the templet, wasn’t that nice? Anyway I have a real SOS and hope you can help me as to where to go? Thanks Celia Crecion in Southern California 805-402-9645
I’ve been hand quilting for six years, on my own projects … let’s talk,
I would like to learn how to make a quilt totally by hand how and where do I begin Thank You
Hi Pamnita,
Here is a great resource for that:
https://www.quiltingcompany.com/tuesday-tutorials-how-to-sew-a-quilt-by-hand-mccalls-quilting-blog/
Cheers,
Ashley
National Quilters Circle Video Membership
I heard that hand-quilted items are now more valuable because it is becoming a lost art. What do you think?
Hey quilters: How about organizing to send quilts to the children detained on our southern border? Let’s stitch this world back together!
Thank you so much for this. I learned to guilt as a child with Grandma. Love it. Couldn’t remember everything about stitching.
Growing up in the Blue Ridge Mountains, I was taught to garden, can food for winter, sew our own clothes, everything to survive in those days. No day was wasted because my granny always had a quilt in a homemade frame upstairs ready to be quilted on rainy days. I loved watching her and my mom while listening to the rain on the tin roof over our heads. They even showed my sister and me how to make stitches and let us help. I wouldn’t trade those days for anything.
I’ve been hand quilting for several years now and love it to the point of getting sleepy it’s so relaxing! I use my Mother’s and Grandmothers frames that hung from the ceiling, but my father built stands for me to use. I have to get myself in the frame of mind to start a quilt, because it is a 6+weeks commitment, but I highly recommend it….
I have made several quilts.,hand sewn on a wood frame….if I need to I can roll it up to put it away for a while..I learned by watching my mom many years ago
I want to learn more about hand quilting.
I like to Learn accuracy techniques in making quilts.
I would like to learn how to do this as long arm quilters are pricey and I’m making fewer quilts because I can’t afford the long arm expertise but I sure do love it.
Help, l will like to know how meny yards /metres of fabric do l need to make a quilt for a king size bed. This is a new project for me. Meny thanks.
Hello Grace,
This depends on the type of quilt block/pattern you are using. Do you have a pattern in mind?
Cheers,
Ashley
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I would like. To have free information on applause and handwriting. Thank you