Hand Quilting & Binding

Okay, this one is going to be EPIC! It's basically the run-down of the demo I did today for the Payson Quilt Show. I will attach my supplies list in THIS POST, but they are also scattered throughout the presentation.

Good, Old-Fashioned Hand Quilting
I started out pretty young, probably about 6 or 7, hand quilting with my mom and all the older ladies at the church. Mom was the youngest by probably 30 years -- so they really were old ladies! Sometimes we would have a quilt "on" (meaning on the frames) at my Grandma's house too -- that was always fun because my Grandma and aunts are pretty much the best people I've ever known. I loved being with older people, and I learned REALLY young that if you kept quiet, you could find out ALL SORTS of juicy things about people! :)

Back in those days, there was a bit of a stigma about machine quilting. I guess it was okay for people who wanted their quilts to look like a MACHINE did it, but if you really cared about someone you would hand quilt for them. I actually didn't even discover professional longarm quilting until my fourth child was born -- so all those three older kids' quilts were hand quilted when I was around 8 months pregnant!

When I was a teenager, I had a goal to make a quilt for the local children's hospital. I had had a cousin who was diagnosed with leukemia at 2, and I wanted to give back to that hospital that had taken such good care of her. I let my mom choose most of the fabric and pattern -- but I was able to donate the cutest little blue bear holding balloons! (I'll try to find a picture and post it later.)

After I discovered professional longarm services, I realized there were quicker and easier ways to quilt than with hand quilting. Then I learned to quilt on my OWN machine -- at first with just my walking foot, but now I'm fairly comfortable with free motion quilting too. But after a little while, I returned to hand quilting for smaller projects, and every so often the quilt just CALLS for hand quilting. I love working with my hands, it's very soothing! And each section finished feels like a victory.

With traditional hand quilting, there are five ways to sandwich your quilt. Two of them, I haven't ever used -- they are the quilting hoop and thread basting. To me, the quilting hoop just seems like something extra to store that I probably won't use, and thread basting seems so wasteful of thread and energy. I know lots of people swear by them though! The three other ways are to use quilting frames (which are far bulkier than a quilting hoop, I know! But that's how I learned originally), spray basting, and pin basting. I used quilting frames on all those baby quilts! But of the three, pin basting is my favorite -- mostly because I just LOVE the way it feels like a real quilt when you finish, and I really love that I can snuggle under that "quilt" while I'm watching a show on TV! I had the idea the other day to try pin basting from the underside of the quilt, so the pins don't catch your thread when you're sewing -- but I haven't tried that yet. You do need to be careful if you're saving that project long-term -- I believe they can rust, especially if you live in a humid environment.

The stitching method for traditional hand quilting is to do the tiniest stitches possible! It keeps the stitches strong and looks the most historical and authentic. You can do that two different ways -- by rocking the needle back and forth to take little "bites" of the fabric all at once, or by taking a one small stitch at a time and then pulling a group of three or four of them through. I usually use the second of those methods. I like that I can make the stitches really even and uniform, and I like the pucker it gives to the quilting.

When you're hand quilting, you usually use a quilter's knot. My aunt showed us all how to make one back when I was a young teenager, and it's the only way I make knots in thread any more. You wrap the thread around the needle two or three times, then pull the needle through to make a knot in the end of the thread. When I start my quilting, I generally put four or five "wraps" around the needle, and three or four at the end of the quilting.

One other thing you MUST know for all these methods of hand quilting and binding, is called burying the knot. It's basically just popping the knot through the fabric. For your thread ends to be buried, you have to use this method. When you're starting quilting, you'll take a medium-sized stitch, starting a little away from where you want the thread to come up, and then pull the needle through in the exact place you'd like to start. When the needle starts to pucker the fabric (due to the knot at the end), you pull it, while simultaneously pulling the fabric against the knot. The knot will slip in between the weave of the fabric, and be hidden in between the layers of your quilt sandwich. It takes a little practice to pull just hard enough that it goes through the fabric, without coming out the other end too -- but you'll love that all those threads are hidden! I use the same method for burying the end of the knot, too.

Hand Binding
I absolutely LOVE using my binding kit! I got it from THIS FREE TUTORIAL by Vanessa Goertzen at Lella Boutique. I made an extra little pocket for my thimble, and made it a little bigger to accommodate all my Clover Wonder Clips, but everything else is pretty much the same. Its' so nice to have everything in one place!

When I hand bind my quilts, I almost always cut my binding strips at 2 1/4", then press them in half and roll them into an oval shape to do a double-fold binding. I attach the front first, then wrap the binding around to the back. I really like to press my binding towards the outside of the quilt before I wrap it too -- I feel like it's a lot easier to make sure that seam on the back is covered if I do it that way.

I like to start in the middle of the longer side of the quilt (because then it feels like you only have one long side!), and I usually use ten "wraps" in the quilter's knot, since I don't have to bury it! It's so nice to just have it super secure. Then, when I end my thread, I make the knot and bury it at the same time.

Big Stitch Hand Quilting
I love to use this method any time I really want to show off my piecing! I have used it to outline, to go along both sides of seams, and to quilt diagonally on a quilt. I've also used it to embellish, almost like embroider -- it was particularly useful to make the "vines" on a pumpkin table runner I made last year. It goes SO FAST and it's so fun to see your quilting shine!

One small change in supplies is that you will need to use a bigger needle, with a bigger eye. This is really important, because the bigger needle and eye will "plow the road" for your thread to go through. Don't worry -- that hole you're making with a bigger needle will go in between the weave of your fabric, and will disappear in just a little bit of time.

You will also use different thread. I usually use 50 weight thread to piece my quilt tops, and either 40 or 50 weight for quilting -- but I almost always use size 8 perle cotton for big stitch quilting. You can also use size 12 perle cotton or Aurifil thread, but I really like the heft of the size 8.

As far as method goes, it's almost the opposite of traditional hand quilting. You make a bigger stitch on the top of the quilt, about 1/2" long, and as tiny as possible on the back side. Generally my back side stitch is about 1/8". You will also use less "wraps" on the quilting knot -- I usually do just one wrap around for burying the threads.

Big Stitch Binding
When you're doing big stitch binding, it is generally because you want to emphasize it! I generally use a bigger binding (although I didn't in my example) -- whatever size you want is fine, but I usually like to do it if there is a big border, so my binding can be bigger as well. If you're doing a double-fold binding, you can cut it any way you'd like -- if you use a 1/4" binding on one side, you can wrap it around and it will fold just right.

You should attach your binding to the back of the quilt (opposite of traditional hand binding), then wrap around to the front. That way you can see your pretty stitches!

One last trick is to sew under the binding, quilt top, and batting -- but not through the back of the quilt. You could "quilt" through it all, but I like the look of the stitching just being on the top side. That is how you attach a regular binding anyway, so that part of binding should feel familiar. But again -- it will go so much faster than regular binding!

And that's my little presentation! I opened it up for some questions at the end, but that's the gist. I hope you try some of these methods another time!  And you can get the full supply list, and list of helpful links I've used, HERE.