Welcome! This is the blog of Wendy Whellum and Legend and Lace Designs

Welcome to the Blog of Wendy Whellum and Legend and Lace

To find out more about Legend and Lace please visit the website http://www.legendandlace.com/



Quilt Gallery

Friday, February 25, 2011

Hand Quilting - a few things I found out along the way

To get a quilt hand quilted in a time frame, I need to be consistent.  I have given myself 3 months to get the sampler quilt done.  If I do 2 hours every day it will be done.  When I use to go to work (prior to Sept '10) I only did my hand work at night after dinner.  So I would thread up my Clover Needle holder with the 10 needles and threads before I went to bed each night.  The next night after 7pm, I would be ready to go.  I would do the 10 threads, and put it down.  If I got a bit bored with the quilting, I would do some piecing or applique to break it up.

I did get a very sore hand and elbow at one time, and since then have resorted to help.  Just under my elbow I wear the same strap as the tennis players to help the tendon.  You can buy them at the Chemist.  On my hand I wear a Handeze glove.  I saw these gloves being demonstrated at the Sydney quilt show one year, and I just had to try them myself.  After using them for a year, I decided I would sell them myself. Anyone with hand pain fine they are wonderful. 

I also use longer needles for hand quilting, so I can get more stitches on the needle at a time.  I prefer Clover Patchwork Needles in a size 9.  I use them for all sorts of work, not just the quilting.  They are strong, and last a long time.

Looking back over this post, it looks like an advertisement!  I can tell you that when I started up my website I maintained that I would not sell anything that I had not used myself, and thought to be good quality.  I have stuck to that idea.

I hope to baste the quilt this weekend, and get cracking.  BTW, I only ever use one colour of quilting thread.  That is YLI Ecru.  I played around with different colours, on different backgrounds, but found that you could hardly ever see the colour anyway, so stuck with the Ecru.  Try out a few different colours and see what you think.

Will keep you posted on the quilting.  Have not even thought about the design yet - guess I will just wing it, as usual!

3 comments:

  1. I love the YLI quilting thread and the Clover products tend to be very reliable too. Do you baste on a table or in a basting frame? Good luck with the time frame, you must be very disciplined.

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  2. I baste on the kitchen table, using big bulldog clips. When I finish one part of the quilt, I unclip, and move it. Bit tiresome, but I can leave it there a day or two, and do a bit when I feel like it.

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  3. I am hand quilting a quilt right now.I thread basted it ,going both directions.I am enjoying quilting it.I am in no hurry,so just when I get a few minutes.

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