Alright, I think I'm done with the hand quilting experiments on my Deco Bed Quilt and it's time for this project to get shoved back into a closet again -- after a quick recap for the benefit of Future Rebecca.
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| Hand Quilting in my Grace Square Lap Hoop |
After trying both ways, hand quilting with and without a hoop, I definitely prefer the hoop. It makes it so much easier to maintain consistent tension when you pull the thread through the fabric and it definitely makes it easier to mark quilting lines, if you feel like marking them. I have had this Grace Square Lap Hoop for over twenty years, since I used it to hand quilt a much smaller throw size quilt for my husband. My hoop is similar to this current Grace Hoop 2 from the Grace company, except that mine doesn't have that opening in the bottom that would let you attach it to a stand. Here's the problem: my Deco quilt is a whopping 102" x 102", the quilt top fabrics are all those beefy Kona Solid fabrics, and I used a midweight Hobbs 80/20 black batting rather than one of the lower loft battings that are tailored for hand quilters. These factors combined to create a tremendous weight and drag that felt cumbersome to me as I was conducting my hand quilting experiments on the sofa, and I was not keen on committing to spending a hundred or more hours wrestling with this giant quilt in my lap when I could be hand stitching appliqué or English paper piecing instead. Enormous quilts like this one are why hand quilting FRAMES are a thing! Now, I can see how the newer version of my hoop along with the optional stand would help manage the weight of a big quilt for hand quilting, but I'm not about to invest in a whole new hoop and stand setup for hand quilting at this time. I would not be able to recline if my hoop was attached to a floor stand, the stand would be one more thing to store or to trip over next to the sofa, and I definitely wouldn't be lugging it around as a portable project.
Here's what the hand quilting was looking like so far:
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| Hand Quilting in Wonderfil 12 wt Fruitti Variegated Green Thread |
I'm not giving up on the idea of ever hand quilting again, just not going to slog through trying to do it on such a big quilt. So what you see pictured above in the green areas is 12 weight, 3-ply Wonderfil variegated cotton Fruitti in a variegated green color (this post contains affiliate links). After trying different types and sizes of hand needles, I settled on a Bohin Size 7 Embroidery needle and I used the "stab stitching" method of using my non-dominant left hand on top of the quilt to push the needle down through the quilt, then my dominant right hand beneath the quilt grabbed the needle, turned it around and guided it (blind) back up through the quilt for my left hand to grab the needle. This was initially awkward and clumsy, but it's amazing how quickly your fingers can learn what you want them to do with repetition. After 30 minutes or so, the motions were becoming more automatic and I was getting a lot better at poking the needle up in the right spot on the first try.
I started on the darker green fabric and found some quarter inch wide Tiger Tape that I stuck down to use as a guide for straight lines and stitch spacing. Did I like it? Meh! Yes, you can see that my stitches are fairly even in size using the Tiger Tape, but see how they slant a little? That's because the tape sat up on the fabric ever so slightly and created a shadow, so it was difficult to see the stitches as I was forming them and I could only realize a stitch was slanted once it was too late. Granted, this could be more the fault of my lighting setup than the Tiger Tape -- I was stitching in a darkened living room in front of the TV with a bright task light over my left shoulder, the way I like my lighting for other hand stitching since I am right handed. With the Tiger Tape in play and sewing with my left hand active on top of my work, my light was casting significant shadows onto the area where I was trying to form my stitches.
I also found it irritating that my thread was catching on the end of the tape and lifting it off the project, and although the package says you can reuse the tape multiple times it just didn't stick very well for me once I'd pulled it off and repositioned it. Now, I confess that I don't remember purchasing this Tiger Tape and it has probably been in my stash for at least 15 years and three moves, and maybe the adhesive has deteriorated over time. Anyway, I wanted my stitches to be straighter and just a little smaller, and found the tape to be an annoyance so I stopped using it.
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| Small Stitches, Getting Smaller and Smaller As I Went Along |
On the lighter green fabric, I attempted to feel for the seam allowance and use that as my guide for stitching, which sometimes worked better than others (see the weird wobbles). I got my stitches a little smaller at first and was pleased with myself, but then I started stitching on autopilot while watching the last steamy episode of Bridgerton with my husband and my stitches got smaller and smaller... Too small for the look I wanted on this project. Grrr!! You know, it is a lot easier to make your stitches a consistent size when the goal is to make them as tiny as possible!
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| Back Side of Quilt |
This stitching was done a few days ago and I've been mulling over it. Initially I popped the hoop off and moved it to the next block, thinking I'd continue stitching in all of the green L-shaped parts of the log cabin blocks throughout the quilt, but then my enthusiasm waned as I thought about how long all of this was going to take.
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| Was Planning to Continue... |
This quilt is too big to be a comfortable portable project for me, and although I do like the look of mixing thread weights and techniques, I wasn't happy with the "eyeballed" quilting lines but not willing to mark the whole thing. I LOVE the Wonderful threads I picked out, and I definitely don't feel like loading it back on the long arm machine to finish the quilting.
Where I Left Off: My Plans for the Next Round of Experiments
Here's what I'm thinking next for Deco Quilt: I'm going to experiment with using these heavier 12 weight Wonderfil threads in my Bernina B990 sewing machine to complete the quilting. Gayle from Bernina of Naperville has a video where she demonstrates using the mock hand quilting stitch on a variety of different Bernina machines (see that here) and Gayle is using 60 wt Bottom Line thread in her needle with 40 wt machine embroidery thread in her bobbin. My Bernina literature suggests using invisible monofilament thread in the needle and a slightly heavier 30 wt thread in the bobbin, but I want to use my beefy 12 wt Wonderfil threads in the bobbin and I don't know how that will work with this machine stitch that manipulates the tension to pull up the bobbin thread to form those visible dashed stitches on the top of the work. Thinking I will want to try this using my red bobbin case (optional accessory purchased separately for "bobbin work" using threads that are too heavy to fit through the eye of a sewing machine needle) and I may need to use a larger needle than I normally would pair with monofilament thread, as the thick bobbin thread needs to fit through the needle hole. Thread tails will be knotted off and buried after quilting.
If my mock hand quilting experiments don't yield results to my liking, I will consider regular straight line quilting with my walking foot on the B990 because I know I can use this 12 wt thread in my needle with a 40 or 50 wt thread in the (regular black) bobbin case. Wonderfil recommends either a 90/14 or a 100/16 Topstitching needle for machine stitching with this thread.
I'm recording all of these thoughts here so I don't have to rethink everything when I'm ready to come back to this project. For the moment, I am focusing on creating order out of the chaos in my studio so I have folded up my Deco Quilt and packed it away in the closet.
Linking up today's post with some of my favorite Linky parties:
MONDAY
Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts
Monday Musings at Songbird Designs
TUESDAY
To-Do Tuesday at Quilt Schmilt
WEDNESDAY
Wednesday Wait Loss at The Inquiring Quilter
THURSDAY
Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation
FRIDAY
Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts
Off the Wall Friday at Nina Marie Sayre
Beauty Pageant at From Bolt to Beauty
TGIFF Thank Goodness It’s Finished Friday, rotates, schedule found here: TGIF Friday
SUNDAY
Frédérique at Quilting Patchwork Appliqué
Slow Stitching Sunday at Kathy's Quilts
Oh Scrap! at Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework
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