Question from a Beginner!

I'd appreciate any advice anyone can offer.

I am a beginner, have taken some classes but there doesn't seem to be
much offered on hand quilting. I really don't have anyone to ask!
Everyone seems to quilt by machine or have them done by machine.

I use a full-size wooden frame, rather old-fashioned, hanging from the
ceiling. My question is, what is the best way to transfer design onto
the quilt top. Also, if anyone knows of any good publications / books
about hand-quilting, I'd appreciate that info. also.

Thanks very much,

Sherry

I know very little, I'm afraid Sherry; except to assure you that there
are 'tomes' out there, and you will get recommendations from others.
I only know of a lady called Barbara Chainey who is a wonderful hand
quilter and whom I know has written much. She is English, but I'm sure
her works have travelled.
There are lots of hand quilters here in RCTQ land!
..
In message . com,
writes
I'd appreciate any advice anyone can offer.

I am a beginner, have taken some classes but there doesn't seem to be
much offered on hand quilting. I really don't have anyone to ask!
Everyone seems to quilt by machine or have them done by machine.

I use a full-size wooden frame, rather old-fashioned, hanging from the
ceiling. My question is, what is the best way to transfer design onto
the quilt top. Also, if anyone knows of any good publications / books
about hand-quilting, I'd appreciate that info. also.

Thanks very much,

Sherry


--
Best Regards
pat on the hill

I suggest you get together with a quilting group and/or go visit with
the "quilt ladies" at a local church. Get some pointers and practice
with the experts!

Sherry,

Check out www.handquilter.com. Candy Goff is a handquilter, and does
beautiful work.

As far as transferring the design to the quilt top, I generally use either a
blue washable pen (test on a piece of scrap fabric first) or a chalk wheel
for designs without a stencil. If I'm using a stencil it's the blue pen or a
white or yellow marking pencil. For straight-line designs (cross hatching or
diagonals, etc.), I use masking tape and stitch along the edge.

Good luck!

--
Louise in Iowa
nieland4 at mchsi dot com
http://community.webshots.com/user/louiseiniowa

wrote in message
ups.com...
I'd appreciate any advice anyone can offer.

I am a beginner, have taken some classes but there doesn't seem to be
much offered on hand quilting. I really don't have anyone to ask!
Everyone seems to quilt by machine or have them done by machine.

I use a full-size wooden frame, rather old-fashioned, hanging from the
ceiling. My question is, what is the best way to transfer design onto
the quilt top. Also, if anyone knows of any good publications / books
about hand-quilting, I'd appreciate that info. also.

Thanks very much,

Sherry

I do all three-- machine quilt, send them out to be quilted and
handquilt. Unfortunately, I can't show anyone how I do it since I seem
to have my own method that seems to be almost too off the wall for
anyone else-- probably comes from being severely dyslexic and teaching
myself. I did a queen sized wholecloth a couple of years ago that is on
my guest room bed. I have been working on one for that day (hopefully in
the far future) when my daughter tells me she met "Mr. Right" I have
been unable to much of any quilting for the last month as I had to go
back to work full time and I am now working about 60 hours a week
selling cars-- wish I could get more of them closed!

Debbi in SO CA


wrote:
I'd appreciate any advice anyone can offer.

I am a beginner, have taken some classes but there doesn't seem to be
much offered on hand quilting. I really don't have anyone to ask!
Everyone seems to quilt by machine or have them done by machine.

I use a full-size wooden frame, rather old-fashioned, hanging from the
ceiling. My question is, what is the best way to transfer design onto
the quilt top. Also, if anyone knows of any good publications / books
about hand-quilting, I'd appreciate that info. also.

Thanks very much,

Sherry

In article . com,
wrote:

I'd appreciate any advice anyone can offer.

I am a beginner, have taken some classes but there doesn't seem to be
much offered on hand quilting. I really don't have anyone to ask!
Everyone seems to quilt by machine or have them done by machine.

I use a full-size wooden frame, rather old-fashioned, hanging from the
ceiling. My question is, what is the best way to transfer design onto
the quilt top. Also, if anyone knows of any good publications / books
about hand-quilting, I'd appreciate that info. also.

Thanks very much,

Sherry


For marking, the washout blue pen is the easiest (but do test first on a
scrap!), but you can also use chalk wheels or pencils, soap slivers,
soapstone pencils -- anything that you can see and that will come out
easily afterwards.

It's too bad you don't have anyone there to give you a little lesson; it
doesn't take long to learn the technique -- it's just that you need to
do it for a bit in order to get it going just right. G I've heard that
Deirdre McElroy has a DVD out from her mother's book _That Perfect
Stitch_, and that DVD might be a good substitute for a "real" person.
Good luck!
--
Sandy in Henderson, near Las Vegas
my ISP is earthlink.net -- put sfoster1(at) in front
http://home.earthlink.net/~sfoster1

AKA Dame Sandy, Minister of Education

I just checked out Half.com. Did a search on 'hand quilting'
and there were more books than I ever realized. Some at
really good prices. Worth checking out.
Taria

Sandy Foster wrote:

In article . com,
wrote:


I'd appreciate any advice anyone can offer.

I am a beginner, have taken some classes but there doesn't seem to be
much offered on hand quilting. I really don't have anyone to ask!
Everyone seems to quilt by machine or have them done by machine.

I use a full-size wooden frame, rather old-fashioned, hanging from the
ceiling. My question is, what is the best way to transfer design onto
the quilt top. Also, if anyone knows of any good publications / books
about hand-quilting, I'd appreciate that info. also.

Thanks very much,

Sherry



For marking, the washout blue pen is the easiest (but do test first on a
scrap!), but you can also use chalk wheels or pencils, soap slivers,
soapstone pencils -- anything that you can see and that will come out
easily afterwards.

It's too bad you don't have anyone there to give you a little lesson; it
doesn't take long to learn the technique -- it's just that you need to
do it for a bit in order to get it going just right. G I've heard that
Deirdre McElroy has a DVD out from her mother's book _That Perfect
Stitch_, and that DVD might be a good substitute for a "real" person.
Good luck!

Hi Sherry,

Although I do hand-quilt, I don't use a frame. Never was able to
develop enough strength in my fingers to make tiny stitches in the taut
quilt in the frame. Consequently, I wrestle the quilt onto to my lap
and can happily maneuver it whichever way I want it to go.

There are lots of special pens and pencils for quilt marking. I have
even used a #2 pencil--BUT the advice about testing the fabric first is
a must. I hand-quilted a scrappy quilt and the #2 pencil markings came
out of all fabrics, but two. Of course, they were the lightest and it
shows the worst. It was my first quilt, so I just look at those
quilt-markings and realize that I'm smarter now. Still love the quilt.

Another thing I would recommend if it's feasible, is to mark the quilt
before you sandwich it. Easier to be more exact in your markings
without the padding.

Michelle in NV

Howdy!
Sherry, there are millions of handquilters.
I guess we've been quilting by hand for so long we just
assume everyone knows how to quilt,
so we just get on with it instead of writing books. g
The trend towards machine quilting is more recent,
makes more money for the vendors who sell
the equipment, so it gets more press. g
Have you checked at your local library for quilting books?
Many will include at least some kind of lesson/example of handquilting.
There might also be a few good handquilting books on the shelves.
One of the small treasures that came my way a few years ago:
Hand Quilting With Alex Anderson.
Also see: Quiltmaking by Hand : Simple Stitches, Exquisite Quilts
by Jenny Beyer.
These are 2 quilters whose work I've seen and admired.
(I learned to quilt a long time ago, trial and error; then they started
publishing really good books about it. g)
Some quilting tips:
get comfortable; have good light; try several sizes of needles
to see which works best for you (for years I stuck w/ a #9 Between because
that fit,now I'm buying #12s, altho' the #11s are more familiar).
Same goes for a thimble; find one you like that fits comfortably,
wear it around the house (my mailman no longer laughs when
he sees me w/ my "tools") to get used to it.
I use a finger cot: http://www.dickblick.com/zz352/07/
Most quilt shops sell these, as do office supply stores (in bulk);
they help you grip that needle and pull it thru' the quilt sandwich.
Take it easy on yourself, learn to make a stitch that looks good to you,
doesn't have to be teeny-tiny; "work for consistency"
as the teachers advise.
I use a 12" wooden hoop, no matter the size of the quilt; just feels right
to me; my frame has become part of the garden decor, good for holding
runner beans and morning glories. g
You've already found one of the best resources right here at RCTQ.
If you e-mail me privately I'll look for one of the freebie handquilting
booklets that often come w/ a quilt book purchase and send it to you.
Welcome. Enjoy the quilting.

Ragmop/Sandy--professional handquilter
in beautiful north Texas ;-D

wrote in message
ups.com...
I'd appreciate any advice anyone can offer.

I am a beginner, have taken some classes but there doesn't seem to be
much offered on hand quilting. I really don't have anyone to ask!
Everyone seems to quilt by machine or have them done by machine.

I use a full-size wooden frame, rather old-fashioned, hanging from the
ceiling. My question is, what is the best way to transfer design onto
the quilt top. Also, if anyone knows of any good publications / books
about hand-quilting, I'd appreciate that info. also.

Thanks very much,

Sherry

I second the recommendation of Alex Anderson's _Hand Quilting with Alex
Anderson" Six Projects for First-Time Hand Quilters_. It has great
pictures of doing the quilting stitch using the thimble on different
fingers, quilting away from yourself (critical if you are using a floor
frame) and both right and left handed.

I really like a couple different books on marking quilts. One is
_Mastering Quilt Marking: Marking Tools and Techniques....._ by Pepper
Cory. This book and the one by Alex Anderson are both available from
the publisher (http://www.ctpub.com if you don't have a local quilt
shop) My other "bible" is Encyclopedia of Designs for Quilting by
Phyllis D. Miller. Her book is arranged by shape and she has great
instructions for making stencils or marking your quilt with common items
like plates, tape and file folders.

I teach hand quilting at a local shop, so the classes are out there.
Heck it's my one class that fills every single quarter. If you have a
local shop, request it. They may start a waiting list and get a class
going.

As for on-line. Threads magazine is a great resource. Here's a nice
article on the hand quilting stitch
http://www.taunton.com/threads/pages/t00024.asp

And here is one on no mark hand quilting (I've taken his class and it
really is great)
http://www.taunton.com/threads/pages/t00030.asp

Welcome to hand quilting!
marcella



wrote in message
ups.com...
I'd appreciate any advice anyone can offer.

I am a beginner, have taken some classes but there doesn't seem to be
much offered on hand quilting. I really don't have anyone to ask!
Everyone seems to quilt by machine or have them done by machine.

I use a full-size wooden frame, rather old-fashioned, hanging from the
ceiling. My question is, what is the best way to transfer design onto
the quilt top. Also, if anyone knows of any good publications / books
about hand-quilting, I'd appreciate that info. also.

Thanks very much,

Sherry