Hand-quilting: some sound advice
Friday, 28 May 2010 12:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lobsterdesignsAs anyone who's been following my witterings will know, I'm a hand-quilter who's far more comfortable with piecing than with quilting. My partner reports that I once started burbling about stitch sizes in my sleep. I learnt quilting from this very useful book, and while it's generally excellent (apart from not mentioning the options for covering the under finger such as spoon quilting - see Jinny Beyer for details), it does lay stress on being able to make tiny stitches and I always felt a bit below par, terrorised by stern lectures on how many stitches per inch were acceptable. It's like playing the piano at a speed a little too fast for you: slowing down a mite would drastically cut the number of mistakes and no one else would even notice that you're playing more slowly.
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ghost_of_a_flea and I met in a bookshop, he's a charity bookshop manager, our flat is overflowing with books, so it's no surprise that on his last day off, he wandered off to town and I got a phone call to say that he was in a charity shop with about fifteen quilting books and did I want any of them? I did a quick search, read the reviews on Amazon, and decided on five of them. Two in particular were good buys: The Essential Quilter and The Essential Quilter Project Book by Barbara Chainey. The quotation below is from p.27 of the latter.
* * *
Stitch Size
When you first begin to quilt (and for some time after that), your stitches will not be wonderful either in terms of size or evenness. Practice will make a difference. So many quilters are dismissive of their work saying "Of course my stitches are too large" - too large for what? The function of the running stitch used in quilting is to secure the layers and produce texture; even stitches (whatever their size) give a clearly defined line for the eye to follow. Pursuing the Holy Grail of tiny stitches does not always make for even stitches and can drastically reduce the pleasure that should be inherent in quliting. Everyone has a stitch size which is natural to them, be it large or small, and unless you are terrified of the mythical Quilting Police, there is little point in putting major effort into reducing the size of your stitches when you should be enjoying quilting and allowing yourself to improve at a comfortable pace and relaxed pace. Take a few steps back from your work - look at the pattern and texture and notice how insignificant those "inferior" stitches have become in the overall scheme of things. Remember the well-worn maxim of "Don't run before you can walk".
The reverse side
The temptation when quilting to want to constantly turn the work over and examine the back can be almost unbearable. The scrutiny nearly always results in the unpicking of some of the stitches because they were judged "not quite right" or you felt you could do better. If you continue to quilt a little, look a little and unpick a little, you will soon be very skilled at unpicking (or reverse quilting if you want to sound positive). Confidence and some semblance of stitching rhythm will make improvements that constant checking does not permit, so if you are new to quilting, ignore what is happening on the reverse side for as long as possible and just concentrate on the top. When you do finally crack under the strain and inspect the back, here is a percentage guideline: 50 per cent of stitches actually visible on the reverse is good, 75 per cent is marvellous and anything higher is stratospheric. Keep telling yourself that you will improve and don't look at the back too often.
A persistent rumble of complaint which is often heard from new and improving quilters runs like this: "My stitches are smaller on the back than they are on the front - what am I doing wrong?" or "Why can't I get the stitches to look the same front and back?"* Allow me to express a strongly felt conviction: quilting is enjoyable and the final result has a delightful texture. The more you quilt, the better you quilt. Unless your goal is to win a fistful of blue ribbons for your quilting in competitive shows with your very first piece of quilting, it is more positive and productive to quilt with an uncritical attitude. Yes, your stitches may be smaller on the back, but is this an imprisonable offence? Are you terrified of a dawn raid from the Stitch Police? The only "trick" which will make all your stitches even, front or back, is to allow yourself time and practice.
* My note - it would help if quilting books would take the angle of the needle into account when showing cross-section diagrams of the quilting process, instead of making it appear as if the needle goes straight up and down. (Ironically, this book is guilty of this misrepresentation too.) Of course stitches are smaller on the back! And the needle goes in at different angles depending on how many stitches are already on the needle, causing the stitches on the back to be of uneven size too (I've got enough work trying to keep them even on the front due to that), plus there are seam allowances to contend with.
* * *
Not only did this make me laugh aloud, but it's marvellously liberating. I realised that while I never unpick more than one or two stitches per frame, I was hampering my progress by trying to make my stitches smaller than I was ready for, and this was lessening my enjoyment and probably making me tense up unduly as well. I haven't quilted in a while, and last night I got started on a simple pattern of random sets of concentric circles, meant to look like ripples in water. I deliberately made my stitches a little bigger than usual, and it's like the piano mistakes I mentioned above: once I stepped back they didn't really look any larger than usual, but they did look more even. There's the odd crooked stitch which I couldn't be bothered to unpick, I was tired last night and it's a low-contrast thread anyway, but I think it'd take me several minutes to find them now. I didn't look at the back until I was done, and was delighted to find that apparently I'm in the stratospheric regions! Very few stitches were missing on the back, mostly just when I was going through seam allowances, though I think even that is improving. I put this down to large stitches and the use of an Aunt Becky on my under hand.
I am actually preparing a couple of quilts to exhibit, so the plan is to relax, practice my quilting on this quilt and the broadcloth sampler I mentioned the other day, and then hope that by that point my quilting will be nice and even and that the stitches won't be so huge that I get penalised for them. Would my current size of 6 stitches per inch be frowned upon, does anyone know?
The other lovely thing about those two books is that I found a style of traditional quilting which I really like. Normally I don't like traditional quilting patterns, I find them often rather twee for my tastes. I loathe feather designs and despise hearts. Welsh quilting, on the other hand, is something far more to my taste, with lovely Celtic styles of design, spirals and leaves and so forth, and glorious deep reds and other strong colours. I've just ordered a book on Welsh quilting, and I've gone from being someone who put most of her energies into piecing and dreaded working out the quilting designs, to someone who is not only planning a broadcloth sampler but now considering doing a broadcloth quilt in Welsh style! I'm also feeling more confident and am about to try using a 12 weight thread as well as my usual thinner 30 weight, although I actually decided to do this because I'm fed up with threads not showing up well against the background unless you have mammoth contrast and a fairly plain fabric. For the first time, I feel really excited about quilting and want to try more of it.
cross-posted to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
quilting
ghost_of_a_flea and I met in a bookshop, he's a charity bookshop manager, our flat is overflowing with books, so it's no surprise that on his last day off, he wandered off to town and I got a phone call to say that he was in a charity shop with about fifteen quilting books and did I want any of them? I did a quick search, read the reviews on Amazon, and decided on five of them. Two in particular were good buys: The Essential Quilter and The Essential Quilter Project Book by Barbara Chainey. The quotation below is from p.27 of the latter.When you first begin to quilt (and for some time after that), your stitches will not be wonderful either in terms of size or evenness. Practice will make a difference. So many quilters are dismissive of their work saying "Of course my stitches are too large" - too large for what? The function of the running stitch used in quilting is to secure the layers and produce texture; even stitches (whatever their size) give a clearly defined line for the eye to follow. Pursuing the Holy Grail of tiny stitches does not always make for even stitches and can drastically reduce the pleasure that should be inherent in quliting. Everyone has a stitch size which is natural to them, be it large or small, and unless you are terrified of the mythical Quilting Police, there is little point in putting major effort into reducing the size of your stitches when you should be enjoying quilting and allowing yourself to improve at a comfortable pace and relaxed pace. Take a few steps back from your work - look at the pattern and texture and notice how insignificant those "inferior" stitches have become in the overall scheme of things. Remember the well-worn maxim of "Don't run before you can walk".
The reverse side
The temptation when quilting to want to constantly turn the work over and examine the back can be almost unbearable. The scrutiny nearly always results in the unpicking of some of the stitches because they were judged "not quite right" or you felt you could do better. If you continue to quilt a little, look a little and unpick a little, you will soon be very skilled at unpicking (or reverse quilting if you want to sound positive). Confidence and some semblance of stitching rhythm will make improvements that constant checking does not permit, so if you are new to quilting, ignore what is happening on the reverse side for as long as possible and just concentrate on the top. When you do finally crack under the strain and inspect the back, here is a percentage guideline: 50 per cent of stitches actually visible on the reverse is good, 75 per cent is marvellous and anything higher is stratospheric. Keep telling yourself that you will improve and don't look at the back too often.
A persistent rumble of complaint which is often heard from new and improving quilters runs like this: "My stitches are smaller on the back than they are on the front - what am I doing wrong?" or "Why can't I get the stitches to look the same front and back?"* Allow me to express a strongly felt conviction: quilting is enjoyable and the final result has a delightful texture. The more you quilt, the better you quilt. Unless your goal is to win a fistful of blue ribbons for your quilting in competitive shows with your very first piece of quilting, it is more positive and productive to quilt with an uncritical attitude. Yes, your stitches may be smaller on the back, but is this an imprisonable offence? Are you terrified of a dawn raid from the Stitch Police? The only "trick" which will make all your stitches even, front or back, is to allow yourself time and practice.
* My note - it would help if quilting books would take the angle of the needle into account when showing cross-section diagrams of the quilting process, instead of making it appear as if the needle goes straight up and down. (Ironically, this book is guilty of this misrepresentation too.) Of course stitches are smaller on the back! And the needle goes in at different angles depending on how many stitches are already on the needle, causing the stitches on the back to be of uneven size too (I've got enough work trying to keep them even on the front due to that), plus there are seam allowances to contend with.
Not only did this make me laugh aloud, but it's marvellously liberating. I realised that while I never unpick more than one or two stitches per frame, I was hampering my progress by trying to make my stitches smaller than I was ready for, and this was lessening my enjoyment and probably making me tense up unduly as well. I haven't quilted in a while, and last night I got started on a simple pattern of random sets of concentric circles, meant to look like ripples in water. I deliberately made my stitches a little bigger than usual, and it's like the piano mistakes I mentioned above: once I stepped back they didn't really look any larger than usual, but they did look more even. There's the odd crooked stitch which I couldn't be bothered to unpick, I was tired last night and it's a low-contrast thread anyway, but I think it'd take me several minutes to find them now. I didn't look at the back until I was done, and was delighted to find that apparently I'm in the stratospheric regions! Very few stitches were missing on the back, mostly just when I was going through seam allowances, though I think even that is improving. I put this down to large stitches and the use of an Aunt Becky on my under hand.
I am actually preparing a couple of quilts to exhibit, so the plan is to relax, practice my quilting on this quilt and the broadcloth sampler I mentioned the other day, and then hope that by that point my quilting will be nice and even and that the stitches won't be so huge that I get penalised for them. Would my current size of 6 stitches per inch be frowned upon, does anyone know?
The other lovely thing about those two books is that I found a style of traditional quilting which I really like. Normally I don't like traditional quilting patterns, I find them often rather twee for my tastes. I loathe feather designs and despise hearts. Welsh quilting, on the other hand, is something far more to my taste, with lovely Celtic styles of design, spirals and leaves and so forth, and glorious deep reds and other strong colours. I've just ordered a book on Welsh quilting, and I've gone from being someone who put most of her energies into piecing and dreaded working out the quilting designs, to someone who is not only planning a broadcloth sampler but now considering doing a broadcloth quilt in Welsh style! I'm also feeling more confident and am about to try using a 12 weight thread as well as my usual thinner 30 weight, although I actually decided to do this because I'm fed up with threads not showing up well against the background unless you have mammoth contrast and a fairly plain fabric. For the first time, I feel really excited about quilting and want to try more of it.
cross-posted to
quilting
