I have admired hand quilting for years but never expected to one day give it a try. After finishing this lap quilt, I decided it was a good size project to practice on and I hand quilted the entire thing! It does takes some time to find your preferred positioning and rhythm of hand quilting, but it’s very rewarding to see all your hand stitches on a finished quilt. In this tutorial I share how to hand quilt as a total beginner, in written and video form, and the tools I used.
This quilt pattern is the Flower Checks Quilt by Sarah B Sews and was my first official quilt pattern I’ve followed. I found it very easy to follow with clear directions on fabric needed, how to cut out your fabric and the steps to sew it all together. I would say it is easy enough for confident beginners to follow! I made the lap quilt size but added one more border at the end with some leftover fabric.
One reason why quilters choose hand quilting over machine quilting, is because of the amazing texture it gives a quilt. Below you’ll see the finished quilt before washing (left) and after washing and drying (right). It was already starting to get some good texture while I was working on it, but it crinkled up even more after washing – which I love the look of so much! I also did not prewash my fabric before washing which I’ve heard can give it even more of that after-washing-crinkle.
To get the hang of hand quilting, you could try practicing on a smaller project like the quilted wall hanging I made at the beginning of my How To Make Half Square Triangles tutorial. To learn how to make a simple nine patch quilt, head over to my tutorial How to Make a Quilt where I walk through every step, start to finish. It would also be so pretty to hand quilt the panels on my Eva Quilted Tote bag pattern!
Some Things You’ll Need
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- Quilting needles – I use these Gold’nGlide Big Eye Quilting Needles
- Quilting thread – Coats & Clark Hand Quilting Thread
- Thimble – Clover Leather Thimble
- Hera marker (optional) – I’m using a wooden butter knife but you can also use the dull side of a regular butter knife.
- Washable fabric marker – If you don’t want to use a hera marker, you can mark your lines with a washable marker.
- Scissors – I use these 3.5″ LDH scissors for snipping thread. I also like these 4″ Fiskars scissors and keep them by my sewing machine.
The fabric used in my quilt is Connecting Threads True Color quilting cotton and was kindly gifted to me to use for this quilt. There are so many colors to choose from and are saturated and bright. I had never worked with their quilting cotton before but found it was really nice to work with! It’s silky smooth, pressed very wellI and is slightly grippy so it made piecing easy. It does fray a bit more than other quilting cottons I’ve worked with, so I just made sure not to handle the cut pieces too much before sewing together.
I store my hand quilting needles in this little needle book I made. Check out my needle book tutorial if you want to make your own!
The tools listed above are just what I happen to use and what worked out for me! I did a tiny bit of research before starting and found a lot of helpful tips and tool recommendations in Suzy Quilt’s hand quilting blogpost and video. Suzy uses much thicker thread and larger needles, so you might want to check out what she uses if you want to give that hand quilting style a try!
Video Tutorial
It’s a little easier to explain and show the hand quilting steps in a video – see link below!
While it’s a little bit harder to explain everything in still pictures, keep reading for the written tutorial for how to hand quilt.
Step 1: Marking The Quilt Lines
I like using a hera marker to mark my lines (although technically mine is a wooden butter knife). The dull side of a regular butter knife also works well! All you do is press down into the quilt to make a crease and its just enough of a line for you to follow. You can use a ruler to make your lines straight and just run the hera marker along the ruler. I found that the lines start to fade as I worked on the quilt, so I would mark lines as I went.
I did end up drawing in these triangle shapes with a washable fabric marker and that worked really well! For more complicated quilting patterns, marking lines with a fabric marker may be the better choice.
Step 2: Make A Quilter’s Knot
Start by threading your needle with your chosen quilting thread. With your thumb and first finger, hold the tail end of the thread in place between the needle (point side) and your first finger. Take the thread (the longer length) and wrap it around the needle 4-6 times (the amount of times depends on how thick your thread is).
Hold the thread that’s wrapped around the tip of the needle, snug, but not too tight. With your other hand, push on the eye of the needle so you can grab the pointed end. While holding the wrapped thread, pull on the top of the needle and glide the wrapped thread down the length of the thread.
Keep gliding the knot down the length of thread until you reach the end and a knot should form. You don’t want the knot too big, because it needs to be able to “pop” through the fabric easily on the next step.
Step 3: Popping the Knot
After your quilter’s knot is made, you’re going to be “popping the knot” through only the top layer, or the quilt top, to start your hand quilting stitches.
Start by placing the needle into the first layer of fabric about an 1″ or so away from where you want the first stitch to be. Pull on the thread until the knot reaches the fabric and then give a firm tug to pop the knot through the fabric. It helps to wrap the thread around your finger once to get a good grip on the thread. Make sure not to pull too hard or the knot may come all the way through.
Step 4: Hand Quilting
Now it’s time to start your hand quilting stitches! Find a comfortable position where the quilt can be spread out in front of you, either on your lap or a table. Your “supporting hand”, the one under your quilt, will help guide the needle back up through the quilt. Your “working hand”, the one holding the needle and thread, will be “rocking” the needle down and up through all layers of the quilt.
Start by poking the needle through all layers, with your supporting hand underneath, help guide the needle back up to the top. Don’t pull the thread through yet, but poke the needle back down through the quilt, and then back up to “load up” your needle with as many stitches that will comfortably fit.
It helps to make a rocking motion with the needle to guide the needle through. With your thimble, usually placed on the middle finger, push the end of the needle to guide the needle through. Then pull the thread through, not tightly, and you have your first stitches!
Step 5: End Knot
When you start to run out of thread or you reach the end of the area you’re working on, it’s time to make and pop a knot again. You kind of need to time your stitches when you’re reaching an end point, but try to stop about a stitch length away from the end.
Holding the thread out, and with the needle, wrap the thread over and up through the loop like you’re making a regular knot. Guide the knot with your fingers, try and make the knot about a stitch length away from where you just stopped.
I usually repeat this 3 times (you may need to do less if using thicker thread) each time placing the knot on top of the previous knot. Guide the thread through only the top layer of the quilt and pop the knot, coming out about an 1″ away from where you stopped.
And that’s how you hand quilt! The steps are really pretty simple but it’s getting used to the process that may feel more difficult. When I first started, I felt like I was getting nowhere! With practice though, and after building that muscle memory, hand quilting feels a lot more natural – and relaxing! It was so worth it at the end to have a finished quilt that I made and quilted by hand – one of the best feelings in my opinion. 🙂
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and found it helpful! I would love to answer any questions or please leave any tips you have in the comments. Thanks for reading and happy hand quilting!
