Baptist fan quilting by hand

[Juliet W.]

I know I want to quilt Baptist Fans by hand on my finished sofa quilt top and I have already spray basted the whole thing without marking the top. So can anyone tell me - I don't see how to start in the middle with this pattern unless I try and mark it all now,and I find with handquilting as I do it on top of a table, I move it around so much the chalk marks wear off. So can I begin at the bottom/top? I really want to finish this quickly! I have some Quilter's Rule nested circles 1" to 12" to do this but I have looked and looked on Google for beginners instructions and they all seem to be for machine quilting - I can follow instructions but I can't find any. Help!

[Juliet W.]

I think when Joe Cunningham did this he just started at a corner and continued on. I may be wrong.

[Juliet W.]

Well I didn't know who Joe Cunningham is but a quick whizz around Google found him and the magazine article where he describes freehand quilting Baptist fans, very interesting. Thank you so much!

[Juliet W.]

You are very welcome.

[Kathryn S.]

Hi Margarita, you do have to start at the bottom left or right, depending on which way your fans go. If you are right handed, you would start on the right side for hand quilting. They are are little fiddly to mark. If you believe Joe Cunningham in this, you won't worry too much about perfect straightness. In the US in the old days, they did this pattern because it was easy to quilt the curves, so they probably didn't mark much. I love this pattern!
Kathy

[Juliet W.]

Well that's it, to the bottom right I go!! Thank you so much, this Joe Cunningham guy must be famous, I am very interested to see how the Baptist fan pattern looks on my quilt. I love your BOM quilt on your profile. Very many thanks!

[Kathryn S.]

If you subscribe to The Quilt Life, he writes a column for every issue. If you don't get that magazine by mail, I think that all the TQS members got one issue of the on-line mag for free- check him out! He's quite articulate about how quilting fits into his life. Kathy

[Rita C.]

He is also in show 101 - an interesting guy.

[Hannelore N.]

Joe Cunningham makes lovely music too!

Thanks a lot for posting this question. I have been quilting since 2002 and didn't know what Baptist Fans are.

[Juliet W.]

Maybe you haven't heard of Baptist fans but I see you have been very busy making a lot of lovely quilts. Baptist fans are also known as Methodist fans and one other name that I forget (Google!) and it just strikes me from the times that I have seen it done that it really "makes" a square design quilt top come to life. Feel very ignorant myself so pleased to have added to another's knowledge!!

[Hannelore N.]

Thank you for the compliment, Margarita! Quilting keeps me sane because it provides such a great balance to my stressful job.

Maybe, I should try this Baptist/Methodist/something else pattern sometime. The names alone make me smile. I was brought up as a Lutheran Protestant, married in a Methodist church, had my sons baptised in an Anglican church and work in a school that's linked to the local Minster.

I seem to remember that someone handquilted a similarly curvy pattern. She cut the shape of the curve out of freezer paper, ironed in onto the top of the quilt, quilted along the edge of it and then repositioned the freezer paper. Every so often she had to cut a new freezer paper template, because the one that had been used several times didn't stick anymore. But she was left when the quilt was finished without any marks that had to be removed.

[Juliet W.]

This is a link to an article about hand quilting baptist fans etc. http://www.threadsmagazine.com/item/...lt-it-freehand. However if you read it all (which I finally did without skimming!) you will realise that this will only work if you quilt on a frame. I spray baste my quilts and if they are big, roll 'em up with bicycle clip and hand quilt on a large table. If I tried quilting around the outside first there might be a lumpy disaster in the middle and that is not a result/risk I wish to take. However the article has given me some very interesting ideas for hand quilting. As long as you are careful/test what you mark with it should all come out in the wash. I was taught to chuck it in the machine on hot by Deborah Kemball and then they come out looking all nice and antiqued (not already old!). To tell the truth I have so far only managed very warm, cannot bring myself to hit the hot button. Thanks for your freezer paper suggestion, very interesting for a smaller quilt.

[Rita C.]

You are right Juliet, this won't work with the way you quilt. I quilt the same way without a hoop or a frame. If your quilt is made up of squares or blocks then you should be able to draw the quilt pattern a block at a time working from the centre out. If you are going to wash it afterwards then you could use pencil but I believe it is best to use a lead pencil rather than a graphite one. I use a white chalk pencil for dark fabrics and a pencil for light fabrics. If you use the water-soluble blue pens you really have to immerse them completely in water to be sure of getting it out. I know lots of people seem to use the Crayola washable markers too. Will you post a photo of the quilt so that we can see it and maybe somebody will come up with a better suggestion?

[Juliet W.]

Okay but I'm not very brilliant at this! Later I will take a photo of the quilt and post it to my TQS profile place? I am thinking of doing two lines of baptist fans in the outside border and other stuff (?) elsewhere!

[Margo C.]

Okay but I'm not very brilliant at this! Later I will take a photo of the quilt and post it to my TQS profile place? I am thinking of doing two lines of baptist fans in the outside border and other stuff (?) elsewhere!

Margarita, please post a photo here. Maybe we can help you decide? If you need help posting a photo to the forum, you will find some tips here:
http://forum/forum-questions-and-sug...-the-tqs-forum

You can do this! It's easy!