Right or Left? Toward Yourself or Away?

[Lynn K.]

I've been quilting for 8 1/2 years and consider myself a confident intermediate quilter.
HOWEVER, I have not even begun to master hand quilting. I am left-handed, or more truly ambidextrous. This means I am not good with either hand.
I have tried quilting with my right hand and my left. I have tried with several fingers and thumbs. I have tried quilting toward myself and quilting away from myself.
Is there any kind of TEST I can use to decide which I am supposed to be using? I have not found a teacher yet who can help me. They seem to only know the way THEY do it.

Thanks,
sharonquilts - but only by machine! :lol:

[Lynn K.]

I hand quilt both directions..........and was taught by a 50+year quilter from Southern California named Rusty Hedrick. She had a video and used to be reached at mailto:[email protected]. This was 4 years ago or so............the tape is an excellent illustration of how she teaches. She's in ANZA, Calif.
Lynn in Houston

[Lynn K.]

Sharon- I know there are lots of people who are going to moan about this--but, I do the stab stitch. I seem to get as many quilts done as the next guy and don't have any problems with carpal tunnel. I taught a friend of mine how to do it both ways and she also does the stab stitch but she puts her right hand on top and left on the bottom; I put my right hand on the bottom (because I have better contol of it without seeing what I am doing). My stitches are nice and small and even. I prefer to quilt toward myself as I get straighter stitches--don't know why but when you teach yourself--things happen. :wink: ritzy

[Sherry M.]

Sharon- I'm afraid I'm going to fall into the category of someone telling you what THEY do, not what may necessarily help you, but I don't know any other way. I use the rocking stitch. I use a leather thimble on my middle finger of my right hand and place the needle not quite all the way to the tip. I then push the needle through just enough to lightly prick my finger underneath (which gets more calloused and therefore less painful the more you quilt) and then push the needle back up. I "rock" the needle down and up getting about four stitches on before I pull it through. I sew from right to left. Hope this helps.

Sherry

[Sherry M.]

I sew right to left and toward me with my right hand on top, left under, and a metal thimble on my middle finger. I do a standard rocking stitch like the one described in the last post.

If I am quilting away from me I place a leather thimble on my right thumb and put the end of the needle right on the center of the pad of my thumb.Another way I do it is if I have a long thumbnail (mine are really thick) I actually catch the end of the needle with my nail and push with that (careful though, a needle slipping under the nail hurts like Hades)

The only direction I haven't mastered is left to right, so I use a swivel chair and just turn my body and work toward myself (I would be sitting parallel to the frame with my right elbow pointing to the center of the quilt) - although short left to right distances I use the thumb thimble - but only for very short distances.

[Lynn K.]

I pretty much agree with what these two ladies have said. I use my nails if they are available..........sometimes a thimble. I do the rocking stitch. I'm not sure what the stab stitch is---??? I've used it to go thru thick seams or such, but when "I" do it, they are not small and even, so it must be another technique I can't quite picture in my brain.

About needles, I use the needles from "Thimblelady" in Austrailia. They are very fine and quite a bit longer than most quilting needles. They hold more like 6-8-12 stitches at a time so speeds up the process quite a bit for me. I will say, they are not as "strong" as American or English needles so if you tend to bend needles, these probably won't work for you. I've done several quilts on 1 package of needles, so I guess I've learned not to over torque them.

I hope this helps. Alot of it is trial and error, I'm afraid!

[Lynn K.]

Thanks to all of you who have responded. I appreciate your thoughtful replies. I'm not sure I have the patience for all of the trial and error required. So far, the stab stitch has definitely been the most successful for me. I'll just have to keep on keepin' on.
sharonquilts

[Lynn K.]

sharonquilts--Whatever method works for you and whatever you're comfortable with is what you should do. Practise is the key to hand quilting. Just gotta do it. Relax and have fun with it! 8)

[Lynn K.]

Hi Sharon,
Wow! Someone like me! I am also ambidexterous and often get confused which hand to use for many tasks. Mostly I do the stab stitch for hand quilting, since it keeps both hands busy. Also because I do a lot of big stitch quilting with crochet cotton and the like, as well as use a lot of fusible web which isn't the best thing for traditional hand quilting.

I took a class in January from Cindy Walter (who does the snippets) and learned rather well in an afternoon for a beginner to hand quilt forwards and backwards. Backwards worked better for me. If she can help me, she can help anyone! But recently I went back to the stab stitch again because I wanted to use some silk perle.
laura k
http://quilting-diva.blogspot.com

[Lynn K.]

Sharon,

I am a on again off again quilter. My projects are too ambitious for my
time... I get them done eventually....

I am also a left handed quilter. I can't stab stitch at all, the stitches are
terrible unevent and it takes forever. If you want to use the rocking
method read on...

Ideally, the best thing to improve your quilting is to sit down with
someone whose quilting you admire... if not here are some tools that I
have used to improve my quilting.

1. Work a small piece to try out different combinations of needles and thimbles.

2. Start with a nice round hoop (and the small quilt). I find that it is
easier to get you hand in a comfortable position. And you can easily
rotate to the quilt to your preferred direction.

3. The fabric of the quilt makes a HUGE differnce. Make sure you are
using 100% cotton from your local QUILT shop. If the thread is too
densely woven, it will be difficult to hand quilt.

4. Pick up the book "The Perfect Stitch" by Ami Simms... no association
but it really put the process together for me (She has a website).
Use a simple quilting pattern with straight lines until you gain some
confidence, then incorporate the curves.

5. Take your time and give yourself a chance. It can be quite relaxing.
It is a great way to let your mind wander and not risk the chance of
making a mistake.

Personal discoveries:
I have found that I like the really small needlels (size 12) but they
tend to break. Lately I have been working with Size 11 needles
and I have been very pleased with the results

When I first started hand quilting, I used the black leather thimble.
Again make sure you get the correct fit. These thimbles have a small
plastic disk to "rock" the needle against.

Yes I need finger nails to quilt. I don't usually get a manicure, but I
do paint my nails with nail hardner when I am quilting... I need them to
be strong and not too long... just above the tip of the finger.

I find that polyester batting is the easisest to quilt. Although, I am
currently testing out using wool batting on a whole cloth silk quilt...
talk about dreamy to quilt through... it is easier than butter.

I find that I can not quilt from bottom to top (along a quilting line),
I must quilt from top to bottom. Straight lines are far easier. Also
it is easier to travel from the uppper left hand corner to the lower
right hand corner than from the upper right hand corner to the lower
left hand corner.

Good Luck,

Keerthi

[Lynn K.]

just saw your comment about being left handed. Alex Anderson has a wonderful book on Hand Quilting which shows photos of both right and left handed quilting. The photos helped me orient my movements as I am left handed also.

[Judy M.]

The best thing for any method of hand quilting is PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE! Judy in Torrance

[Eileen K.]

just saw your comment about being left handed. Alex Anderson has a wonderful book on Hand Quilting which shows photos of both right and left handed quilting. The photos helped me orient my movements as I am left handed also.

I'm a lefty also. I've always hand quilted toward myself. Coincidentally, Alex is left handed also.
eileenkny

[Beth A.]

Here is an interesting video you might watch. I have never used this tool, and it requires that you work with at least a hoop, but it sure looks intriguing! I bought one, but haven't had a chance to try it out yet. Very cheap!

Aunt Becky's finger protector video:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...19466527029261