Hand Quilting - Gridwork spacing

[Annis C.]

Hi all, I'm getting ready to, for the first time, actually hand quilt my quilt. Actually it's a 28" Love Letters Block, that I will be using as individual wall quilts. I'm going to be quilting each one differently, like a sampler, so I can practice different quilting and embroidery techniques. For this block, I want to do a diagonal grid, but I'm curious as to what size my grid should be. When I machine quilt a grid, I usually use 1inch, but I don't know if that will work for hand quilting. I'm using Hobbs 80/20 batting, if that matters. Any suggestions would be very much appreciated.

Thank you!
Kathy in CA

[Annis C.]

Hi Kathy,
I have used a one inch grid several times for hand quilting and I love the look of it. But, your quilt is smaller, so you might want to audition a closer pattern as well, to see what you like and what looks the best. Maybe you can do it on a paper copy of the block? I've also noticed that show quilts tend to be more densely quilted, so that may be a consideration if you plan to show it in a competition. Another consideration is how long you want to spend quilting it. Honestly, I have seen some hand quilting that was super dense and although I loved it I couldn't see myself ever finishing something like that!! :lol:
Cindy

[Margo C.]

Before we had the option of so many wonderful batting choices, quilts were often quilted by hand in a 1/4" grid!! That was done in order to keep the batting from shifting! :shock:

Now our grid size is mainly based on design choices rather than holding the quilt together!

You might want to audition some curved cross hatching like Ronda Beyer demonstrated in show 807! watch/

You can mark curved lines as easily as straight ones and space them to your liking!

[Lynn K.]

I've always just used masking tape....whatever width I wanted it to be. I'd think maybe 1/2 inch for your size. You can 'audition' by laying down a few strips. Don't have to worry about washing it out! ha

[Lynn K.]

Thanks everyone for the wonderful ideas! I did watch Ronda's and I really loved the cross hatching. I think the suggestions are also good in regards to using a smaller grid, since the block is 28". I'm hoping that the 1/2" will look good, but I will put together a sandwich and see how the 1/2" and 1/4" grids look. What I have done so far, is to put the block onto the Grace EZ3 frame that I recently purchased. I'm doing a stitch in the ditch around the applique work, so that I can get used to the set up, as well as doing practice stitches before I actually work on the background. Yesterday I found the Long Arm Classroom.com site, and they have some great stencils and rulers for machine stitching, that looks like it would work for hand quilting as well...including a template for cross hatching. I will have to spend some time on their site this weekend.

Thanks again!
Kathy in CA

[Margo C.]

There are lots of designs based on a simple grid that aren't just plain cross-hatching. A basket weave is one of my favorites and is a good choice for hand work:



You can get a stencil for this here: http://www.anitashackelford.com/quilting_templates.html
Scroll to the bottom of the page. She also has a nice ribbon grid template.

[Margo C.]

Margo, thank you so much for the link to Anita's site! I will be ordering a couple of the templates, the basket weave which is very cool, as well as the template for clamshells. I did see some others that are interesting, such as the hexagon and diamond templates. I have several BOM's that I have completed during the past few years, and instead of making them all bed spreads, I have been picking my favorite blocks . Now I'm planning on putting them together for wall and lap quilts, and using the left over fabrics in scrappy projects.

Take care, Kathy

[Margo C.]

Margo - yes, thank you for the link. I have a simplified Baltimore Album quilt that I hope (!) I will be handquilting by next winter. Anita's templates will be perfect for it.

Kathy

[Margo C.]

Margo,
I love the basketweave and also the ribbon weave designs. Does she give a pathway for machine quilting? Have you done this design on a machine, and if so can it be done with a minimum amount of starts and stops?
Thanks,
Cindy

[Margo C.]

Margo,
I love the basketweave and also the ribbon weave designs. Does she give a pathway for machine quilting? Have you done this design on a machine, and if so can it be done with a minimum amount of starts and stops?
Thanks,
Cindy

One start! One stop! But you do have to do some backtracking like this:


Stitch up on the red, and down on the green.

Filling in the background really makes it pop!



The black with gold thread show above was done on my Handi-Quilter, but it can also be done on a domestic machine.

[Lynn K.]

Ah, ah, AH! I'm loving it!

[Lynn K.]

Thanks Margo! I will give that a try.
Cindy

[karen f.]

Thanks for showing the details to stitch that Margo. Never would have figured that out!

[Lynn K.]

Karen, thanks for saying that. I hadn't even figured out that I "hadn't figured" it out! ha I know that sounds funny, but just seeing it demonstrated made me realize how much time I would have spent 'figuring it out!"

Good thing we're all together in this!

[karen f.]

That's for sure Lynn!