Hand quilting

[smd719]

Hi! I'm working on a Sylvia's Bridal Sampler and want to machine quilt it but in the manner of hand quilting. Do you know of a resource that would show how particular blocks would have been hand quilted? I usually use stencils when I actually hand quilt or 1/4" from the seam.

Any assistance/advice would be appreciated and thanks!

I'll post pix when I'm done. I've been working on this stupid thing quilt for 4 years now and I'm tired of looking at it! I'm going to use Hobbs 80/20 batting, plain muslin for the backing and will be trying 50 wt. Aurifil in the Millie. I want a finer 100% cotton thread than King Tut and that's what I have.

Again, thanks!

[Quilting Heidi]

Stephanie,

Isn't there a website for it that might have some pictures of it quilted? Also do a google search for pictures of it. It is a very popular quilt and I'm sure you'd find some pictures. I started it and got only about 30 blocks done and gave up. It is a lot of work.

[smd719]

Thanks, Heidi, but I"m looking for inspiration for the quilting from something OTHER than OTHER Sylvia's quilts. I want to know how the blocks were quilted historically speaking.

[ffq-lar]

Sylvia's Bridal Sampler is a quilt from a novel--it isn't a historical piece though it has a nice "old" feel to it. If you want it to be historically accurate, I think your experience with hand quilting shows in what you mentioned in your post and are perfect solutions.

Historically, hand quilters stitched crosshatching and other grid work, like diagonals through seam intersections. They put feathers where they show--like in borders and plain blocks. They stitched a quarter-inch away from seams. And if there are many blocks like a sampler they might have marked and stitched the same stencil on all. They stitched concentric designs like Baptist Fan and repetitive designs like clamshells. The reason for all this was quilters used what was at hand to mark--plates, cups, strips of paper, perhaps cardboard cutouts for feathers--some used the bowl of a spoon to mark each feather tip. Grid work could be marked with a yardstick or straight piece of wood.

Anyhoo--you are the expert! I can only look at hand quilting and appreciate it--I can't do it myself.

I was honored to quilt a Dear Jane a couple of years ago. We decided on a baptist fan with a subtle color thread and it was very effective. I've seen some Dear Janes which were SID-ed. Not in my world though!

Good luck and I know with the thin thread you've chosen, the quilting will enhance the piecing and look great.