How to Hand Quilt with Esther Miller ~ Lesson 2: first stitch & first direction, plus tools

hi quilters and would be quilters happy to be with you again today to continue our lessons we're going to connect with what we practiced in the first lesson in case you missed that be sure to go back and practice that because it's quite essential to be able to continue and enjoy what we're going to be doing and i'm going to be showing you how to do that first stitch with certain tools and so for this reason we do need to talk about a few tools i've always made small stitches and that has a history i grew up being taught that quilt stitches really need to be little fine and there's a reason to that it makes the quilt durable you you just don't wear a quilt out that's quilted with fine stitches close to and with without a lot of space between the quilting i've seen a lot of old quilts that were very ragged but it wasn't the quilting that was being disintegrated it was the material the fabric so yeah using small stitches has a lot to do with the durability of the quilt and for me it has a lot to do with bringing out the pattern what i'm quilting too big stitches tend to be just not nearly as as visible when it comes to seeing the pattern as it is when you have small stitches because really your thread is not going to play the color of your thread doesn't really matter when you have small stitches because it's not the thread you see it's the profile of what you're quilting into it so we do need to talk about tools because quilting with small stitches puts a lot of pressure on the needle and you're not going to be able to put more than one stitch onto a needle and be able to pull it out yet if you're making small stitches so we're using tools to protect our hands and to make this possible the first tool i want to show you is this thimble it is shaped just like my finger which allows me to use the finger the way it's formed whether i use this part or this part whichever position seems to fit in the direction that i'm quilting that's important to me i don't have to always either just quilt from the tip or from the side and i prefer the rounded part it relaxes my hand and that protects me from any kind of injury too considering carpal tunnel which is a situation that i've experienced and with this tool this enables me to protect my finger to catch up each stitch so that it's not pricked with every stitch the needle slides across this edge it allows me also to quilt even more evenly and this is a tool that the idea is not for me a lot of people have had the idea to put something underneath the quilt but we have modif i have modified this tool so that it has the right angles that i prefer and help me to quilt whether it's from the this side from this side i can move it around with my finger my hand is in an upright position so that it is always relaxed now most of you are not going to have these tools so you don't have to have this kind of a thimble to quilt like this you don't have to have this kind of a tool either you can also pull it with a different thimble this technique will will work if you don't have a tool like this try looking in your drawer silverware drawer and finding a spoon that you hold in your hand like this which will then allow you to use this edge similar to this oops to this porcelain thimble that i have here it's porcelain with a very hard glaze the disadvantage of a spoon is that it will make that will dull your needle quite soon but it's definitely an advantage to try out see if you like this method without having to buy a tool and if you'd be in my class i would you would have the privilege of trying these two tools out for two days and still deciding whether you want to keep them and use them or not but being so if that's not possible i'm trying to find alternatives to help you now in case you have a problem with thimbles and i know a lot of people do especially if they've had trouble with swollen knuckles where a thimble just will not fit there is one other alternative that works fairly well and that is a tape that you can only get at the veterinarians that is often wrapped around a wounded paw of an animal that they can't bite into and it's very flexible and you can wrap it around a finger as often as you need to and it works quite well to protect your finger so in case you really cannot find a thimble that fits on your finger try that out it works let's get started the point is to guide my needle so that it hits the edge of this needle slide just below that the top edge tip the needle back so it slides over the top and then stop and pull the slide out in front of the needle again so i'll be showing you this hope you can follow by looking can you if you can see the edge here i'm moving it back and forth so that you can follow that i pick up the needle like demonstrated the first time always be sure you have that firm grip on your needle for the first stitch the first stitch is the most important one always is so you see this edge i put the needle into the material i feel the resistance and now i can take my fingers away and the needle is clamped between these two tools i slowly put the needle down rock it down a little bit until i s and push until i see the needle point coming out on the other side i will repeat this procedure you see this needle slide i pick up the needle have it firmly in my grip put the needle into the quilt until i feel the resistance from the needle slide take my fingers away my finger and my thumb away tip the needle down so that i can push it over the top of the slide as soon as i see that tip i stop but i do not relieve the tension if i relieve the tension i'm going to lose my stitch so keeping the tension i move the needle slide forward until i see it in front of the tip of the needle picking the needle up again until i feel that resistance and then i rock it back down just a little bit so it slides over the top as soon as i see the tip i stop and i repeat this procedure i now have four stitches on here which is enough for this quilt because it's rather thick and i could never pull that needle out with my fingers so i have a little tool that's very helpful i put the needle through the bigger hole be sure the needle is is visible on this side of the hole i clamp it shut with this plunger that i have in my thumb and pull the needle out it's a very very good tool to have and it certainly saves on a lot of frustration and strength now you've probably noticed that this needle is really small short but strong for this kind of quilting you need a short strong needle otherwise it will bend and really you can't get more than about four sometimes five stitches onto a needle like this and still be able to pull it out if it's longer it's just clumsier and it doesn't help in being able to quilt better so i prefer a short sturdy needle there's lots of needles on the market i've tried a lot of different ones my favorite one now is the 11 betweens be sure you use betweens they're made for quilting this is a size 11 from roxanne's it is usually quilled the needles the higher the number of the needle the smaller the needle is very often you have a 10 and then you have a 12. roxanne has made an 11 which is between the two the 11 is as strong as the 10 but short like the 12. and it's just the right needle for me pick the needle that you want or what works the best for you but choosing a needle is not unimportant the reason this first stitch is so important is because when you start quilting that first stitch will help you gauge for the rest of the stitches you will see on your needle the right size of the stitch that you want and after that if the first stitch is the right thing then the rest is just comparing and making them at the same length and it's so much easier to compare them with each other than it is to make that very first stitch okay that's it for today we were working on the first position and how to hold the needle and how to guide it for the next lesson we'll be going into a different direction the second direction hope you'll join us if you've missed any of the first instructions go back and practice all the things that have been shown to you it will help you be able to proceed further [Music] thank you for all the good comments you've sent we really appreciate your being a part of this program and for all of you who are new be sure to subscribe to our channel and hit the bell button so that you will be informed when the next video is going to be shown and we're looking forward to seeing you again and remember quilting connects much more than three layers of fabric you

Channel: MillersQuilting

Views: 47,247

Keywords: Amish Quilting, Esther Miller, Handquilting, Handquilting Instruction, handquilten, Handquilten anleitung, how to quilt by hand, traditional quilting, hand quilting for beginners, how to hand quilt, learn to hand quilt

Id: okIskT8I7mw

Length: 12min 25sec (745 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 15 2021