Tips for Hand Quilting

I just had a lady email me wanting some advice on hand quilting. She was having some difficulty and hoped that I would be able to give her some tips and shed some light on how to hand quilt without breaking the needle.

She wrote " Just wondering if you could help me. I am hand quilting using Luixins small quilting needles but keep snapping them. Yesterday I snapped 4 in a matter of minutes. Any suggestions?"

Those of you who hand quilt will know that quilting needles are very short in length and are fine. When I first started hand quilting I used any old needle I had lying around, I was totally ignorant and as a result my hand quilting was very average, the stitches were on the large side and I could never get the stitching on the back to look any good. As time passed I was fortunate to attend a workshop that changed my hand quilting style forever. You can read about the hand quilting  technique I learned by clicking here

I came to understand that the needle used for hand quilting is important and that I fine needle is a must.

Which takes us back to the question at hand "How do I stop my quilting needle from breaking?"
Here are the hand quilting tips that I sent back to her:

 There are a few reasons why your needle would be breaking:
- your batting is too thick for hand quilting, a thin cotton or bamboo batting is recommended
- your backing is too thick, a light weight good quality 100% cotton fabric is recommended
- do not quilt through the seam, hand quilt 1/4" from the seam line or diagonally through blocks
- incorrect technique, not taking the needle up straight before punching through all layers,
before forming the stitch.

I hope that these hand quilting tips have also been helpful for you and that you can now tackle your next hand quilting project with confidence.
Warmly Lenna