Hand quilting a lap quilt at seven stitches to the inch
The lap quilt I finished in November, about 54 by 66 inches, was the first one I quilted entirely by hand, in a 14 inch hoop, mostly on the sofa after dinner. I chose a one-inch crosshatch across the whole top rather than following the piecing, partly because a straight line is easier to stitch evenly and partly because I wanted the texture to be the point. I marked the lines with a creasing tool and a long ruler, one hoop-full at a time, since creases fade within a day or two.
Needles were the first thing I got wrong. I started with a size 9 between, which felt sturdy, and could not get more than four or five stitches to the inch. A size 10 is shorter and thinner, and after a week with it I was at six, and by the end of the quilt a consistent seven on the top with the back only slightly more uneven. The thread is a 40 weight cotton made for hand quilting, cut no longer than about 18 inches because longer lengths twisted and knotted on every third stitch. I ran each length over a cake of beeswax, which made it slide through the layers and stopped the twisting.
The rocking stitch, where the needle is driven down with a thimble and rocked back up with the finger underneath, took about two weeks to feel natural. My underneath finger was raw for the first few days until I started wearing a leather pad on it. The thimble needs proper dimples; a smooth one let the needle skate off and bend, and I bent two needles that way before I understood.
Batting matters enormously for hand work. I used a thin wool batting, and the needle goes through it like it is not there. On a small practice piece with an 80/20 cotton blend the same needle dragged and squeaked and my stitch count dropped by two per inch. The wool also gives the finished quilt a soft loft that makes the crosshatch look deeper than it is.
Timekeeping, since I was curious: roughly 45 minutes for each hoop-full of about 10 by 10 inches, which came to about 60 hours spread over three months. I buried every start and stop with a quilter’s knot popped through the top into the batting, and after two washes none have surfaced.