Simple Hand Quilting - Fit For Art Patterns

There are so many ways to quilt. It keeps our quilted jacket ideas fresh and fun. If you want to get started, sign up to attend our workshop Get Going Sewing Quilted Jackets at Artistic Artifacts October 9 and 10. We will be machine quilting in that class with inspiration from our book Sewing Quilted Patchwork Jackets. But with hand stitching and slow stitching having a moment these days, let’s think about it as an option for simple hand quilted jackets.

Carrie and Rae started with the inspiration in Mary Ray’s Boro Stitching article in a 2018 Threads Magazine. We each decided to take on a hand stitching project using the Tabula Rasa Jacket pattern. The projects took several years to complete, but each of us created a garment we still love. There is something special about a garment you cannot rush. Click on the caption on the photo to read more about these projects.

Last year Rae introduced you to a vest she hand quilted called Bears with Umbrellas. The fashion fabric is canvas that was pieced and quilted to a silk batting. The vest went together rather quickly and was finished with a free hanging lining. Here is Rae to finish the saga.

Bears with Umbrellas with lining inserted, but no band yet.

The lining, a pretty blue Cupro, had a satin sheen and a bouncy finish similar to the fabric from last week’s Carpe Diem Tunic blog post. When I wore the vest last spring, the lining seemed to float away from the vest; it had no connection to the fabric and batting. This buoyancy really bothered me and made me feel that the vest had too much volume.

My easy answer was to add another round of hand quilting to connect the three layers. While it would be complicated to add machine quilting to an already complete garment, it is not so difficult to add hand quilting.

Here are the tools I used. Ironing is the last step.

First I gathered my tools, which are not very many. My needle book has a number of different size hand stitching needles and a handy needle puller (the tan circle pinned into the page on the left) in case there is a thick spot I can’t quite get the needle through. After a search for the thread I used to quilt the vest, which must still be in France, I found a package of Sashiko thread that matched quite closely.

The back with pins holding the lining to the quilt sandwich.

Sitting in one of my favorite chairs while the weekend sports were on the TV, I began by placing pins in the spots where an additional raindrop could be logically placed. The raindrops are just a little diamond shape with a line down the middle. It also seemed logical to stitch a line of small running stitches along the seams piecing the different colors of fabric together and under the denim sash. Occasionally I would add another layer of stitches around one of the puddles in the original hand quilting.

Stitching through all the layers on the back of the jacket.

When my hands tired, I would set down my work, have a snack, run an errand, or read a chapter of my book club book, then return refreshed a few hours later. After working on the yoke areas, I tried the vest on and decided it was helping to add these stitches. By the time you read this I will have completed the planned quilting and be ready to wear it this fall. I can always go back in and add more later if it feels better, but not best!

Keeping the stitching on the inside tidy.

I encountered a few challenges in the process, especially hiding the knots on the inside of the vest. I often began along the front band or the armhole binding where the heavy suede and denim binding extends to the wrong side. There I’d knot each raindrop or stitching line and then slide the thread under the lining layer to the next planned spot. When I finished a section, I would assess. Sometimes another raindrop was needed to support the fabric sandwich, so I would just make the knot small and neat and stitch it into the underside as neatly as possible. Because I was stitching on the outside, the final challenge was to remember the location of the interior pockets and not stitch them shut. Can a small pad of paper or a scrap of cardboard be slid into the pocket so if you try to stitch there, you meet an immovable object? It worked for me!

Pocket placement in relation to new quilting stitches.

Below the salutation are links to some additional hand quilting projects for you to check out in our blog archive. If you are just getting started, a small hand quilting project might be a good beginning. Choose between the sleep mask, the composition book cover, or a TRJ vest. They are all Free Downloads at fitforartpatterns.com. Try out a hand stitching project, and join us at Artistic Artifacts if you are ready to start your quilted jacket journey.