How to Use a Sewing Machine for Mock Hand Quilting

The look of hand quilting adds appeal to an already attractive quilt.

For even an advanced hand quilter, quilting a bed-sized quilt can take many weeks of regular work to complete. Luckily, you can use a sewing machine for mock hand quilting to get the look of hand quilting from a machine in less time. While quilters familiar with machine quilting should try this technique, you can use it for virtually any project where quilting is required. From wall hangings to quilted tote bags, you can quilt any pattern usually used for hand quilting with your machine.

Things You'll Need

• Sewing machine
• Coordinating thread
• Clear thread
• Size 14/90 sewing machine needles
• Prepared quilt
• Scissors

Instructions

1. Wind a sewing machine bobbin with a thread that coordinates with the backing fabric of your quilt. Load the bobbin into your machine.

2. Replace the thread at the top of your machine with a clear sewing thread. Load the thread onto your machine following the manufacturer's guidelines for threading your machine.

3. Change the needle of your machine to a 14/90 size needle to support the weight of the clear thread. Leave the tension of the machine unchanged.

4. Slip the quilt under the presser foot and adjust it until the center of the quilt is under the presser foot. Put the presser foot down and hold the clear thread tightly between your fingers as you turn the hand wheel of the machine one rotation to bring up the bobbin thread.

5. Hold the bobbin and top threads together and take a few stitches in place. Quilt as you normally do for any machine quilting project using a walking foot or darning foot as you prefer.

6. Clip your threads as you start and stop quilting until the entire quilt is complete. Pay attention to where you start and stop quilting as the tails of clear thread can be hard to see.

Tips & Warnings

• Be sure to practice your quilting patterns before you quilt the quilt so you can create designs which look like hand quilting. Stippling and echo quilting, for example are rare to hand quilting, while feather motifs and braided cables are often seen in hand quilted work.

• Do not use this technique for quilts you intend to get a lot of active or daily use or which will be passed down for generations, as the clear stitching may not last more than a few decades.

References

• "Quilter's Compete Guide"; Marianne Fons & Liz Porter; 2000
• "Foolproof Machine Quilting"; Mary Mashuta; 2008