Add visual and textural interest to your quilt with big stitch quilting! No longer do you need perfect small and even stitches that can hardly be seen. Stitching now can become an integral element in your finished piece! Whether you are an art quilter, modern quilter or traditional quilter, add some big stitch quilting to your piece – it’s much quicker and easier!
What is Big Stitch Quilting
Big Stitch Quilting is a method of hand quilting that generally uses bigger threads like perle cotton in #8 size, which then becomes a visual design element to the quilt. Sometimes people refer to Big Stitch Quilting as Utility Quilting.
How to do Big Stitch Quilting
Learn the basics of big stitch quilting, a hand quilting method that is fast, easy and makes a visual and textural statement on your quilt.
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Use perle cotton colors to blend with your quilt, or let the stitches take center stage with a contrasting color.
Materials
- Your fabric project, ready for quilting
- Perle Cotton in the colors you want for your quilting, I like #8 size
Tools
- Embroidery needles for perle cotton, I like to use Bohin Crewel needles
- Thimble
- Embroidery scissors
- OPTIONAL: Needle threader
- OPTIONAL: Embroidery hoop
Instructions
- Thread your embroidery needle with about 25-30" of thread. If you go longer with your thread, sometimes it frays. I love my Bohin needle threader - makes threading needles super easy.
- Knot your thread with the quilter's knot, with only two loops around the needle. See our article on how to do a quilter's knot.
- If you start in the center of your quilt, you can smooth out both the top and bottom as you go. Bring your needle up from the back to the front. Here is the knot on the back of the quilt.
- Gently tug the thread so that the knot 'pops' through the fabric back of the quilt. I like to hold the quilt and just pull the backing fabric gently so they knot 'snaps' through the back and gets layered between the backing and the batting.
- It might leave a hole where the fibers separated to allow the knot to pass through. Just rub gently and the fibers go right back in place.
- Now you are ready to begin taking stitches. There are two methods of stitching. Use the one you want for the look you want. For a more precise stitch length, use the stab method. For a more improvisational look, you can use a mix of both stab method and running method, which is what I did on this piece. I use the stab method when I need to stitch through extra layers in seam allowances, and running method when the needle is gliding through the fabric and batting.
For the stabbing method, start by bringing your needle straight up ("stabbing") through all layers from back to front.
- Next, 'stab' your needle back down, making the stitch length you'd like.
- I like to use the running stitch method on long, straight stretches without bulk that are easy to stitch. Rock your needle to load several stitches and pull your thread through gently. This is not as precise of a method of stitching.
- Here is a close up of a section of this quilt that shows big stitches in colors that blend, as well as contrasting colors that make a statement.
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