I thought it might be helpful to add a post explaining the steps in pick stitching....let me know what you think....
Tools of the trade....
I prefer Piecemakers Embroidery needles for pick stitching with perle cotton...I almost always use #8 perle cotton. It is easy enough to thread through the eye of the needle, but thick enough to add a decorative touch to your quilt. I use either masking tape, painters tape or quilters tape to mark my stitching line. I aways tell students to use the thimble they are most comfortable with...I use a leather thimble. I have tried many types, but I have kind of skinny fingers so I have found this to be the best thimble for me.
Wear the thimble on the middle finger of your dominant hand...with the stretchy part on your knuckle....YIKES! Those are my grandmother's hands - ha!
I use an 18 inch hoop so I don't have to re-hoop the quilt as often. The quilt should be in the hoop snug...but not too tight...you want to be able to push up a little hill from underneath the hoop...you don't want to be able to bounce a quarter off of it!
Use tape to mark off your stitching line...when you want a straight line...sometimes I choose to have a more organic line and then I don't mark at all...just eyeball it. All the work will be done on the top of the quilt...so you will begin and end on the top of the quilt...
Use about 18 inches of perle cotton and put a knot at one end....begin by taking the thread just under the top of the quilt (not through all three layers) and start about 1/2 inch away from your actual stitch line...slid the needle under the top of the quilt and come up next to your tape on the stitch line...give the thread a little tug until you pop the knot into the middle layers of the quilt..this is burying the knot!
Begin your first stitch by going straight down into the quilt - the needle should be perpendicular to the top of the quilt.
Here's where the big-time action begins...the hand on top of the quilt should be in a C position between your middle finger and your thumb...your other hand will be under the hoop. So if you are right handed - your right hand will be on top of the quilt and your left hand will be under the hoop...
There are several things that will happen simultaneously and you just have to practice and get a rhythm to become proficient...your thimble finger will rock the needle (eye of the needle) up and the point of the needle down into the layers of the quilt...while you take the needle down into the layers, the other hand (middle finger) will feel the point of the needle poking through and it will direct the needle back up into the layers of the quilt. While all of this is happening the top hand thumb will push down (while the middle finger underneath is pushing up) to create a little hill....this way the needle has some direction and come back up to the top layer of the quilt...your thumb on the top will feel when the needle has come back through. As you push up this little hill, the eye of the needle will rock back down and the point will be rocked up to complete the stitch. WHEW!!!
When pick stitching with perle cotton, I usually only stack a couple of stitches at a time...
I prefer larger stitches with perle cotton...a little larger than 1/4 inch...that is just a personal preference...I think it adds charm.
When you are ready to knot off the stitching...take your last stitch and make a loop and a knot...move the knot close to the quilt top....
Go back down into the hole of the last stitch and move your needle just under the top layer off to the side...come back up through the top layer...and pop the knot into the top to bury the knot.
Snip off the thread and you are finished with that line of stitching...
I cannot stress enough how the charm of pick stitching is that it is not perfect...the stitches are chunky and not always straight or in perfect little lines...it adds charm and whimsy to your quilt...I love it!
Mary
