My Favorite Hand Quilting Supplies

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I have this little blue pouch that I’ve carried around for approximately the last two years. It contains my green thimble, a little pair of Fiskars scissions, Pearle Thread, and hand quilting needles.

It’s all my hand quilting supplies minus the actual quilt. It goes with me to different chairs around the house as I go where my family is. It also travels with me to my parent’s house and my in-law’s house.

Unfortunately, over Christmas I took that little blue pouch in the van while we traveled over Christmas. I haven’t seen it since. We looked for a while around the house and the van. We called family to see if it was accidentally left at their house.

No one could find it.

When I finally began to grow impatient about my little pouch, I decided it wasn’t a big deal. Hand quilting supplies are not that expensive. Plus, I needed to go to the local craft store within a couple days anyway. I could just pick up a new thimble and needles.

My husband and I, at this point, were convinced my little blue pouch had fallen out of the van in a parking lot we had stopped in to change a diaper on the way. There are much worse things in life to lose than a simple supply of hand quilting supplies.

I went to the local craft store and picked up $10 worth of thimbles and a pack of needles for hand use. Nothing was name brand supplies, but I supposed everything would be fine.

This is when I learned that the quality of supplies I use can make hand quilting enjoyable or make hand quilting thoroughly frustrating.

Friends, I could not believe how terrible the thimbles were. I was tempted to try to take them back even though I had opened both packs I purchased. I realized my hobby was so much more dependent on the quality of supplies I was using than I ever imagined.

The needles? Goodness. I was a tad irritated at the store just because the needles were not labeled real well. I did my best with what I knew, but I came home with a pack of needles that were not suited well for hand quilting.

All that to say, buy a GOOD THIMBLE and buy some GOOD NEEDLES. They make a HUGE difference. Yes, I was frustrated for buying $15 of poor supplies. I re-ordered everything off of Amazon and started my supply over again.

So what hand quilting supplies do I recommend?

First off, this thimble. I didn’t know how much I liked it until I had tried the two other brands that were terrible for me. I had picked up this little green thimble at our local quilting shop a couple years ago. It was the only one they had. So I bought that one. It went from being the only thimble I’d ever tried to my current absolute favorite.

It’s the Dritz Soft Comfort Thimble. It does come in varying sizes. So make sure to purchase the size you think will fit your finger best.

Needles. Needles are important. These have become my current favorite. They are Fons and Porter Utility Quilting Needles.

The packaging (blue and red) in the picture on Amazon appears different than what’s pictured above. When I ordered them, I ordered the ones with the blue and red packaging. These are the same. Just different packaging.

I doubt the brand of scissors will make or break your hand quilting experience. I do recommend, though, have a SMALL pair of scissors on hand. They are so much easier to manage and handle than a regular sized pair of scissors. These are the ones I had before, and I liked them well enough to purchase them again. They’re the Fiskars Micro-Tip Scissors.

Thankfully most of my hand quilting thread was still at home. I still recommend Pearle Cotton thread. I enjoy size 8 right now for hand quilting.

Lesson learned folks. Quality makes a difference. I’ve learned that quality fabric makes a huge difference in my quilts. I guess thimbles and needles do too. 🙂