PEASE SOMEONE HELP; Needle turn hawaiian king size quilt
 

Has anyone ever done on a whole cloth background king size Hawaiian quilt. I have always been a machine thread play quilter, (paint with fabric dyes and then add detail with thread play.) But a very good friend of mine had ask her mom to make her a king size Hawaiian quilt. Her mother had the blue Hawaiian pattern (all in one big piece) basted to the whole cloth king size white background. Then her mom got Alzheimer. When they were cleaning out her mom's house they found the quilt, and my friend, knowing that I did quilting, ask me to finish it. I didn't know at the time what type of quilt it was, so I told her I would try. I am getting the hang of the needle turn applique, (although the indents really give me fits,) but now I am getting farther into the middle and trying to get my hand around the wad of fabric so my finger is underneath and my thumb nail on top to hold as I turn under the edge of the applique is getting almost impossible. And I am only about half way to the center of the quilt. Does anyone have any tips for me on how to handle such a huge piece? I can only do a little bit before my hand gets too tired from holding so much fabric. I have been trying to roll it tightly but I am getting to the point that that doesn't get the wad of fabric small enough. PLEASE, SOMEONE HELP!!!!!!I'm getting desperate!!!

I haven't made one, but I understand that some people use a hoop to help control the fabric while doing the applique.

either a hoop or a frame would be benificial for this project- then you are not trying to handle all that fabric at once. hoop the area you are working on- with it smooth- but not tight (it's not like embroidery- you need the fabric to have give- then the rest of the quilt can just lay beside/on you as you work on an area-
some people really like the pvc type hoops/frames---others prefer a 12-14" wooden hoop.
or if available a floor frame would really make it more manageable. with it hooped both hands are free'd up to work your appliques

Maybe a hoop on a stand?

Moral of your story - never agree to something until one has seen the project!

I tried an 8 inch hand held hoop but still had too much fabric. Maybe I need a hoop on a stand. Is that what you were thinking? Thanks for responding.

OK, will get one of the hoops on a stand. Thanks for the info on how to do it. REALLY APPRECIATE THE HELP!

Thank you everyone, I am new to quiltingboard, and really appreciate the quick responses,
Jean

Needle turn applique is difficult. I've only ever done smaller pieces. Would it work to do it at a large table? The table would support most of the fabric and you could work on a small spot by pinching the fabric from the top rather than holding it from the front and back. Good luck and I wish I could offer more advice but I'm stumped.

I have done a lot of large applique quilts but I wouldn't attempt one like that sounds as if she would have machine stitched the applique down with a decorative stitch hope you come up with a solution

I would use the hoop or frame but I also think I would either baste or pin down the entire pattern so I would not get to the middle and find I had stretched the background or maybe even had it too loose so I eneded up with a mess.