* When you find a little packet of silica gel in your newly purchased purse, or pair of shoes, don't toss it into the garbage. Put it in with your spools of thread, or in your containers of fabric.. it will prevent mustiness and keep them "fresh." ~ LaVerne D.
* When making strip sets, it is common for them to "bow" or curve. This can be prevented by alternating the direction of your sewing when joining the strips. The easiest way to do this is to first join the strips in pairs and leave a long thread tail at the beginning of each pair's seam. When you reach the other end, cut the thread ends short. Press seams. Now join the pairs and start your stitching at the opposite end - the end with the SHORT thread ends. ~ Linda H and Angela L-P.
* A set of high quality seam rippers is available from Lee Valley Tools, it can be
viewed here. It is currently available from the Halifax store (closest Lee Valley for us.) ~ Barb C.
*Use of a clapper will help to flatten seams when pressing. Clappers are pricey, and not always easy to source. A well sanded block of hardwood serves the same purpose. After pressing a seam, immediately cover the seam with the block of hardwood and let sit for at least 30 seconds, until fabric has cooled. ~ Gail M.
* Do you enjoy paper-piecing, but dislike tearing off the paper? If so, try this - wet a Q-tip and run it along the lines of stitching on the paper, this will soften the paper and make it easier to pull off.
~ Lois M.
*A tip via David Taylor at Quilt Canada: David does incredible appliqué work, many of his pieces feature animals or birds. It is often difficult to find many shades of a light colour like white so he lines light appliqué pieces with a darker colour (greys, blues, yellows, etc.) to give a tint of that colour. Eg. a darker grey under a white piece gives the white a greyish tint. Lining light appliqué pieces or using two layers of the same fabric also serves to prevent the seam allowance from shadowing through, especially when the light piece is being placed on a dark background. ~Lee M.
*If you haven't updated your power bar in a while, perhaps you should. (I'm sure you all know you should use a power bar at all times for your sewing machine, and only have your machine plugged in while you are actually sewing.) Pay a little extra for a good quality one, and make sure it is surge-protected (on the advice of our electrician.) ~ Linda H.
*Here is a great fabric organization/storage idea, shared by former member Sandi M. She buys sheets of foam core board at the dollar store; these sheets are 20" x 30" for $1.50. If using for full width yardage, she cuts the board in 6" widths (so 6" x 20") getting five out of one sheet. If using for fat quarters or other smaller pieces, she cuts 10 from a sheet, each one is 6"x10". Fabric is wrapped around the board, then stood vertically on the shelf, the same way you see fabric bolts in the store. She measures the yardage or piece before wrapping, and notes on the bottom of the board how much is there, then keeps a running total as she cuts from it, so she can tell at a quick glance, without unwrapping and measuring, exactly what she has for length. ~ Sandi M.
* Jane G. told us about her wonderful new iron, available from Costco online. It's called the Panasonic 360°Freestyle Ceramic Cordless! (What a title!) With 1500 W of power and an auto
shut-off, it has a dual point soleplate and comes with a heat resistant carrying case. Jane said it weighs 4.4 lbs. - just right to not give wrist strain, but gives wrinkles the message!!
She also recommended the Quick Easy Mitred-Binding Tool, and the Bohin extra fine mechanical chalk pencil, for which you can get several different colours of "leads." ~ Jane G.
* Retayne and Synthrapol are two items we should all have in our laundry areas. Let's face it, fabric dyes can run. It would be nice if they didn't, but there are no guarantees, and who wants to take a chance? After putting many hours of work into a quilt, who wants to risk that colour will run the first time the quilt is washed? Retayne is a colour fixative used for prewashing the fabric before use. Synthrapol is used to wash a quilt to "remove the bleed" if colour
has run. Both products are available from Andrea at Ridge Machine Quilting, and come in 4oz. and 8oz. bottles. ~ Linda H.
* If you have sticky residue or buildup on your machine needle from stitching through fusibles, wipe the needle with a cosmetic pad soaked with rubbing alcohol, or an alcohol wipe/swab. ~ Linda H.
*In answer to a question about hanging quilts and having them hang flat without rippling, Linda told us to add a sleeve to the bottom of the quilt or wallhanging. Placing a dowel or slat in the sleeve for a month or so will help to "weight" the quilt and after a time the dowel or slat can likely be removed and the quilt or wallhanging will hang perfectly straight and flat. ~ Linda H.
* Lee reminded us of the importance of paying close attention to the accuracy of our seams especially at the beginning and ending of a long line of stitching. These spots are most important for accuracy as this is where things will have to match, when putting pieces together. ~ Lee M.
*Clip-on magnifying lenses are available for your glasses. Very useful for hand sewing or any sewing when you need to see just a little better. Susan got hers at Spruce It Up quilt shop outside Port Elgin.
~ Susan D.
*Bulldog clips are very useful when layering a quilt on a table. Lay the backing out smoothly, right side down and clip to the table. Smooth batting and quilt top over the backing, and re-clip to hold things in place for basting. ~ Monica W.
*
Best Press can get expensive. You can make your own substitute by mixing 3 oz. cheap vodka with 24 oz. water (or 1 part cheap vodka to 8 parts water.) ~ Barb F.
* Reading the info on the package or wrapper of batting is very important. It will tell you whether the batting has been preshrunk for you (most are not), how much shrinkage to expect when it is washed, and, very important, how much space you can leave between your lines of quilting. This varies from 1.5"-2" to 10". ~ Linda H.
* A new style of spray bottle delivers a very fine mist and is wonderful for dampening wrinkly fabric. Often works better than steam from your iron. ~ Gail M. (Note- I just got one recently and I l
ove it! - Linda H)
*Dritz makes a mini iron called
Dritz Petite Press Portable Mini Iron. It is very useful for pressing small seams and pieces. ~ Marg K.
*Lee loves her
Gypsy Gripper, a tool which will attach to a ruler with suction cups, to prevent the ruler slipping while rotary cutting fabric. ~ Lee M.
* Pressing long strips of binding is sometimes awkward, as the length twists and falls off the board. Pinning a strip of fabric an inch or two wide to one end of your board and then passing your pressed binding under that strip will help hold things in place. ~ Jean K.
*Jean K showed us a new method of hanging a quilt, using a monkey hook and cable clamp- these are available at places like Kent or Home Depot. ~ Jean K.
*A colour wheel can be very useful when making colour/fabric choices for a quilt. They can be purchased at Michaels (use your coupon!) or Endeavours or anywhere that sells art supplies. ~ Carole C. and Lee M.
* It is important not to overfill your bobbin to prevent tension issues. 3/4 full is preferable, and don't wind at a high speed as it will wind too tightly, stretching the thread. ~ Lee M and Marj D.
* Several tips for removing red wine stains: a mixture of blue Dawn and peroxide will remove red wine stains. ~Sandra N. Pouring a generous amount of Perrier water on a red wine spill, followed by blotting with paper towel also works. ~ Gwenda M.
* Running a good lint roller over the pinked edges of a jelly roll before unwrapping the roll will remove much of the lint and little bits. ~Jeanne Kaye S.
A lint roller purchased from a pet shop does a great job as it seems to be extra sticky, in order to pick up pet hair. ~ Sue R.
* Placing a yoga mat under your cutting mat will help prevent slipping. ~ Barb P.
* A knitting stitch holder works well for holding safety pins. ~ Sally L.
* If you have a project requiring a large number of cut strips, plastic clothespins will help keep each group or size organized. ~ Sue. R.
* Do you have cones of thread that are impossible to use on your sewing machine because they wobble so? If you take an empty plastic spool apart, and insert the spool end into the cone until it fits snugly, the cone will sit perfectly on your spool pin without wobbling. ~ Linda H.
* If you have trouble threading clear monofilament thread into your needle (it IS hard to see!) simply colour the tip of the thread with a black marker. Problem solved! ~ Linda H.
* Keeping a good magnifying glass such as a philatelist's glass by your sewing machine makes threading easier. ~ Jane S.
* If you find your legs and feet tire quickly when standing at your cutting table or ironing board for long sessions, consider buying the interlocking foam squares that you see for children's play areas, to stand on. The childrens' ones are usually brightly coloured but you can also buy plain colours. They come 4 in a pkg, and include the edge strips for a straight edge, at Canadian Tire, Home Depot, etc. Two tiles with straight edges added measure about 25" x 48". ~ Linda H.
* If you have ever melted a plastic bag onto your hot iron, you have a mess! Scrape off as much as you can while it is warm and soft. Then spread a generous amount of table salt onto a piece of old fabric and rub the iron back and forth over the salt. This should remove all the remaining melted plastic. ~ Linda H.
* Placing a sticky note on your machine with the needle type and size is so much easier than trying to read the size of the needle ON the needle. Of course you must remember to change the sticky note when you change the needle. ~ Linda H.
Another suggestion is color coding your needles with colored markers, similar to what Schmetz now does. ~ LaVerne D.
* During her demo at our April meeting Jean showed us how she "quilts in thirds" cutting her batting into three sections and quilting one section at a time, to keep the bulk more manageable. She cuts lightweight fusible interfacing in strips approximately 1.5" wide, and uses a light touch with the iron to bond the sections of batting together. ~ Jean K.
* If you have a spare bed that is not used often, it is a great place for "storing" extra quilts and wallhangings. Just spread them flat on the bed and pile them up! You may even want to cover them with a sheet, to keep light from fading them and protect them from dust. So much better to store them flat rather than folded which creates hard-to-remove creases. ~ Jean K.
* Lee keeps her guild nametag in her car, so if she "forgets" it when packing for a meeting, at least it is as close as the parking lot! Great idea! ~ Lee M.
* When planning to make a quilt larger than what your pattern states, give it some thought. Many simply think "I'll just make more blocks." But it could be much easier to increase your block size slightly. Sit down with graph paper and pencil and sketch out your block in a larger size and see how it can "fit your bed." It's not hard to cut strips 1/2" wider, or whatever size you need, and much quicker than making many more blocks.
I once taught a workshop for a lap quilt with a log cabin variation block. Strips were cut 2" wide, yielding a 6" block. 63 blocks were needed (7 blocks wide by 9 long.) Two students wanted to make it double bed size - one contacted me, one didn't. I "did the math" and calculated if strips were cut 1/2" wider, it would give an 8" block and a double bed size quilt with the same number of blocks (63). The other gal who thought "I'll just make more blocks" was not happy when she realized she would need 117 (6") blocks to cover the top of her double bed! So it's worth it to take the time and do a little planning. Making a slightly larger block is much quicker and easier than making many more blocks. ~ Linda H.
* If you are a Princess Auto shopper (now open in Fredericton, near Costco) you might want to pick up one of their rotary cutters. It may not be quite as sturdy as an Olfa or Fiskars, but for under $7.00 it would be great for crafting, cutting paper, etc. For that price, worth it just for the blade! It is a standard size, 45mm blade. ~ Marj D.
* If your machine bobbins have very small holes to thread your thread end through (such as a Pfaff) you might find this helpful. "Eez Thru" floss threaders by Gum, found in the dental products aisle, are perfect for helping to get threads, especially fine ones like Wonderfil, pulled through the small bobbin holes. ~ Jean S.
* When Lee explained an issue with getting rows of laid out blocks from the floor to her sewing area, Lois suggested the use of an old sheet. Lay blocks/rows out on the sheet. Roll it up from the bottom, just leaving the top row of blocks exposed. Unroll as you progress with sewing the rows together. Barb F added a picnic tablecloth with a flannel-like backing also would work well. ~ Lee M, Lois M, Barb F
* This product was purchased and tried recently and found to work very well. You can find it at Bed, Bath and Beyond. We likely all should have this in our sewing areas- who has not gotten her iron yucky with some sort of fusible product? ~ Sandi M.
* Another product to consider having on hand is Shout Color Catchers or something similar. These pick up and hold any stray colour/dye molecules that are floating around in your wash water if something in the load is bleeding colour.
* If you find the eyes of needles seem to be getting smaller these days, and therefore harder to thread, you might want to try
these Spiral Eye side-threading needles. The thread slips in easily from the side. Easy Peasy! Available from www.spiraleyeneedles.com ~ Linda H.
* Many useful items for our sewing spaces can be found at retail outlets other than fabric shops and quilt shops. Jane gave us an impressive list of things she buys at
"other" stores, for use while sewing/quilting such as: cording from a fishing supplies store, tips for ends of cording, heat shrink tubing and dental picks from Princess Auto, and large clips for holding your quilt on a frame from the Dollar Store. She also reminded us that clear nailpolish will work if you are out of
Fray Check. ~ Jane G.
* Insul-Bright is a product now available locally which is great for use in potholders, oven mitts, hot pads and even placemats! It is a poly batting with an insulating metalized film layer. ~ Deanna M.
* Stencils/templates are now available for
marking grids! Gail showed us a stencil for marking multiple parallel lines without moving the stencil. It would work well for marking cross-hatching.
~ Gail M.
* Have you ever tried glue-basting? Some use it on their bindings. Lee suggested another use. We all like our seam allowances to lie nice and flat when we press our tops before sandwiching. Sometimes when there is bulk at intersecting seams, the pressed seam allowance will flip or twist when you sandwich the quilt, so a tiny dab of school glue along the length of the seam in the trouble spots followed by pressing will tame it into submission and make it behave! ~ Lee M.
* Ziploc bags are so useful for
storing many things in our sewing areas. Finally, ziplocs are now available with
tabs which make them easier to open, especially for arthritic fingers. ~ Jean K.
* Looking for a way to
store quilts without folding them? (Folds leave creases that eventually become difficult to remove...) Try rolling them around pool noodles if the quilt is not too large. If it is a bed size quilt, visit your local flooring/carpeting business. They often have large rolls from linoleum that they'll be happy to part with. Wrap the roll in a clean old sheet, then roll your quilts on, then perhaps another sheet to keep the dust off, tie to prevent unrolling, and store under your bed
. ~ Donna Y.
* The soft foam
"toe separators" for doing your own pedicure are perfect for holding a few bobbins if you are going to a workshop or class, and don't need to take your entire bobbin collection. You can find these at the Dollar Store. ~ Susan D.
* Recycling is smart these days, we throw away
so much plastic! I try to re-purpose as much plastic as I can.
Fererro Rocher containers: the 200g. size are the perfect size to hold 2" and 2.5" squares (or rectangles) that you may be cutting for a scrap project. They take up very little room at the back of my cutting table.
The larger size (8.5" square) is great for holding balls of perle cottons (nicely contained, well fitting lid, easy to stack and see through so you know what you have.)~ Linda H.
* The little
plastic "tables" from a take-out pizza box make handy bobbin holders when turned upside down. I sometimes use a lighter weight thread and want to keep those bobbins separate from my normal bobbins, as it's difficult to tell just by looking at them that they are "different", so stacking them on these little holders works well, I know at a glance that those are my finer threads for my Miniatures. ~ Linda H.
* Temporary Sleeve. If you are planning to put a sleeve on a bed quilt for our upcoming show, you might want to consider a
temporary sleeve, if you had planned to remove it after the show. This method is quicker to do and easier to remove after as well. Prepare your sleeve as usual - cut a strip of fabric 12.5" wide by the width of your quilt minus an inch or two. "Hem" the ends by folding in 1/4" twice, press and stitch- this finishes the ends nicely and assures your sleeve will be just a bit shorter than the width of your quilt. Now fold the sleeve right sides together and stitch the long seam. Press seam open and turn sleeve right side out. Pin sleeve to wrong side of quilt across the top edge, assuring the top edge of your sleeve lies just above where your binding meets the backing (but not so far up as to show on the right side of quilt.) Now turn to the right side and, by machine, stitch in the ditch between binding and quilt with clear monofilament thread (or thread to match quilt top) and a stitch length of about 3-4 (8-10 stitches per inch). This secures the top edge of the sleeve, and now you only have to hand-stitch the sleeve's bottom edge across to secure it.
~ Sue R.
* The super dooper
sticky rollers (which are washable to restore their stickiness) are wonderful for removing threads, pet hair, etc. from quilts as well as your clothes. Wash them with Blue Dove liquid dish soap to restore their stickiness.
~ Linda H.
* There are
small pads of 1/4" graph paper on the market now, they measure 4" x 6" - great to have in your purse when you're out and about and see inspiration for a quilt block. It is so much easier to sketch it out on graph paper. I got mine at Targets, but they are no doubt available elsewhere. Mine were two pads in a pkg. for about $5.00. ~ Linda H.
* Recycling. If you are cutting up scraps into squares, rectangles or other particular sizes/shapes, they can be stored in
plastic salad greens "bins". These are "free" storage units - once you've had your salad, just rinse out, let dry and they are ready to re-purpose in your sewing space. You can sort by color, size, or shape.
~ Lois M.
* Mitred Corners. Most
of the time we use mitred corners to finish edges on projects such as
tablecloths, with the mitre on the underside. But if we use the mitre
on the top and insert another fabric or fabric/batting combination, we
get another version of this technique. A one metre cut of nursery
print, with wide borders and mitred corners, is the perfect backdrop for
a piece of Minkie tucked under the borders. Top stitch the inner edge
of the border and you have a quick baby blanket that is soft and cozy.
This method is also an alternative to binding placemats and is great for
co-ordinating fabrics.
~ Jeanne Kaye S.
