Amazing Quilting Tips
...amazing quilting tips for quilting needles, storing quilting material, bias binding, foundation quilting and more. It's easier to learn to quilt using tips for beginner quilting. No matter how many quilts you have made or classes you have attended or books you may have read, or web sites you may have visited, someone out there figures out a better, more accurate and quicker way. Those of us in the twenty-first century did not invent quilting. The tradition goes way back but the basic requirements are simple...all you need is thread, needles, thimble, scissors and a host of other twenty-first century quilting tools. But what is even nicer, quilters simply like sharing their secrets. All they ask is that you pass it forward.
Quilting Tips for Beginner Quilting
Fabric manufacturers print a color code on the selvage edge of fabric to indicate the pattern match. These dots can also be used by quilters to select matching fabric colors for their quilts. Take the fabric with the dots on your next shopping trip. If you have trouble matching colors, this quilting tip is a no fail solution!
Selvage is tightly woven and does not stretch like the actual fabric. However, it tends to shrink differently when washed.
Securing one end with a piece of masking tape to the tube and advance each revolution by slightly over lapping each wrap until all has been wound around the tube. If you plan to apply the binding immediately, no need to be real particular with the wrapping process...but always make the binding and store it with the top before you turn out the lights and close up shop. When you come back next spring to finish the job you will not have to look for the piece of fabric that may have been used for some unrelated project.
You become an instant professional at matching narrow points and minimizing stretching of bias edges; unbelievably accurate,faster and easier piecing skills. The Add-A-Quarter ruler by CM Designs allows you to trim excess fabric and provide a straight line for placement of the next fabric piece.
This piece was right under my nose and several generations old so it just had to be included in my sewing room. You won't believe what this piece looks like today. Here,take a look at this piece of Sewing Room Furniture. after it's rescue. It will hold many pieces of fabric away from the light and dust. All it took was a good refurbishing with some tender loving care.
Quilting Needles - Sharp Quilting Tips
Can't find the right needle when you know you have a drawer full? This light weight plastic tray which holds five sleeves of cookies makes an ideal holder for sewing machine needles.
First, eat all the cookies until there are no crumbs left. Then draw the cardboard separators by holding the tray on it's end while drawing around the form using stiff cardboard like the back of a tablet. Cut the dividers out with your paper scissors. Try one and test it to make sure you got the right curvature. You want the dividers to fit snug but not so tight that they make the plastic bulge. If the divider is too loose they will fall over which is a nuisance.
Each package of needles will be on a slight slant making it easy to see them at a glance. The tray will hold upwards of 30 individual packages of needles grouped by size for ten different sizes. Cut as many dividers as needed. I used five...you may need more; only a small tray of cookies. I buy the $2 cheapies!
It was a bit different than just cutting off a piece of thread and then threading the eye. I threaded the needles onto a full spool of thread stacking one needle on top of the other until all needles were added. In those days the spools were made of wood and sometimes the slot on the upper rim that was intended to hold the end of the thread securely would splinter away from the spool. In that case I tied a quilter's knot in the end of the thread so that the needles would not come unthreaded. Quilting thread is a bit heavier than sewing thread and a little easier to knot. Plus it is designed not to snag or snarl. I don't recall any special tricks for threading needles except because I could not let the thread loose for fear that all the needles would fall off I would wet the eye of the needle and push the angled-cut thread through the eye.
When you change a needle due to a change of thread, fabric or stitch type you can stick the slightly used needle in a pre-marked pincushion such as we have here. This quilting tip will save you a lot of headaches. Any needle only has a life of about six hours of sewing. After that the needle becomes dull and can cause skipped stitches, a burr can snag your fabric, and a bent needle can damage the bobbin case. Never put a slightly used needle back in its original case as it is near impossible to determine which one is slightly used and which one is brand new. A labeled pincushion can help you identify both the size and point type of your slightly used needle. If in doubt, simply dispose of any needle that is questionable.
Quilting Tips for Sample Quilt Sandwich
Before Quilting a Quilt try this quilting tip for creating a quilt block sandwich. This quilting tip is worth doing as you will most likely use them often.
While you are at it make several sample quilting blocks using different kinds of batting. Baste the sandwich block by pin basting or use a basting gun. Make several in advance just to have on hand when needed. I use quilting sandwich blocks frequently to test any new stitch, to practice a new or old technique before I sew on my quilt. I use them if I want to see how the selected thread will look, using different kinds of needles and different kinds of batting just to see what affect each will have. Better safe than sorry! Once completed be sure and label each sample block for the kind of thread, needle and batting you used for future reference.
Quilting Tips For Securing Your Stitches
This is a terrific quilting tip...learn to quilt by practicing on one of those sample quilting blocks. The technique of securing your quilting stitches before you actually stitch on your quilt is a quilting tip that will serve you well.
It is important to knot your quilting stitches at the beginning of every stitching line and at the end of every stitching line. It is relative easy to secure your stitches on a printed piece of backing fabric as the print will hide the very small knot. Other plain fabrics require a little more finesse. Using a sample quilting block, master the skill of starting and stopping. After a couple of practice runs you will get proficient at knotting off your threads.
Looking for that special quilting gift?
A great quilting gift for Birthdays, Mother's Day, Valentine Day, any Holiday and year-round for the special someone in your life. Check Everything-Vestment web site.
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Most quilters utilize all scraps at their disposal. Using the strong selvage strips to bow tie coordinated fat quarters together makes a nice display for your shelves.
Try this Quilting Tip: Three to four hundred inches of bias binding can be hard to manage. To keep this amount tangle free, wrap it around an empty paper towel tube.
Never throw excess bias strips out. Save all drop off pieces measuring 12-inches or longer and use for applique of stems on flowers, stained glass quilts and Celtic applique. Or even bind an entire scrappy quilt by sewing the lengths together. I maximize my storage space by stacking all short fall off lengths of bias binding in a shallow drawer...looks great too! This is for all us orderly freaks. What an amazing quilting tip!
Increase your piecing skills by sewing fabric patches for a block onto a paper foundation.
Wherever you go always look for cheap ways to furnish your sewing room with pieces that will serve your needs and help you develope storage for all your quilting material.
The divider will look something like this...sort of like a pair of sun glasses.
As a kid growing up it was my job to stop by the home economics teacher's house and thread needles for her as she was a quilter. There was always two packages waiting to be threaded. I hurried and finished as I knew there would be an after school snack waiting for me.
Keeping your quilting needles straight can be the one most single frustrating task for any quilter. Using old or mislabeled quilting needles is not the place to scrimp.
