Quilting Tips from QuiltFriends

Quilting Tips from your QuiltFriends (& others)

If you have tips you'd like to share, whether they are your own, or something you read about, please email Penny, to have them added here!

This site was last updated 01/05/08

Equipment & Accessories

Nearly everyone has seen the little strawberry emery on a tomato pincushion, and most people know that it is very handy for sharpening needles, pins, and safety pins. What's not so well known is that there's a trick to using it. Just stick a needle or pin straight into the emery and then pull back on the sides of the fabric with your fingers, compacting the crystals. Then move the pin gently in a circular motion, and the crystals will grate against the point, sharpening it quickly and easily.
Store your blue water-soluble markers in self-sealing bags to keep them from evaporating quickly. In addition, keep them stored in a tin, vertically, with the tips down, so the ink will be ready to flow when you are ready to mark.

Storing Fabric

Store fabric in file cabinets. You can keep them out of sight, and organized by color families, folded and into drawers so that each fabric is visible when the drawer is open.
Store in clear plastic boxes that let you see the colors and prints. Organize and sort fabrics by color, so that if you need reds, you can just reach for the right box and go through your red shades. Keeping fabric in plastic boxes is a practical way to store them, no matter what shape they are.
Plan your "leftovers"! When cutting strips, squares, rectangles, and triangles for one project, cut some extra ones on purpose for your "planned -over" bins. Keep a whole set of lidded plastic storage boxes labeled first by color, then by size of strips, and keep "feeding" this inventory with every project you cut. You can also collect the extra squares, rectangles, and triangles in plastic boxes according to shape and size. This gives you a ready made collection of precut fabrics that will be perfect for some project someday!

Spray Starch

Spray starch adds body to fabric. It cuts down on fraying, and when used with applique, it stops frayed edges and makes needle turning easier. If applied before rotary cutting, the fabric does not shift, and your 1/4" seams are straighter when you sew. Blocks aquare up easier and there are less waves when sashing is applied. When machine quilting, the sprayed backing glides smoothly on your work surface and there is less puckering on the back. Bias buts have less stretch. Pencil marks also wash out easier. Sizing spray is softer than spray starch and works just the same. I prefer sizing.

Blood Stains

If you prick your finger while quilting, you can use your own saliva to remove the blood stain. Just dampen a piece of cloth with your saliva, and rub over the stain. It should disappear. This of course, only works with your own blood.

Tips From Your QuiltFriends

From Sue in Iowa (Ma-Medic)

Sewing tip I got when I started: Have the same person cut the same way, using the same ruler. If you start cutting between the lines, KEEP cutting between the lines. If you cut ON the lines, KEEP cutting on the lines.
Make friends with you iron. Press out EACH seam that you sew, or it will not lay right, no matter how well you pin, if you try to consolidate pressings.
If your fabric shifts while you are rotary cutting, use a shorter stack. This means more cutting, but less shifting. It also helps to cut shorter strips. It may mean cutting each fabric individually instead of ALL the fabrics for the ENTIRE top at once. Yes, rotary cutting is a time saver, but measure 5 times and cut once. This is no time to be lazy.

From Karen Whiteside

Run your length of bias binding through a curling iron if you are wanting to go gracefully around a curve.
Glue a small magnet to the top of a golf tee. Stick the tee into the top of your spool of hand quilting thread to hold your spare needles safely.
Store stencils by sliding them on a metal shower curtain clip and hang on a peg on the wall. Easy to find and they stay flat.