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Quilting Tips & Techniques Tip
Julia Mehlhoff - February 21, 2008
(Written especially for my
friend, Dodie, because I miss her.)
Quilt with your friends as often as
you can - missing stitches is far better than missing friends.
Dodie Bomar amd I met when she took some of my classes in Sheridan. Although we no longer are able to sew together, we spend many hours talking about it long distance. I feel that she and I have hardly been apart even though it has been a year now.
Brightening and Removing Stains My son brought over his wedding quilt which had old blood stains on several of the blocks. I was afraid I’d have to pick out the blocks as the quilt had already been laundered in hot water and the stains were set in. I asked our
group that we call the GTKE group that knows everything, and a friend told
me to make a paste of Oxyclean stain remover and apply to the stains. After
wetting the spots, I used an old soft paint brush to apply the paste, threw
the quilt into the full washing machine and let it go through a full cycle
on gentle.
IRONING YOUR SEAMS
She garnered this idea from Billie
Lauder--Use a small wooden wall paper seam roller to "IRON" the seams on
small pieces.
STRAIGHTER BORDERS AND BINDINGS
Paula Peterson, Buffalo, Wy
It helps to cut the borders and bindings
on the length of the grain (along the selvage edge) because there is not as
much stretch and they are less likely to be wavy when finished.
SEAMS THAT SLIP
Virginia Ohr, Buffalo Wy
To help prevent one of the pieces in a
seam from slipping and not being sewn as evenly, try to keep the bottom
pieces in view by just a thread as the fabric is sewn. (Virginia sent me
this tip and in a few days she heard Ricky Timms give it. Wow, very good!)
SEAMS WITH A BIAS
Paula Peterson, Buffalo, Wy
When sewing a seam and one piece is bias
or has bias pieces in a block, place the bias side down so that the feed
dogs can better guide the more stretchy part of the seam.
CLOSING SAFETY PINS
Donna Weeden, Banner Wy
Use a grapefruit spoon to help close
safety pins when you are pin basting your quilt. This saves your fingers
and does not loosen the backing that you have taped down.
WISE ROTARY CUTTING
Donna Weeden, Banner, WY
When rotary cutting strips of the same
width, place sticky notes on the under side of the ruler at the cutting
line. The notes will give a slightly raised edge to butt up to the cut
fabric edge. Also at a glance you know where to place your ruler.
APRIL 2005 Purchasing fabric for a friend ♥ Karylyn Petrie, Story I am making a quilt for a friend. He wants a very specific color for the backing. He is unable (unwilling?) to accompany me to fabric stores, I buy 1/8 yard of the color I think he may like. I pin the name of the store, the manufacturer and any other important information, on the piece. When I find the one he wants, I just have to call or go back to the right store. I decided on the 1/8th yard (4.5”), as I will be able to use this material in other projects down the line. I have not wasted any time or money. Straighter, Evener Stitches ♥ Virginia Ohr, Buffalo A straight-stitch plate on your sewing machine will help with straighter, more even stitches. The groove for zigzag, decorative stitches can cause the fabric to move. Straight-stitch plates are available for most sewing machines. Of course, remember to change plates when doing decorative stitches or the needle will break. Consider Using the Other Side ♥ Vikki Chenette, Buffalo Someone said: "Remember to consider using the wrong side of your fabrics now and then. They may be a softer shade or the lower value of a color you are looking for. After all, when you purchased it, you paid for both sides!
Spraying Adhesive on a
block ♥
Jeanette Mark, Story When using adhesive spray on a block, put the block in a cardboard box before spraying. This will contain the spray and your table surface will be protected. Solving Needle-Threading Problems ♥ Jeanette Mark, Story Threading pearl cotton is difficult because the strands separate. Put a dab of glue on a scrap of paper and run the end (about 1/2 inch) through the glue. Let it dry and threading is much easier. This should work for embroidery thread as well. Why not prepare 3 or 4 strands at one time and they would be ready to thread when needed. Making Flat, Crisp Blocks ♥ Shelly Sprague, Buffalo I like to add a little liquid starch to my water spray bottle that I keep on the ironing board. When finished with a block, I spray the block and iron. When sizing the block for the final cut, it lays flat, is crisp and holds its shape. For Stable Fabric Strips ♥ Donna Weeden, Banner When rotary cutting strips for piecing, to ensure the most stable grain, cut the strips parallel to the selvages, along the lengthwise grain. FEBRUARY 2005 Needle Size - Jeanne Glessner, Banner I recently realized how important it is to use the correct size needle and thread for the job with both machine and hand appliqué. Recently Donna noticed that I was using hand quilting thread for hand appliqué. Oh, what a dream when I put the right needle and thread together. (I wondered why I couldn’t hide my stitches!!!) Drawing Seam Allowances - Jeanne Glessner, Banner On Simply Quilts, I saw a quilter put two standard pencils together by wrapping a rubber band around both. He then traced the line he had drawn on the fabric using a template and the second pencil marked the 1/4 " seam allowance. Preventing raveling - Fayetta Fields, Glenrock Before fabric is washed, recut the edge with pinking shears or a wavy rotary cutter to prevent raveling during washing and drying. Removing Blood Stains - Kathy Maffei, Kemmerer To remove blood from fabric use hydrogen peroxide on a cotton ball. As a nurse, I have used this method many times. Food For Thought... - Pat Phillippi, Broadus, Mt. Did you know that if you eat while covered up with a quilt made of vegetable fabrics, you won't gain any weight? Rotary Cutter Safety - Donna Weeden, Banner Use a cloth eye-glass case to store your rotary cutter. You can throw it in your sewing basket without danger.. Thank you for your great contributions. Please keep sending them! Donna
DECEMBER 2004 Recently (at Quilt Wyoming to be exact) I purchased a pair of tweezers to use as a quilting tool. They are great for pulling clipped threads when you've had to rip out a line of stitches, for preparation work for machine appliqué and for paper piecing and guiding very small pieces through the sewing machine. I've seen other quilters using them and raving about how handy they are and now I know why. I strongly recommend adding a pair to your quilting tool box.
Eliminate Ravel To keep fabric from raveling when washed, pink the raw edges. Use either pinking scissors or a rotary cutter with pinking edge.
Pick up Small Pieces Wrap masking tape around the end of a pencil (sticky side out) to pick up individual squares, half-square triangles, etc, stacked for sewing. It acts kind of like a rubber finger when separating sheets of paper.
Prewashing without Tangle When prewashing quilting fabrics, place a dry towel in the dryer with the fabrics to keep them from twisting.
Removing Blood from
Fabric If you prick your finger and bleed on the quilt while you're working on it, immediately moisten a piece of batting with your own saliva and dab at the blood spot until it is gone.
Appliqué Pins Vikki Chenette told me that when hand-appliquéing and the pins get in the way, try pinning from the back.
Squaring Up Janet Ludwig said that when squaring up quilts before putting on the binding, not only should one measure across the center but find the center point of the design on the outside edges of the borders (if there are 6 blocks, between the middle 3 blocks) and measure out to each corner. If they are not equal then make adjustments.
Orphan Blocks Too many orphan blocks.......well, use them in a tote bag, as a pocket on a sweatshirt jacket, frame them as a picture, or make a pillow. Just use them and you'll have one less UFO.
Organize Patterns To organize patterns, purchase a 3-ring binder and sheet protectors. Place patterns in the sheet protectors. If using multiple binders they can be labeled for quick access. This is a great organizer. |