Quilting Tips
Some of these ideas may make your
quiltmaking easier, more fun, and save a lot of time.
   
If you have any ingenious tips you would like to share with all our quilting friends, email them to me with enough personal information to include an appropriate credit....
An office
chair that has wheels, swivels and is
adjustable for height is ideal for floor
frame quilting.
You can roll around your work with ease, adjust
the height to a comfortable level, and the swivel allows
you to adjust yourself to your work with great ease.
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 Did you
ever consider a children's coloring book
for APPLIQUE designs? The simplified
drawing is perfect, can be enlarged at
the local copy shop if needed, and equips
you with a wide variety of patterns for
an extremely minimal cost. |
The
most ingenious little tip I 've ever
seen for hand quilting!
- Thread several needles onto your spool of thread
before you start.
- Then just slide them back as you adjust the length of
thread you need for the last one before cutting it off.
- As you sew your eyes get tired and the eye of the
needle seems to get so much smaller!
- By threading all the needles before you begin, you are
fresher and will have them threaded quickly.
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Having
trouble with those odd, small or difficult
APPLIQUE pieces?
- Transfer the pattern to the paper side of a piece of
freezer paper.
- Then iron the slick side to the freezer paper to the
right side of your fabric. Iron with just enough heat to
make them stick together.
- Cut around the freezer paper pattern leaving a small
seam allowance (1/8 to 1/4").
- Turn this seam allowance under with a needle as you
hand applique it to your block piece. The rigidity of the
freezer paper keeps the fabric piece from getting out of
shape, gives you a nice edge to follow, and stitching it
down becomes a lot loss frustrating.
- You are able to achieve even the best work on really
small, difficult applique pieces.
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Organize
your loose leaf pattern directions in
a notebook binder.
- Slip the directions in a clear plastic sleeve to keep
it fresh for projects to come.
- Notes, fabric swatches, and quilt information on a
completed project makes for a rather handy reference in
your notebook as well.
- This is a wonderful way to store info on each quilt
you make. In the future, you (or your family) will always
be able to refer back to this resource for the details of all
your quilts.
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Save
empty spools of thread to wind trims,
lace, ribbons, etc. For larger trimwork,
I also use empty christmas ribbon spools,
toilet paper rolls, and packing tape
spools. |
 If you are doing machine
applique, try this same freezer paper
technique with a few minor changes. Follow
the same procedure for preparing your
applique piece as described above.
- Instead of hand stitching, now use a water soluable
glue-stick found at your local fabric store. Apply the
glue stick to the wrong side of your fabric piece along
the seam edge.
- Now turn the seam and glue it down (this takes the
place of the hand stitching step described above).
- Once the edges of the applique piece are turned
under and glued, you are ready to machine stitch.
- Just let the pieces set until the glue dries though,
because it can get a little gummy on your machine
needle.
- When you are ready to sew just pull up the freezer
paper and stitch away. Some applique experts like to
use a pull away stabilizer under the applique piece before
stitching. Simply place it between your applique piece and
background fabric before sewing. You can also use a
plain piece of notebook paper or even your freezer paper
ironed underneath your background as a stabilizer in a
pinch.
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Do you
still have one of those wrist pin cushions
in your sewing basket?
- I prefer to slip it to the neck of my sewing machine
while I'm doing machine piecing that is pinned. It's right
above the machine needle and even more handier than
around your wrist.
- As I sew, all I have to do is pull the pin and move it
up out of my way with just the slightest of movement.
Un-pinning and machine stitching becomes a breeze.
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 Sorting colors
and patterns of fabric in those handy
clear plastic containers is a great way
to store your fabrics and still be able
to see what's in each box at the same
time. I really like using them for sorting
notions and other sewing materials too!
It's organized, you can see what's in
each container, and they stack so well
for storing. |
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Another outstanding suggestion is to
use a small piece of fabric at the end
of your "piecing chains." Since I started
stitching onto a scrap of fabric instead
of pulling the thread out to cut it off,
I've found that it saves so much thread,
is a lot quicker to manage than pulling
and cutting, and I never have all those
long strings to cut off later. Just stitch
onto the scrap and leave it under the
foot of your needle, then "snip" off
your sewn pieces. |
 Don't forget to
set an adjustable height ironing board
at a right angle to your sewing table.
That swivel office chair at the sewing
machine also comes in handy here as well.
With the ironing board set right to your
sewing, pressing and sewing can be done
with very little effort. |
A travel
iron can be a better choice for pressing
blocks since its not as large and heavy.
The lighter weight will not distort your
blocks while pressing. |
If you don't iron your piecing properly,
the fabric stretches out of shape and
will cause lots of headaches all through
your work. Solve that little problem
that becomes so frustrating by pressing
your seams straight down instead of across.
Once the block is completely sewn it
can handle a slight amount of ironing
on the right side while still maintaining
pressing straight down. |
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Always
make a sample block first before you
cut all the pieces for your quilt. In
this way you can make sure the colors
and layout of shades works well and that
any sewing or template problems can be
solved before starting the main production
for the entire quilt. This will save
you lots of time, wasted materials, and
frustration if you are not pleased with
that first block. |
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Ever wonder how many squares, rectangles, or triangles can be cut from each 1/4 yard of fabric 44-inches wide?
Well, now you know.....
Size of square to
number of squares
per 1/4 yard
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Size of rectangle to
number of rectangles
per 1/4 yard
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Size of triangle to
number of triangles
per 1/4 yard
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| 1" square= |
140squares |
1x2 rectangle= |
84 rectangles |
1" triangle= |
176 triangles |
| 1 1/2" |
84 |
1" x 3" |
56 |
1 1/2" |
102 |
| 2" |
48 |
1 1/2 x 3" |
42 |
2" |
84 |
| 2 1/2" |
28 |
1 1/2 x 4 1/2" |
21 |
2 1/2" |
48 |
| 3" |
24 |
2 x 4" |
16 |
3" |
40 |
| 3 1/2" |
20 |
2 x 6" |
16 |
3 1/2" |
36 |
| 4" |
9 |
2 x 8" |
16 |
4" |
16 |
| 4 1/2" |
8 |
2 x 10" |
12 |
4 1/2" |
14 |
| 5 |
7 |
2 x 12" |
14 |
5" |
14 |
| 5 1/2" |
7 |
2 1/2 x 5" |
14 |
5 1/2" |
12 |
| 6" |
6 |
2 1/2 x 8" |
14 |
6" |
12 |
If you have any ingenious tips you would like to
share with all our quilting friends, email them to me
with enough personal information to include an appropriate
credit....
Tips from some of our Quilting Friends:
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The following came about when I cut the batting
before adding the binding to a quilt.
To add a piece of batting, use a strip of iron on interfacing,
(one half inch wide works well). Position the two edges of
batting under the strip so that the edges butt together.
Press using a damp cloth. The tape does not interfere with
hand or machine quilting. This method can also be used to
put large pieces of batting together as for a large quilt. It is
more stable than hand sewing and done in half the time.
I made a large quilt for a customer and had to piece
together two bags of Thermore brand batting. It worked very
well.
I belong to Q.U.I.L.T. inc of Delmar, NY. This guild makes
quilts for a shelter for abused women and children. As
chairperson of this activity it is my responsibility to make the
most out of the funds allocated for this. By using the above
method we can save the strips of batting that are cut off and put
them together for more quilts. Last year we made 30 quilts, 9 of
which were made of the patched batting!
Ms. C. Eichner
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