Tips for Tools
« Previous EntriesDigging out that tear away stabilizer!
Thursday, September 3rd, 2009Tear away stabilizer is one of my most widely used stabilizers when I’m stitching embroidery designs. As long as the fabric is appropriate for this stabilizer, I love using it! But sometime it can be a challenge to get out all the little pieces of stabilizer on the back on the design after the stitching [...]
Minkee Fabric – It’s a love/hate relationship!
Wednesday, July 8th, 2009Ah, yes – Minkee!!! It’s that luxurious fabric that you just love to rub your hand over and over again! It feels so good that you can’t resist purchasing it! But reality sets in when you start to cut the fabric and stitching with it! Suddenly your great love affair with this fabric is diminishing [...]
Use those pattern weights!
Wednesday, July 16th, 2008Eliminate tedious pinning by using pattern weights! Pattern weights are small pieces of heavy metal encased in fabric. They are round in shape and slightly flexible. You can use them to hold down your template while you trace it or to hold your pattern onto the fabric while you cut it with scissors or a [...]
Why does black thread break so often?
Tuesday, June 24th, 2008Black thread is the color of embroidery thread that is notorious for breaking when stitching embroidery designs. This is usually caused by two things: (1) Many times black is used for finishing details or outlines and is therefore being stitched over layers of other embroidery. This causes the thread, no matter if it’s black or [...]
Grabbits do much more than hold pins!
Tuesday, June 17th, 2008I have to admit it! I just love Grabbit pin cushions! And if you were ever to visit my sewing room, you will see that is very true in an instant when you spot the various colored Grabbits everywhere! They are so handy for holding pins and keeping them under control, but they also can [...]
Why do you need more than one rotary cutter?
Wednesday, May 14th, 2008Rotary cutters are necessary in quilter’s world and who doesn’t have more than one?! And I don’t mean more than one size (although that is true as well!), I mean more than one of the same size cutter! If you are like me, I’m always anxious to try out the newest and greatest rotary cutter [...]
Mark Those Fabrics!
Wednesday, January 16th, 2008There are many pens and markers available to use for marking fabric for quilting and embroidery. Water soluble, air soluble or heat soluble; which one is the best? Blue lines, purple lines or white lines; which one is the most needed? How are the marked lines removed from the fabric? Can the marks be pressed [...]
Save Time with a Second Hoop
Tuesday, January 8th, 2008If you are embroidering many designs at one time, whether they are the same or different designs, you can save lots of time by using two hoops in the stitching process.
Let’s say you are making a baby quilt with sixteen 10″ blocks that each have a design that takes around one hour to stitch. But [...]
The Needle Nanny: A tool you can’t do without!
Wednesday, December 19th, 2007I am always losing my needle when doing handwork. I have tried several methods of needle recovery – (1) Put the needle in the arm of the couch and for some reason it just sinks and disappears. (2) Keep the needle on a magnetic pincushion and it just gets lost among all the straight pins. [...]
Another great fabric selvedge idea!
Tuesday, October 9th, 2007I received the following email from Kathie in regards to fabric selvedges and their uses. I found it useful and thought many of you would also!
Another terrific thing about selvedges is that they are soooooooostrong. If you save them, you have a stash of material for tying up lots ofthings: stacks of newspapers, plants, the [...]
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