Tips for Tools
« Previous Entries Next Entries »Good News for Old Needles
Tuesday, September 25th, 2007Changing your sewing machine needle should be more often than just when the needle breaks! I know, we all do it, me included. The needle stays in until it is bent or broken. But to get the best possible stitch results, you should change your needle every 10 hours of sewing.
If you are working on [...]
Blue tape in your sewing room?
Tuesday, September 18th, 2007If you were to take a peek in my sewing room, you would find some unusual items inside. One of them is blue painter’s tape! Why would I have this blue tape which is used in conjunction with painting? Good question!
Blue painter’s tape is great for taping templates to the fabric with machine embroidery. Why? [...]
Quick Binding Clips
Thursday, September 13th, 2007Stitching the binding on your quilt can be one of the greatest joys of your project for several reasons: (1) – Cutting and stitching to binding to the quilt is not that difficult, (2) – Tacking the binding on by hand is something to enjoy if you love doing handwork (and I do, don’t you? [...]
Rulers & Templates: Stay in place!
Tuesday, September 4th, 2007It has happened to me and I’m sure it has happened to you also. You have your quilting ruler or template in just the right place, your rotary cutter is halfway down the length of the ruler and your ruler moves! It’s one of the most frustrating things that can happen and can have results [...]
Quilting Rulers: What size should I buy?
Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007If you have just started to investigate the world of quilting, the vast array of quilting rulers consisting of squares, rectangles and triangles can be overwhelming! Do you have to own every single shape in every single size? No, you don’t need every single ruler that is out there, but there are a few that [...]
Quilting Rulers; what is the best brand?
Tuesday, August 14th, 2007There are hundreds of quilting rulers in all shapes and sizes with many different manufactors! If you are just getting started quilting or even if you have been quilting for a while, all the rulers, sizes and brands can get so confusing! Which brand is the best? Can you use several kinds of rulers in [...]
A Quick Way to Safety Pin Quilts
Wednesday, June 13th, 2007Safety pins are an absolute must for pin basting quilt layers together to prepare for machine quilting. A large quilt can easily need 500 – 800 pins to adequately keep the layers from shifting. Pinning and unpinning all these pins can be very hard on your hands and fingers. After many broken nails and sore [...]
Open or Closed Foot for Free Motion Quilting
Tuesday, June 5th, 2007Freehand or free motion quilting is a fun method of quilting. Free motion quilting is sewing without the feed dogs moving the fabric through the machine. The feed dogs are lowered and you are in control of moving the fabric to create the pattern of stitches you desire. It takes a bit of practice to [...]
3 in 1 Color Tool
Saturday, June 2nd, 2007This little color tool has been sitting around my sewing room for a couple of years. I would get it out once in a while to use it for color references, but never really knew how to use it to its full capacity until recently.
A couple weeks ago I watched episode 3 of The Quilt [...]
What do you do when…
Tuesday, May 15th, 2007The deadline is tomorrow. I have it planned so I will be finished just in time. I turn the stitch length knob, hear something drop and can’t change my stitch length! What do I do now? The thought crossed my mind, “There is always more than one way to accomplish a project.” And that is [...]
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