Snuggles Quilts

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More Quilting Tips & Hacks

Last week I shared tips & hacks on one of my favorite tools to use in the sewing room: painter’s tape! (click here for that post) This week I’ll talk about some random tips & hacks I’ve used, or have seen others use, that I think you’ll like. As we get closer to Christmas, I like to keep my posts light and fun. After this week, I am going to do a three week series on wool appliqué. I’ve done series on fabric appliqué in the past, but realized I haven’t done the same for wool. Be sure to enjoy that over the holidays! Time to get started on this week’s fun!

New use for Scrap Fabric (or not scrap)!

Use scrap fabric and strips to wrap a sewing themed gift for your favorite quilter. Here’s a package I have wrapped. 

For the package I wrapped, I used a fat quarter so the receiver of the gift actually has a usable piece of fabric after opening the gift! In the above photo, I just wrapped the fabric around the box and tied it on both ends with fabric strips.

Below, I wrapped it traditionally and used a large basting stitch to sew the ends. That way I can put a bow on top and it looks like a paper wrapped present!

Another Fabric Storage Tip

If you follow my posts, you know that I like to fold my smaller cuts of fabrics like fat quarters and half yards and store them in plastic tubs. Another storage option is to store your fabrics in a filing cabinet, like files. You can get some acid free cardboard and wrap your cuts of fabric as shown below and “file” them in a drawer!

I used a small binder clip to secure the piece of fabric to the cardboard. An advantage of storing the fabric this way is that it takes up less space than when the fabric is folded. When you open a drawer full of fabric, you can find the one you want easily. You can even wrap a yard of fabric around a piece of cardboard for easy filing too!

Hanging Quilt Blocks

I have shown you in past posts how I use skirt hangers to hang finished smaller quilts in my closet for storage. However, the hangers can also be used for blocks that you are piecing for a quilt top!

This will help keep your blocks from turning into a jumbled mess while you are making all the blocks for your project. Instead of them laying around stacked on your sewing table or cutting mat taking up space, simply hang them like this, out of the way, until you are ready to piece them into the quilt top.

Sewing Machine Needles Facts, Tips and Hacks

Moving away from fabrics, here’s some sewing machine needle facts and some tips.

Tip #1 – Sewing machine needles need to be changed often, not only when you break one. Needles get dull and develop damage not visible to the naked eye. A good rule of thumb is to change the needle after you finish piecing  project. If you sew with a needle that should be changed, you can cause damage to your fabric. A dull or damaged needle can snag fabric and break your thread. Needles are fairly inexpensive so stock up the next time you are at the quilt shop and change it often!

If you have not used up the needle but need to change it to do something else, put the partially used needle back in the case with the flat part of the shaft facing up so you remember which is used.

Tip #2: Use the right needle size. Most piecing of 100% cotton fabrics can be done with a universal 80/12 needle, and I generally use this size. Ever wonder what those 2 numbers mean? They represent the two sizing systems: metric (or European) and Singer (or American). The “80” is the metric and the “12” is the Singer. All you need to know is the numbers refer to the diameter of the needle. The lower the number, the finer the needle. Light to medium weight quilting fabrics can be pieced with a needle from 75/11 to 90/14. Most needles made for machine quilting on your home machine are 90/14.

Tip #3 – When I am machine quilting, I change my needle to a quilting needle:

Looking closely, you can see the difference. The quilting needle is sharper and more tapered to go through more layers and through seams.

Bonus Tip! – If you have a hard time threading the machine needle (if you don’t have an automatic threader on your machine), use my tip from last week’s post and try clipping the end of your thread at a 45 degree angle for easier threading!

So that’s it for this week! Now for the fun. If you commented on last weeks post or you comment on this week’s post with some interesting tips & hacks you use in the sewing room, you will be entered into a drawing for my pattern, Kaleidoscope!

The drawing for the winner will be on Monday, December 20th. **We have a winner! Congrats, Tammy Earl!**

Happy Quilting!
Deanne

Applique is Fun! I’ll Help You Get Started…..

Applique really is fun. I know people are afraid of that “A” word, but if you have the necessary supplies and a well lit work space, my tutorial should go a long way in relieving that anxiety. This first post will talk about tools needed to do needle-turn hand appliqué.

  • Lighting:

The first tool is good lighting. I like a table lamp with a built in magnifier.

Task lighting directed right on the project helps you see your stitching and will aid in making small, almost invisible stitches.

  • Needles and Thread

Next, the right needle and thread. I like to use size 9 appliqué needles. These types of needles are also called “sharps”.  The size of the needle you use is a preference though. The larger the number the shorter the needle. If a size 9 is too long for you, try another size.

The thread I use is Mettler 100% silk-finished cotton.

This thread comes in a large variety of colors so you can match your thread to the appliqué piece you are stitching. Thread should match as close as possible to help hide the stitches. There are other brands of threads that you can use for appliqué. I like these because they are thin and silky and glide through the fabric easily.

  • Appliqué Glue

When appliqué glue was invented, it was a great day! No longer did I have to pin appliqué pieces to the project and prick my fingers as I stitched. The glue, used in small amounts, affixes the piece to your project with no pins. Now nothing gets in the way of my stitching.

  • Chalk Pencil or Mechanical Chalk Pencil

I use a mechanical chalk pencil from Sewline. Fons and Porter also makes one. There are also regular chalk pencils, like ones made by General, that are good for marking. These pencils are used to trace around your templates onto the fabric you have chosen for your appliqué piece.

  • Scissors

You will need a pair of scissors to cut fabric and also have a pair of scissors to cut out the templates that are traced from your pattern.

Of course now you need to get your pattern and fabric and get started! My next blog post will cover preparing the appliqué templates, applique pieces and stitching. See you next week!

Happy Stitching
Deanne