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Mini Video Tutorial Quilting Tips

Sometimes, just demonstrating quilting tips with drawings or diagrams isn’t enough. Seeing the quilting tip demonstrated in a video helps clarify questions that often arise. Because of this, I have created some mini tutorial videos on some quilting tips I have previously covered in written posts. Hopefully, seeing me in action will help demonstrate the tip better! Since it’s the beginning of a new year, I thought a review of some of these tips might inspire you to quilt some more. So lets get started! Share some quilting tips you’d like me to demonstrate in a future mini tutorial in the comments and be entered in a drawing for one of my patterns!

Video Tip #1 – Ironing vs Pressing

Some people think when they are quilting they should be ironing the seams. That is actually a “no-no”. Pressing is the way to go. Open the seam with your fingers, a wood pressing tool or the tip of your iron (without touching the seam itself) them place the iron on top to literally press the seam in place. Here’s a link to that video:

I like to press my seams open. As I said in the video, this works for seams pressed to one side also. The key is to not distort your seam by running an iron back and forth across it.

Video Tip #2 – Flip & Sew Corners

It’s important to follow these tips because this type of unit can end up distorted in size if you are not careful. I like to fold back my piece I just stitched on and measure the unit to make sure it still measures the correct size before trimming off the excess fabric in the seam allowance. Here’s that video:

Video Tip #3 – Aligning Seams and Matching Points

A key to creating a striking design with your quilt pattern is aligning seams, matching points and not cutting off points. Like other techniques, with more practice you will get better and better at doing this. It will become second nature. Here’s the mini video I did on this:

I highly recommend using pins when joining pieces for a block or joining blocks. Pins help to keep the units from shifting after you have worked so hard to line everything up.

Video Tip #4 – Squaring Up Fabric

You hear this all the time… you need to square up a piece of fabric before you cut your pieces. If you are new to quilting, you’re probably saying to yourself … “what is squaring up fabric?”. It’s actually easy to do and something you should do. Here’s my mini video on squaring up:

I recommend doing this anytime you are getting ready to cut from a new piece of fabric, even if it’s a fat quarter or fat eighth. I also recommend you check and re-square a large piece of fabric after cutting several strips. The fabric can shift if you are cutting a lot of strips and lead to distorted strips even if you started with squared fabric.

So, that’s it for now. In the comments, share with me some quilting techniques that you would like to see demonstrated and I will make a mini video tutorial in the future. If you leave a comment, you will be entered in a drawing for my new pattern Wildflower Lane!

The drawing for this pattern will be on Monday, January 18th. Until next time, **We have a winner! Congrats, Laurel DeWolf!**

Happy Quilting!
Deanne

Quilting Tip Mini Tutorials!

Hi Everyone! Thanks for reading my blog this past year!

I’ve done a few videos of some quilting tips that I think you will find helpful. For this last post of the year, I thought I’d share them with you on my blog so you would know where to find them in the future.

First up, I did a tutorial on pressing vs. ironing. Some people think when they are quilting they should be ironing the seams. That is actually a “no-no”. Pressing is the way to go. Open the seam with your fingers, a wood pressing tool or the tip of your iron (without touching the seam itself) them place the iron on top to literally press the seam in place. Here’s a link to that video:

I like to press my seams open. As I said in the video, this works for seams pressed to one side also. The key is to not distort your seam by running an iron back and forth across it.

Next up, I did a tutorial on tips for flip & sew corners (also known as folded corners). It’s important to follow these tips because this type of unit can end up distorted in size if you are not careful. I like to fold back my piece I just stitched on and measure the unit to make sure it still measures the correct size before trimming off the excess fabric in the seam allowance. Here’s that video:

So I hope you enjoyed these mini tutorials. I am planning on doing more of these in the coming year. Sometimes, the ideas just “pop” into my head as I am doing something and I think “that would make a good mini tutorial” so I set up the camera and start filming. That is, after I lock the cat out of the studio! Future ones I have planned will be on matching points while piecing, applique tips and perhaps fabric storage. If you can think of any techniques you’d like me to cover, give me an idea in the comments below.

Happy Holidays and Have a great New Year!
See you in 2019!
Deanne