Snuggles Quilts

Snuggles Quilts

MENU

Time Saving Tips for Quilting and Stitching

We are always looking for ways to save time when we are working on our projects, right? More time to enjoy the art of quilting or stitchery is always nice! I have some time saving tips that I employ that makes my sewing time efficient and fun that I want to share with you in this week’s post. I bet you have some too. So, share those tips in the comments and we will all probably learn something new. Let’s get started!

Stitchery Time Saving Tips

Tip #1 – Appliqué Short-cut

I like to save time when appliquéing a project by having all my tools close by in a container. I have a magnet affixed to the inside cover and keep a stash of needles threaded with the colors I am using in the project. Once I pick up a needle with a particular color, I will re-thread another with that color so it’s ready to go when I need it.

Having this little tin to keep my appliqué supplies also makes it easy to take my stitching on the road!

Tip #2 – Wool Appliqué Short-cut

Something you can do with wool appliqué that you can’t do normally with fabric appliqué is to layout the entire design and fuse or glue it into place before stitching. By doing this, you can insure that your design is laid out within the seam allowances. You can also make sure you have all the pieces in the correct place.

Above is an example. I can make sure I like how all the pieces look on the background and even shift things around to get the block to look exactly the way I want. I keep a small fabric glue available in case something comes loose while I stitch.

Tip # 3 – Templates

Whether you are working on a fabric or wool appliqué project, a good time saver is to prepare templates by copying the pattern pages that have the templates onto heavy cardstock. This reinforces them for multiple uses and then you can store them in the bag with the pattern for when you want to make the project again.

Quilting Time Saving Tips

Tip #1 – Use Scrap Fabric for a Leader and Ender

This is a time saver and a thread saver! Start your stitching with a scrap piece of fabric before you feed through the pieces you are stitching together and when you finish.

This saves thread because you are not pulling the piece away from your machine to snip the threads. Also, when you start with this piece, you insure that the stitching is even on your piece. Any jumbles or seam allowance “snafus” end up on the leader.

Tip #2 – Chain Piecing

I think everyone probably knows about this time saver. If you have to piece together a lot of the same units for blocks you are making, chain piecing is the way to go… as long as you don’t run out of bobbin thread in the middle of it!

You can do this with units and with blocks, if you have a lot of the same block to piece together. Below is a photo of a bunch of pieces stacked and ready to go for chain piecing and also units of several blocks stacked and ready.

As I shared last week… since you know you’ll probably run out of bobbin thread while chain piecing, be sure to have several bobbins pre-wound with the thread you are using.  That way you can pop in a new one quickly and keep sewing!

Tip #3 – Ripping Out Stitches

We don’t like it, but we all have to do it. Here’s a way to make it go faster. At least it makes it go faster for me. I carefully cut a stitch every 4 or 5 stitches in the middle of the seam and then gently pull apart the pieces.

Be extra careful when pulling them apart so you do not stretch the pieces out of shape, especially those with bias seams. The seam comes apart fairly easy and then all you have to do is finish cutting the threads on each end of the unit.

Tip #4 – Easier HSTs

Finally, here’s a time saving tip when you are making HSTs using the method where you get two at a time. Instead of having to draw lines on the back of all your top squares, try the “crease” method. This keeps you at your machine and you can use the pressing stick to make crisp creases so you don’t have to use your iron.

Use the crease at the guide and sew a scant 1/4″ on each side. Then cut them apart and press open for two HSTs!

That’s all for this week. I’ll keep thinking up so more time saving things I do while quilting and hand stitching. In the mean time, share some of your tips with me in the comments below a free pattern for Village Square.

This pattern has a lot of HSTs in it so you can use the time saver technique above. The drawing will be on Monday, October 25th.

Happy Quilting & Stitching!
Deanne

Quilting Tips for the Beginner and Experienced

Every once in a while, I like to compile quilting tips I have shared in the past in an updated post. I think we all can benefit from these tips whether we are beginners or experienced quilters. Some of the tips I share are time savers and some are on technique. Let’s have some fun this week by sharing some of your favorite tips in the comments. We all learn something new everyday and we may here!

Tip #1

Here’s an example of a cutting instructions page from one of my patterns:

Notice how the largest pieces to be cut from a specific fabric are listed first. I recommend always cutting the largest, longest or widest pieces first and work down from there. Some patterns may not have the cutting instructions listed like this. If they don’t, I recommend you write out the pieces you need to cut from largest to smallest on your own.

I also recommend that you add at least 1/8 yard onto the fabric required by the pattern, unless the pattern maker indicates they’ve already added in additional fabric. I like to do this for my patterns to account for shrinkage if you wash your fabric or for cutting mistakes…. and we all know those happen!

Tip #2

As you are piecing units, measure your completed units to make sure it measures as it should according to the pattern. If you measure units before piecing them into the blocks, you can be assured that your finished block will measure correctly.

To be able to measure by my machine, I like to keep a wood pressing stick and small rulers close by.

The pressing stick lets me press seams on the unit while sitting at the machine so I can measure them right there. Here’s how the pressing stick works:

If your units don’t measure correctly, then you will have a lot of difficulty piecing the block and your block will not measure correctly. So, this is actually a time saver!

Tip #3

Well, if your unit or block does not measure correctly or you make a mistake, you’ll need to rip out stitches. One of my least favorite thing to do is to “un-sew”. But if it needs to be done, do it carefully so you don’t damage the fabric pieces. Here’s how I do it:

I cut a stitch every 4 or 5 stitches in the middle of the seam and then gently pull apart the pieces.

The seam comes apart fairly easy and then all you have to do is finish cutting the threads on each end of the unit.

It’s important to be gentle when ripping seams out so the fabric is not stretched and the seam allowance isn’t frayed. Especially when you are ripping out seams on the bias.

Tip #4

This may seem like a simple tip, but you’d be surprised how many people skip it. Back stitch to lock your stitched seam at the beginning and end of a seam. 

The unit on the left has back stitching at the beginning and end of the seam. The one on the right does not. The next photo shows how the seam can easily separate, which can cause your quilt to come apart at the seams … literally!

The unit that has the back stitching is nice and secure, even with seams pressed open.

This can be done whether you are just stitching one unit at a time or you are stitching a chain of units. It only takes a brief second to backstitch at the beginning and end of each unit in a chain.

Tip #5

Finally, here’s a time saving tip when you are making HSTs using the method where you get two at a time. Instead of having to draw lines on the back of all your top squares, try the “crease” method. This keeps you at your machine and you can use the pressing stick (shown above) to make crisp creases.

 

Use the crease at the guide and sew a scant 1/4″ on each side. Then cut them apart and press open for two HSTs!

So that’s it for this week. Share in the comments below some of your favorite tips. I may just feature you in an upcoming tips blog post! I will also enter you into the drawing for a Clover Finger Presser (I don’t think they make the wood ones anymore!)

The drawing will be next Monday, October 12…. so you only have this week to comment. Until next week, ***We have a winner. Congrats, Donna Reeves!***

Happy Quilting!
Deanne

Quilting Tips to Make Quilting Fun!

Every once in awhile, I like to give you some time saving tips that will make your quilting days go smoothly. When things go smoothly…. you have more fun! The last couple of weeks, we talked about fabric, cutting safety and using quilt rulers. Today, I’ll share some tips 

Tip #1

It’s always a good idea to read a pattern through from start to finish before beginning. Especially since sometimes a pattern may not have all the cutting instructions up front. My cutting instructions are usually right up front for everything. Here’s a look:

Also, notice how I have the largest pieces cut from the fabric first. This guarantees that you get all the pieces cut from the piece of fabric efficiently. Another reason to read the pattern…. some will not have the pieces listed like this.

Tip #2

Another tip when cutting out your quilt pieces, label and organize them while you cut. As you can see from the photo above, I label my pieces to be cut with letters. It’s a good idea to stack the pieces by the fabric and by letter. This will make piecing the blocks easier because you won’t have to stop and hunt for pieces! This is how I label my pieces:

A little bit of masking tape or painter’s tape will do the trick!

Tip #3

Chain piece units and blocks when you can. Chain piecing is when you continuously feed units that need to be stitched together one after another without cutting the thread. It’s a thread and time saver.

Just be sure to check that you haven’t run out of bobbin thread while you’re stitching. I’ve done that before and have ended up with a pile of un-stitched units at the back of my machine. Oops! I also chain stitch block rows together. As long as you have them stacked up and ready to go, you can chain stitch those too.

Tip #4

A really easy way to keep pieces for blocks arranged and ready to go to the sewing machine is …. mini design squares!

I made this by cutting out squares of card board about 13 x 13″ and then covered them with scrap wool or cotton batting. Here’s what it looks like when you have block pieces laid out:

Make several of these squares. Then you can stack up the blocks for your quilt, one on top of the other, and just sit and sew. The cover of batting keeps your pieces in place as they are stacked.

Tip #5

As you are piecing units, measure your completed units to make sure it measures as it should according to the pattern. If you measure units before piecing them into the blocks, you can be assured that your finished block will measure correctly.

To be able to measure by my machine, I like to keep a wood pressing stick and small rulers close by.

The pressing stick lets me press seams on the unit while sitting at the machine so I can measure them right there. Here’s how the pressing stick works:

So, those are some tips to get you started on stitching your new project! I hope they’re useful.  Now for the new drawing… leave me a comment below and you will be entered into a drawing for my pattern Twinkle, Twinkle.

This is a fun, scrappy one and also good for confident beginners. Drawing will be on Monday, August 3rd. **We have a winner…Congrats, Eileen!**

Happy Quilting!
Deanne