What other tips am I missing?

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05-27-2014, 10:30 AM

#11

citruscountyquilter

Super Member

Join Date: Mar 2013

Location: Hernando FL

Posts: 1,662

Glue basting is probably the tip that transformed things the most for me.

I use the pin in upper left corner method but I also take a picture of what I have on my design wall and have it handy near the machine. That way if I get confused I look at the picture to confirm placement. I also use a cookie sheet to transport my pieces from the design wall to the machine and back. I find I'm less likely to get things mixed up if I lay them out on the cookie sheet.

Frixon pens are pretty neat too.

05-27-2014, 10:33 AM

#12

JudyTheSewer

Super Member

Join Date: Aug 2011

Location: Sparks, NV

Posts: 1,243

Quote:

Originally Posted by willferg

When I am sewing blocks and working across a row, I use different colored pins for each pair in alphabetical order by the name of the color: the first pins are black, then blue, then green, then red, white, yellow, depending on the number of blocks.

This is a great tip - thanks willferg and knitette

05-27-2014, 12:23 PM

#13

Onebyone

Power Poster

Join Date: Jan 2011

Location: Southern USA

Posts: 16,278

Glue basting changed the way I felt about basting. I will never go back to pins or thread basting.

05-27-2014, 12:45 PM

#14

pokeygirl

Senior Member

Join Date: Jan 2013

Posts: 307

Quote:

Originally Posted by Knitette

Have you ever been given a tip that's transformed your life? (This may be a slight exaggeration..........

).

I learned a tip recently and it got me thinking about how many others I don't know. (Clearly been living under a rock).

I'm making a Minecraft quilt for DGS (thanks to SlightlyOffQuilter for the pattern) and the rows are 8x8. I've previously managed to figure out that rows on many quilts need to be labelled/numbered and made my own with craft beads.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]476996[/ATTACH]

The tip I didn't know about was putting a pin in the left-hand block when pairing, so you know what order they should be. I tell you this has made this quilt soooooooo much easier. Wish I'd known it years ago - duh!

[ATTACH=CONFIG]476997[/ATTACH]

I'm sure many of you will know of this one already, but I think it's a good idea to share our tips with new quilters and other rock dwelllers

.

Please share your best tips!

I'm confused. (not hard to do) LOL.....I understand the bead on the first square, but why the other pins? The green, blue, etc.

05-27-2014, 03:23 PM

#15

Denice_a

Member

Join Date: May 2014

Location: Salem, OR

Posts: 44

Wow - that is a simple trick that will save me HOURS of time fussing with which squares to sew together. I'm with you. This would have been nice to have been taught YEARS ago! Thank you so much for sharing!!!!

05-27-2014, 10:45 PM

#16

Knitette

Super Member

Thread Starter

Join Date: May 2012

Location: The Granite City, Scotland

Posts: 1,635

Quote:

Originally Posted by pokeygirl

I'm confused. (not hard to do) LOL.....I understand the bead on the first square, but why the other pins? The green, blue, etc.

These need to be placed in a particular order in the row when sewn. Before I used the marker pins (no particular pin - just whatever's handy), I would invariably turn one set - or more - back to front and have to unpick them later.

Now I know that when I sew the pair together, the one with the pin is always the left block and it stops me turning it round by mistake

05-27-2014, 11:16 PM

#17

annesthreads

Super Member

Join Date: Mar 2011

Location: South Yorkshire UK

Posts: 1,145

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grammahunt

Best advice I ever received was in relation to free motion quilting. The person giving the mini demonstration I was watching said, "Really, girls, Just Do It". She was right. I had nothing more than some scrap batting and fabric to lose, so I just tried it and found I really could do it. So I pass this advice on all the time. Whatever it is in life, you won't know if you can do it until you try!

Me too. Leah Day says "Just quilt" and in the end, that's what you have to do. No amount of stressing and worry will get the darn thing done.
Another was "said" to me by an exhibition at the UK quilt museum in York. There was a display of beautiful 18th and 19th century quilts. Some of them had quite glaring "errors" - points not meeting, misplaced blocks, wobbly quilting etc etc. Yet they were on the gallery walls, giving great pleasure to their viewers. That was the end of my anxious perfectionism. Since then "good enough" has been my mantra, and I enjoy my quilting much more as a result. (I do understand that for some people, achieving the most perfect result possible is part of the pleasure of quilting, and I admire that, but for me it just caused misery and dissatisfaction - we're all different!)