Hidden Threads

Annie over at Annie’s Quilting Adventures makes the most amazing quilts. She just completed her stars quilt top, and it looks wonderful. Take a peek: Annie’s Oh My Stars Quilt.

I’m paying it special honor because it makes wonderful use of lights and darks, color, and sashing. The stars themselves can be made pretty easily, particularly with a Quilt in a Day ruler combo. Although the quilt looks difficult, it’s really not too bad. Intermediate, I’d say. If you have the drive to make a quilt, make a nice one. For a Saturday pastime, quilting is a stress-reducing and productive enterprise. Ask Annie. She’s a nurse who quilts to relax. If you like her escapades as much as I do, sigh up for her RSS feed.

Can Quilting Be a Form of Meditation?

That’s another thing; can quilting be a form of meditation? I tried deep breathing and yoga. I even tried chanting my own mantra, but it wasn’t until I started quilting that I learned how to relax on command. At first I thought it was the fabric, then the repetition. Then I even entertained the idea that it was the sound of the sewing machine. At last, I just stopped trying to figure it out and kept sewing.

Whenever I’m tense, worried, or sad it makes me feel better. Really. I’ve never known it to fail.

I’m a machine quilter, but I won’t say that I haven’t been tempted to make a handmade quilt. It’s enticing, the idea of having a quilt to work on during long trips. The thought that all I need to turn dead-time into quilting time is a couple of pieces of fabric, some thread, and a needle is very attractive, if a bit scary.

I remember watching my grandmother hand quilt. She looked happy while she was doing it. I also remember that her stitches were beautifully small and even. Oh, well. Hand quilting isn’t for me, not right now anyway. If it’s for you, here is a link that will get you started. One piece of advice though is to be sure to buy a quality thimble, and learn how to use it: How to Quilt for Beginners

Rotary cutters and mats go together like – well you get the idea, always use a mat with your rotary cutter.

Mats come in a number of sizes, and most these days are self-healing. This means that the rotary blade doesn’t mar the surface of the mat - much. Once you realize that the blade on a rotary cutter is really a circular razor blade, the fact that mats stand up to wear as well as they do is pretty amazing.

Mats have been adapted to just about any application you can think of. There are rotating mats, mats that are designed to be part of a portable portfolio for people who attend classes or work away from their sewing rooms, and mats that are affixed to the reverse of ironing pads. There are large mats, small mats, mats with many shapes printed on them to help people doing appliqué, and mats that are vanilla, as in plain.

What to Look for When Buying Your First Rotary Cutting Mat

I’d suggest a plain mat for your first. A size around 16″ x 23″ is good, and an uncomplicated surface will be the least confusing. Look for a mat with gridlines that are easy to see and offer you tick marks at 1/8″ increments – that’s pretty standard. You should also look for diagonal lines going across at 60° and 40° angles. Lots of fancy shapes are overkill at this point. If you stay with the hobby, you’ll have plenty of time to decide how you want to handle some of those other tasks later.

There are lots of tips on how to cut fabric that is longer than your mat, so if you get a standard sized mat, like the one recommended above, you should be okay.

Make sure that you have a table to fit your mat without it overhanging the edge, and be sure that you can read the mat without squinting. The most common color is green, but there are others available. You want a mat that’s easy for you to see, read, and understand. Once you’ve cut your material, you’re committed, so it’s better to buy a mat that will make it easy for you to see what you’re doing, the first time and every time.

Save your tee shirt collection for posterity by making it into a quilt. Tee shirt quilts are all the rage and can be fun and easy to make if you follow a few basic guidelines.

Logos should be roughly the same size, or sized in groups to balance the quilt.

Tee shirt material is too stretchy on its own so stabilize it with a non-woven, iron on fusible interfacing. Non-woven, fusible interfacing is easy to find at your sewing supply store and a snap to use. Once you bond it to the tee shirt material, you’ll be amazed at how much easier it will make assembling the quilt.

Since the tee shirts themselves are the star of the show, don’t worry too much about the quilting. An even meander is great. I try for vibrant and colorful themed prints for the backing fabric, and use low loft, 100% cotton batting.

The first couple of quilts I made were less than stellar. I didn’t spend enough time designing and balancing my tee shirt logos and insignias to get a pleasing result. I was so anxious to get started sewing that I didn’t live with my layout long enough.

Quick Tee Shirt Quilt Tip: You can balance a smaller logo with other elements from a tee shirt to build a block the size you need. Once the fabric is stabilized, it will come together easily, allowing you to make a log cabin style block, a four patch, or anything else you need to make a logo-block work with your overall layout.

The best tee shirt quilt how-to I’ve found is at the Quilt Lover’s Guide. Take a look for a step by step with great photos and suggestions.

Oh, and if you don’t have a full sized quilt in you right now, try a single tee shirt made into a wall hanging. You can make art, immortalize an important moment in someone’s life, and cover those empty walls at the same time.

The web is providing great sources for fabric, equipment, and supplies. It is also giving quilter’s a professional outlet for their work. Etsy, a retail selling site, has a quilt section that is open to beginning and seasoned quilters.

You can post your quilts and maybe make a profit on your hobby. Take a trip over to see what they have to offer. Even if you haven’t made your first quilt yet, it’s worth knowing that putting needle to fabric pays – in more ways than one. Now you can have the satisfaction of making your quilts, and earn the extra money to pay for your new or not-so-new hobby.

Signing up and creating your own online store is free and easy. The next step is making a great quilt.

Quilting Inspiration is Just a Click Away

Etsy also offers an interesting glimpse into the minds and work of quilters everywhere. You can view hundreds of wonderful pieces, and watch quilters develop their style over time.

Even if you are not ready to sell your work, the quilts displayed on the Etsy site will inspire you. Take a peek soon.

It’s important to test your first attempts at using your sewing machine to create a reliable quarter inch seam. Use any thread that’s in your machine now, and try sewing two pieces of scrap fabric together.

Be sure to pick two scraps that have at least 12 inches of straight edge, and line them up as evenly as you can. Before you start to sew, make sure you are using a straight stitch, pull the bobbin thread up and out of the way, and identify the quarter inch mark on your sewing machine, even if you have to make one for yourself. If you haven’t read my previous post: Find the Quarter Inch Mark on the Sewing Machine, now would be a good time to take a look.

Test The Accuracy of Your Stitching

Now test the accuracy of your stitching by measuring the distance from the outer edge of the fabric to the line of stitching and make any adjustments you need to. Keep trying with scrap fabric until you get a consistently accurate quarter inch seam. Don’t worry too much about any of the other settings on the sewing machine right now. Just concentrate on straight stitching.

Potential Stitching Problems for the Beginning Quilter

A problem you may notice is an inclination to lose control of the fabric at the very beginning and end of your stitching line. That’s the type of inaccuracy you need to watch out for. Avoiding those wobbles is important.

Keep practicing and you’ll start to get a feel for the way the fabric feeds through the machine, the speed you are comfortable with, the way to coordinate your footwork with your hand movements, and the things you need to watch to make sure that the two pieces of fabric stay lined up at the quarter inch mark. After a while, and not too long either, the process will be second nature and you’ll be ready to make a great quilt.

Now, this is one of the best things about beginning quilting, you have the key to fully one third of the process of learning to do an accurate and beautiful job of making amazing quilts if you can just master the fabric alignment and feeding steps I’ve outlined above.

For machine quilters, their sewing machine is probably their best friend, and understanding your sewing machine will make any quilting job easier.

Find the Quarter Inch Mark on the Sewing Machine

Much of quilting involves joining small pieces of fabric together to create a pattern. When these pieces are seamed together, the result is called piecing or piecework.
The most common piecework seam width is a quarter of an inch, and training yourself to sew an accurate quarter inch seam is one of the three critical skills you need to learn in quilting. The good news is that your sewing machine can often help you.

Find a ruler and go to your machine. Check the notches and guides along the throat plate (the metal square directly under the needle) or the area along which the fabric travels to the needle. The quarter inch mark from the needle’s center (or only) position may be marked there. If not, check the additional feet that came with your sewing machine. From the needle opening, measure to the right edge of the foot (as it faces you). These days many sewing machines come standard with a foot that provides a nifty quarter inch guide for your fabric.

Making An Accurate Quarter Inch Mark on Your Sewing Machine

If you can’t find a quarter inch guide or mark, you can make a guide yourself using an inexpensive cheat.

Check to see if you have masking tape, painter’s tape (It’s usually blue), or a pad of post-it notes. Measure the distance from the needle out a quarter inch to the right and position one of these items to create an edge or bumper.

This done, you will now have a guide with which to feed your fabric to the needle at an accurate quarter inch. Hooray.

Next lesson you’ll actually start sewing something.

Rulers and other shape related tools are important for measuring fabric, and there are literally thousands on the market. Some are general and others are very specialized. If you stay in the hobby, you will learn about patterns and styles of quilting that captivate you. Making these more sophisticated types of quilts often requires refined cutting techniques.

Not to worry, we’ll cross that ditch when we come to it. For now, you will need a good 12″ ruler and a 6″ square ruler. These rulers can work individually and in concert to insure you make good, even cuts. Many quilts, like log cabin and the nine patch configurations can be breathtaking, but use very straightforward cutting methods. With these two tools, a rotary cutter, and a reliable mat, you are in business.

A pair of good scissors is dear to any quilter or sewer’s heart. Even if your scissors didn’t cost much, it’s still important to keep them in good shape. If you are planning a big project, give your scissors a mini-spa vacation and get them into fine form.

Conditioning Your Scissors

Applying a drop of sewing machine oil to your scissors will help keep them working better, longer. Try opening them completely, placing the oil on the inside of the blade, distribute the oil it up and down the blade carefully, and close the scissors completely. Set them aside for a few days.

When you are ready to use your scissors again, wipe them down thoroughly with a dry cloth. Don’t forget to cut a few pieces of scrap fabric to make sure there isn’t any oil residue left that will stain your good fabric.

Conditioning your scissors every few months is good tool maintenance. Your hands and your fabric will thank you.

Most if not all rotary cutters have safety retractors. These are usually buttons on the handle that retract the blade. Some have an added safety feature that automatically retracts the blade when your hand isn’t on the handle of the tool.

Selecting the Right Size Rotary Cutter

Rotary cutters are typically available in three sizes: 28mm, 45mm, and 60mm. Of the three, the 45mm is the most commonly used, although any one of the three sizes can be the best choice for specific tasks. The smaller, 28mm, is great for going around templates with curves, and the 60mm has a deeper blade that is handy for cutting through multiple layers of fabric. Most seasoned quilters have two if not all three sizes in their sewing rooms.

Avoid Hand Stress

Working with any hand tool over time can lead to hand fatigue. If you have problems with your hands, there are a number of rotary cutters available that provide a good grip and an optimized cutting angle that will help you avoid hand stress.

Good Rotary Cutter Safety Practices

Rotary cutters can be dangerous. They are wonderful tools, but use them with caution. There are gloves on the market that will protect  your hand holding the fabric (This is the hand that’s at the greatest risk of getting nicked accidentally), and they’re not very expensive either. Investing in one of these gloves is a good idea.

Using a rotary cutter will help increase your accuracy, and will also help speed up the process of creating your quilt. Speed, though, isn’t your first consideration when working with a rotary cutter. Use caution whenever cutting. Be sure you have a flat surface, good lighting, and are alert to what you are doing (no midnight fabric cutting marathons).