Futon

Each quilter has their essential tools, their iron, their scissors, rulers and so on. However for me it does not just stop there.

Over my years of quilting, I’ve also come across a number of little accessories and tools that would just make quilting so much tougher without them. The funny part is that they are not even big things, just small things here and there that save me a couple of minutes at a time.

Chaco Liners

Chaco liners look a lot like permanent markers, however they’re completely different. Rather than permanently staining your fabric, these liners use a powder type tip that is designed to leave a mark, but not forever.

The basic concept behind these is you can mark out the measurements as required and then when its no longer required, clean it off simply. Ideal for any person working on a custom quilt pattern or patchwork quilt.

They are also refillable, so when you finish one, you can just unscrew the cartridge and replace it with a fresh one.

Thread Rack

This is a fantastic straightforward to use device which has saved me countless minutes hunting for the right thread. This is a rack divided up into a grid. Where each grid meets is a little dowl that protrudes, which you can put a spool of thread on.

I have arranged mine in a rainbow colour order so I can quickly find the colour thread I need and begin stitching. No more rumaging around your stitching box for the right colour spool.

You can get ones that stand vertically and have a roatating base to help you choose your threads, similar to a greeting card rack.

5 in 1 Sliding Gauge

This looks similar to one of those T-squares your teacher used in maths class. The difference is this one has an adjustable slider.

It is a real wonder tool and is ideal for marking out button holes, seam allowances and hem length, just to name a few!

Its these tiny things that help me to save minutes here and there. These minutes then start turning into hours and shortly you’ll find you cannot live without them either!

To get more excellent tips about the best way to make a patchwork quilt, check out Jane Green’s how to make a patchwork quilt internet site now!

For those of you who don’t know what a t-shirt quilt is, it is literally a quilt made out of t-shirts. It works alongside the same principles as a patchwork quilt design but is different in its own special way.

The basic notion of these quilts is that you use the designs from old t-shirts, right where the printings, designs and slogans are. This is a perfect use for all those unused t-shirts you do not wear anymore and gives them a new way to be useful.

Making one of those quilts is easy and relatively quick:

1. Collect and clean all the t-shirts you would like to use. Make sure they have all been washed and ironed. You do not want to work with soiled or wrinkled materials.
2. Work out how many you wish to use in your design. This is a vital step as it’ll affect each other part of your quilt design.
3. Choose a pattern. Will there be a border between all of the t-shirts? Will you stitch them all together and just add a border round the outside? The choice is yours.
4. Work out what size each t-shirt square needs to be to work with your pattern. Check all of the t-shirts to make sure the parts you want to capture can be contained in these sized squares.
5. Make a block template, ideally with thick card or linoleum – something that’s tough to accidentally cut through.
6. Spread your t-shirt over the block and cut out the design.
7. Organize all of the t-shirt blocks in your preferred pattern.
8. Cut out and arrange your borders and other materials and add them to the t-shirts to ensure that your pattern will work and come out the size you intended it to.
9. If everything has lined up, start to stitch the pattern into rows. Once all of the rows are complete, sew the rows together.

Thats it!

Now there’s no reason to have all those old t-shirts floating around and cluttering up your closet any more!

To get some more excellent tips about the best way to make a patchwork quilt, check out Jane Green’s how to make a patchwork quilt website now!

What Sort Of Stitching Patterns Do I Need?

There are two stitches that people new to stitching will need. These are the straight stitch and zig zag stitch

All machines have a straight stitch, its the most popular and most used stitch by just about everyone. So its considered the default.

Most machines will have a zig zag stitch but be certain to check because there are machines out there that don’t have this. They’re far and few between, but they’re still out there, so just be sure to check the machine.

There are two other stitching styles that are handy to have but are not essential. These are button hole stitch and stretch stitch.

Stretch stitch is good for for anything that needs a little room to manouver round the seam, so its good for a patchwork quilt which use several different materials, but its not required.

Do not be too worried about getting a button hole stitch, a few people love this kind of stitch, but button holes can be done with a zig zag stitch setting.

Any Other Tips?

Check the machine can be reversed or is able sew backwards. This is fairly significant as some older machines don’t do this and its actually convenient when you need to do this.

Always get the seller to show you how to thread the machine. Almost every machine has an alternative way of threading the needle. There’s few things worse than having a new machine to play with and having no clue how to even use it.

If you buy one and forget this step, you may get lucky and find a video that shows you the correct way to do it on YouTube, but this should really only be a back up solution.

If you’re purchasing a second hand machine, remember to check the electric cord for indications of fraying and wear. You do not want to get electrocuted while sewing a quilt!

Keep these tips under consideration and you’re sure to purchase a winner!

To get some more good advice about how to make a patchwork quilt, check out Jane Green’s how to make a patchwork quilt website now!

Cutting fabric squares is an odd thing. Its something that seems easy to do but difficult to master. It can take lots of attempts to get the perfect square.

Well if you’re yet to attain the ideal square, which is vitally important if you are going to make a patchwork quilt, there are two methods to do it.

Make a Template

This is a quick and very simple solution. Get some thick card or vinyl, a pair of scissors and a ruler. Mark out the size of the square you need and cut it out of the card/vinyl.

You may then place this perfect square on top of your material and use your rotary cutter on the outside.

With A Set Ruler

You are going to be able to find some specialized rulers in most craft shops. These look like ‘L ‘ shapes and generally have a 90 degree angle. They should also have measurements down each side.

Simply cut along the inside of the ruler to along each side to the length each side of the square should be. When you have cut out two sides, flip the ruler over the diagonally opposite side and repeat.

There are a couple reasons these techniques are at the very top of my list. Firstly , its quick. While this might not seem like much, if you’re making a quilt with 40 squares and it saves you thirty seconds per square, you just saved 20 minutes on your quilt.

Secondly, these strategies don’t need you to mark out any lines. This is great as there is no chance of unintentionally drawing on any piece of the material and having to throw that section out.

As a bonus, its easy to make perfect triangles as well.

When you have your squares, simply cut your squares diagonally form one corner to the other and you will get perfect triangles every time.

Remember to use a guide or ruler for the cutting so you get a nice straight edge on each side!

To get more great tips about the way to make a patchwork quilt, check out Jane Green’s how to make a patchwork quilt website now!

One of the most appealing and lovely quilts that will adorn any bedroom is a patchwork quilt. Although it may appear the quilt was put together haphazardly, there is really a large amount of care and planning that goes into each one.

So if you’re thinking how to make a patchwork quilt, here’s the things you need to do before you start:

Collect all your potential materials together.

I’ve seen scrappers during the past decide they are going to make a patchwork quilt, grab some material and just start cutting out squares. This is a recipe for disaster. The very first thing you must do is collect all your potential material in one place.

Work out how many squares you can get out of each section of materials.

Its extremely rare that you’ll have scrap materials of all the same sizes. So it is smart to work out how many squares you will have.

The explanation why you do this now is now is so you can determine if you have enough materials to get the pattern you would like. If you don’t, you’re going to have to reconsider your design or get more of the same material.

Cut out your patches.

Once you have your design, you’ll know how many squares you will need and what size they’re going to have to be. Its now ok to begin cutting.

Stack Them into piles

Trust me, this make it so much easier and faster when putting your quilt together. Before I started doing this, I lost countless hours sorting though my materials and other squares and patches for the one or two remaining squares.

Do a ‘dry run ‘

This is a comparatively quick and easy process and makes sure you have enough of each material to finish off the quilt.

For a dry run, you want your squares and a whole pile of pins. Make a line of

This makes sure you do not discover that you are short of material towards the end of the quilt.

Its also a good way to be certain that it’ll fit correctly on any bed or couch the quilt is certain to go on.

After you have finished the above steps, you are ready to assemble your quilt – good luck!

To get some more nice tips about the best way to make a patchwork quilt, check out Jane Green’s how to make a patchwork quilt site now!

One of the most important tools in making a patchwork quilt is a rotary cutter. I recollect how I used to draw lines on fabric, then cut out my pieces with scissors.

I just balk at even the very idea of that now. So where do you start when buying your first rotary cutter?

Well there are many styles of cutters available, all with blades that come in different sizes, different shaped handles and a variety of protective sheaths.

Typically larger blades are used to cut through thicker fabric like flannelette, or a number of fabric layers at one time. Although the more layers of fabric you cut through the less accurate you can become. So it is best when beginning to just start with a few layers to gain confidence.

Blade Sizes

Rotary cutters come in several different sizes which include 18mm, 28mm, 45mm and 60mm in diameter. Smaller blades are great for cutting around curves, small templates, and finer work but you’ll find usually the bigger blades will be more useful.

The 45mm is the most widely used and a good selection for all general fabric cutting needs. You’ll find this size is the one you reach for the most.

New Blades and Sharpening

When you purchase a rotary cutter it’ll routinely include one blade and occasionally a spare. It can be quite costly buying new blades every time they get blunt. What is so great about these blades is that they can be sharpened!

The sharpeners can be found in assorted sizes of blades but will only fit one size blade per sharpener. A blade can be sharpened 6 or more times before it has to get replaced.

The down side is if you’ve more that one size blade you will need to buy a sharpener for each size. Something to think about when buying different size cutters.

If however your blade has a nick out of it, perhaps from dropping it or cutting into your ruler, you will probably not be in a position to sharpen it satisfactorily and it will need to be replaced.

Ensure you buy the right blade for your cutter as the hole shape in the centre of the blade varies according to the brand of cutter. For instance, “Kai” cutters have a round mounting hole with two squares cut out of it on opposite sides, while Olfa blades have a triangular shaped mounting hole.

That is it for this article, keep your eyes peeled for part 2 where we cover handles and maintenance.

Until then, happy quilting!

To get more sound advice about the ideal way to make a patchwork quilt, check out Jane Green’s how to make a patchwork quilt site now!

Cutting

When making a patchwork quilt, always cut a fresh straight edge to measure from when you start cutting strips of fabric, and make sure your ruler is lined up straight with the folded edge of the fabric, so that you don’t get a “V” at the fold.

Check after cutting a few strips that you are still cutting strips at actual right angles to the fold because it is simple to get a couple millimeters out of alignment. Cutting precisely will make your piecing way easier later onon.

Ironing

Once you have stitched a seam with your machine, always iron your seam flat first before pressing the seam allowance to one side, this stretches out the seam and keeps the stitches in place which will stop puckering.

Then iron your seams to one side. In patchworking, seams are always pressed to one side (not open) unless the directions say otherwise. This puts less force on your thread once the seams are stitched over in the quilting process.

Stitching

When matching up seams, try to be sure the seams are ironed in opposite directions. This will permit the seam allowances to “nest” into one another and the seam lines will match perfectly. When stitching a border to a pieced block or strip, stitch with the border on the top, this way you can stitch the seam exactly a quarter inch from the fringe of the straight piece, and any slight roughness on the edge of the pieced strip will not matter. You will have a lovely straight seam.

Quilting

If you are machine quilting straight lines, always employ a walking foot. This draws the top fabric through the machine at the same rate as the bottom fabric so there’s no warping or wrinkling of the fabric.

Always start quilting from the centre of the quilt and work towards the outside, because as the quilt gets quilted it gets drawn in a little and you will have more room when you get to the fringe of the quilt.

You do not need to be left with unsightly little areas to quilt that are puffy because they are surrounded by other quilted areas. You may use a little bit bigger stitch length when quilting to deal with the batting and backing fabric (it’s simpler to unpick if you have to as well).

Binding

Binding can be cut on the straight grain of the fabric “you only have to cut it on the bias if you are binding curves or wavy edges. But when making continuous binding, stitch your pieces together on the bias (i.e. A forty five degree angle), not perpendicular.

It makes your binding less lumpy. If you are using a two half inch binding strip, cut the surplus batting off 1cm from the stitching line. This should give you the right amount to fill the binding when folding it over to the back to hand stitch it down.

To get some more great tips about how to make a patchwork quilt, check out Jane Green’s how to make a patchwork quilt site now!