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My recent article "20 Timely tips for Quilters" was well received and so I'm handing the baton to you to include your three most helpful tips you can give to new and more experienced quilters out there in Quiltland.

Help others by giving us your three most helpful hints to make wonderful quilt creations.

Cheerio for now

Judie B
My 3 helpful tips are:

1) Using one of your rulers draw a line on your ironing board in permanent marker then when pressing boarders, strips etc. I line them up on the line and know I am pressing them straight and no curves in my strip sets.

2) To clean my iron when I don't have iron cleaner I use a drier fabric softener sheet. Press and rub your iron on the fabric softener sheet when it is hot and it will be clean. For stubborn residue I sometimes use a wooden clothespin wrapped in a sheet for pinpointing the stubborn stuff.

3) I always cut the pieces for only one block and put it together from scrap. Then I know if the measurements are correct, if I need to make any adjustments before cutting into my planned quilt fabric and I then have a sample block to pin up near my machine to refer to like a map for proper placement and pressing direction.

Always In Stitches,
Marj
Hey Marj, fabulous tips I've never heard of the first two. I'm going to start a rolling article and would like to include all the tips we receive on this forum. I won't put your name to it unless you're Ok with that. Are you happy for me to include your three tips?

Cheerio for now

Judie B
1. Measure twice or thrice and cut once. I always double check measurements, as there is nothing worse then cutting a 1/4 inch to short. 2. View your colour combinations from a distance, pin to a board, or photograph and look at the photo on the computer, and play with the placement of colours so that you get the desired effect. It is surprising how repositioning one colour can dramatically change the impact of a block. 3. Use left over soap pieces for marking fabric rather than marking pens, will not stay in the fabric, and the first time the quilt is washed the soap mark disappears. I find it excellent for marking solid colours, so that I always am using the correct side oft he fabric.
I'm a newbie! But have been 'lurking' for a while. Thought I might add my mite to the list....though I am probably telling you things that you already know! 1. When piecing I always activate the 'needle down' option in my sewing machine, and use the 1/4 inch foot. 2. To start each seam, I start sewing into and slightly beyond a bit of scrap fabric (usually an off-cut from leftover binding!), raise the foot, then position the fabric to be stitched against the needle leaving a 1/4 inch seam width, lower the foot, and continue stitching. At the end of the seam, the stitching will be continued on into another scrap of fabric. You can use this method when chain stitching; just remember to continue for a few stitches between each set of fabric pieces. This ensures that the beginnings and endings of each seam maintain the exact 1/4 inch position. It also provides a short length of twisted thread which helps stop the beginning of the seam unravelling as it is handled. 3. I pin units together at right angles to intended seam line at the beginning of the seam, and parallel to the seam line elsewhere. Finally, if you, like me, are a bit obsessive, see if you can get Sally Collins' book "Mastering Precision Piecing" (ISBN 9781571203632). She explains all this so much better!
Love these Imm, my father-in-law was a tailor, and I inherited all his fine slithers of soap that he used to mark fabrics. You are right, it works a treat - costs nothing and washes out!

Thanks for sharing Lorraine.

Cheerio for now
Welcome aboard ClareB, and I really like your tips. I call the second tip of your - run ons and run offs. The fabric is there for you to run onto and run off, and it also buries the thread before it gets to your block piecing.

Hope to hear more from you. Cheerio for now
I need a tip... I made a pin cushion, and sometimes my pins don't want to pierce the fabric, the stuffing is rolled up batting scraps. Is my problem the stuffing or do pins actually get dull enough not to stick into a pin cushion? and... why don't quilts get finished with one side of the fabric being folded over the other side and stitched in? I am making a quilt that has a faux furry back and a quilted front and it seems folding the faux furry side over the front will be the best way to edge it because the furry stuff is super slick and I'm concerned about trying to cut it and then stitch it inside a separate binding and it staying put? is there a rule I shouldn't break here?
Hi Hpiner, my guess is it's more to do with the stuffing and less do to with the sharpness of the pins. I've done the same, using scraps of batting, but my experience is that you really need to tease out the batting so the pins will slide easily through it. Having said that, your pins do dull over time - I replace all my pins every 1st of April each year. This way I don't have problems with dulling, nor do I have issues with rusted pins marking fabrics. It doesn't cost much and it's a pleasure to use good sharp pins every time.

Regarding the question about folding over backing to the front - as far as I know there's noting written down in concrete that says you can't do it. I'd give it a go. A couple of my mantras go like this:

"ask for forgiveness, not permission" and
"remember the rules are there's no rules!!"

Let us know how you get on Hpiner

Does any one else have some tips for pincushions and using backing to bind your quilts?

Cheerio for now
Hi Hpiner and Judie, Mny years ago I used the backing to come forward over the quilt top and folded it under as a binding, the process worked well. In my case, I really wanted the backing fabric as the binding, but there was just not enough to cut binding strips in the traditional way, but the backing fabric was bigger than the quilt top. That quilt looked great and I had no problems with it. From memory I hand stitched the back down, and then sewed a 1/4 inch away from the edge of the quilt all the way around, and it looked as if there was a binding on the quilt. I also mitred the corners to help reduce the bulk. I have never been one for rules, instead tending to do what I wanted to do and use fabrics that I want, and I love incorporating different fabrics into quilts. I try to remember the rules and why they might be there, and stabilise fabrics or starch them when incorporating if they are not 100% cotton. My belief is that the rules were made by sewers after trial and error, so if I want to do the trial and error and see if something works for me and it does, great, if not to bad, I always have an unpicker available.
Thanks LLM, that's very good advice. Hope that's helped Hpiner.

Any more tips from readers?
Thank you for all of you for sharing your tips. I learned a few things today.

My three top tips are:
(1)Before I start a new project, I clean up my sewing room; seeing a cleared table makes me feel good and makes organizing my next project easier.
(2)Spend some time in my sewing room every day. I may not accomplish much, but it helps me relax.
(3) Keep my tools organized and return them to the same place as soon as I use them. I have a coffee mug for scissors and rotary cutters; another for pens, marking pencils, rippers, specific area for rulers, another for cutting mats. No more wasted time looking through that mess on my sewing table on a specific tool.
For my starter pieces, I keep a stack of 2 1/2" squares of various pastel colored fabric by my sewing machine that I sew together. The twosies can be easily turned in to four patch squares, etc. Before I know it I have a nice start for the small baby quilts I make for our drug baby care facility. Every so often I take time to put the sets together, a nice mindless activity on those days when thinking about a specific pattern is more than my mind can handle.
What a fabulous idea GallopingButterfly. I will do that and see how quickly I can get a little quilt made. I had to laugh at your suggestion of putting tools back where they belong. I too, am for ever using my hands to find lost tools amongst the fabrics - it's an ouch when I find the unprotected rotary cutter!! Will I ever learn?

Cheerio for now
I have been away from the site for a while but would be happy to have my tips out there for all to benefit from.
Great Marj, let's hear them!!
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