Quilt in a Day Forums

I buy a cheap small paint brush. I clean the inside of my sewing machine after every project I do. I even take the plate off under the needle. Clean all lit out. I even remove the bobbin case & brush it out. U will be surprise what comes out. Take the brush outside & brush on a posts to clean the brush off. I brush on my leg of my sewing table legs. Update Aug 21, 2013. I found I posted the samething twice. Sorry about that.

Like everyone else I have a jar for needles.

Katherine

If you put fusible thread in the upper looper of your serger and serge on your binding, you can then turn it press and sew it on without the thread showing at all on the other side and noun evenness either...you can skip that thread ,and just serge ans turn but it is much nicer if you use it because it is all ready set solidly prior to sewing and looks really nice if you sew with the hemming stitch sew fairly close and rather narrow.with invisible thread. Do not do this with charity quilts unless its for a raffle as it does add to the price and the goal with charity quilts is more people covered!

Such great tips!

My favorite tip that I use is for binding. After I thread my needle to hand sew the binding, I pinch a folded dryer sheet around the thread and pull it through several times. Then the thread does not tangle as I sew, which is a major irritant for me.

Also, I have 4 sewing machines (1 new, 3 restored Singers)that I use. I got a different colored rubber bobbin ring holder for each one and wrote the name of each machine on one. Now I have each machine's bobbins separate and easily accessible.

Keep the tips coming!

Linda

This has probably been posted but here goes again.....I have found, when threading the machine needle, if you moisten you finger and hold it on the back side of the needle, it seems the thread is drawn to it and the thread comes through faster....Does that make sense???

I notice a lot of conversation about little snippets getting all over the floor. When I had my sewing room, before "fulltiming", I had a carpeted room. Someone shared a great idea with me, and it worked wonderfully.

Buy a bristle toilet bowl brush and hang it near your machine. At the end of the day, swish it around and it picks up all the snippets. Saves a lot on the tangles in the vaccum cleaner.

I used mine so much that I acutally wore it out and had to buy another. It really works like a charm!!

Velda

Experience is the best teacher! As a relatively new quilter, but an experienced sewer, I dread having to re-do my projects, but have learned that sometimes it's the best thing to do because you'll kick yourself if you don't. I recently made a quilt and had to remove the entire border quilting because I hated the design and thread choice. It took four hours to quilt it and fifteen hours to undo it, but I'm soooo glad I took those stitches out and re-quilted it. Now I can enjoy it because it's done right. I would have hated spending the rest of my life being upset at what I've done. If you spend a lot of time doing something as painstakingly time-consuming as a quilt, you should absolutely take the time and do it right the first time! That's not to say you can't make mistakes, but if they bother you, fix them. Otherwise, don't point them out because most people never notice them anyway.

nanaquilter, I agree with you. I am by no means a perfectionist but if something bothers me, it is realllly wrong. I too have learned the hard way to bite the bullet and just take the time to do it right so I can sleep at night! lol Thanks for the tip, you are so right!

Can I just say......bought a new Toilet Brush for those multiplying threads.....and it works.......THANK YOU....Velda

The imperfect blocks, and loose chickens that are test runs use them and 4" or 5" block ruler, cut them to size and place on off kinter sew them into sampler/scrap baby quilt. No two be same.

Here's my best tip: I have kids new in the area. A 8yr. old who came harassing to cut my lawn $5.00. I gave in.. then asked if he does other things. ie snow removal, leaves, flower beds. OH what the heck cutting fabric scraps and hear we are $5.00 he's in my home cutting my huge scrapbook. Then, we sit tog and have PIzza. He's a happy camper and his father doesn't care since he escapes the dilemma of divorce.