Tips, Humorous and Then Some

General Sewing Tips

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Moisten the eye of the needle rather than the thread when threading a needle. The moisture helps draw the thread through the eye. Unknown

When prewashing fabric snip off a small piece on all four corners. This prevents fabric from raveling as much. Tina Knebel

Serge like fabrics in a long piece when prewashing. Fabric will not get as wrinkled and be easier to press. Tina Knebel

Don’t drink and sew! Karen Rescke

Keep a bottle of peroxide and cotton balls to blot accidental scorches. Vicki Miesle

Don’t rotary cut your appliqué finger! Mary Huston

Replace your needle every time you begin a new project. A dull or slightly bent needle will cause poor stitch quality. Mary Huston

Instead of cleaning your machine at the end of a project clean and oil your machine before you start any new project. Barb Pinneo

Machine Appliqué with an open toed foot for better control. Becky Bower

Always buy more fabric then you think you will need for your project. You don't want to discover you need more fabric after you have started. That is because different bolts of fabric can be from different dye lots or it is no longer available. Sharon Monaghan

It pays to use good thread. Good thread should be smooth without fuzziness or hairy fibers. It is much stronger and it is much better for your machine. Less lint means less machine cleaning.

When you first purchase a new sewing book, note inside the front cover what caught your eye. That way when you are looking for that project all you have to do is flip open the front cover of your books when looking for it. June North

Quilting Tips

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Starch the wrong side of flannel or homespun fabrics before cutting. The starch will help keep the weave straight while you cut and reduce fraying as you sew. Unknown

Use PVC pipe to raise a banquet-type table to a comfortable cutting height. The legs fit inside the plastic pipe. Remove pipe to return the table to standard height. Sue Reid

When pressing the seams in your quilt block, always press the seam flat first, the way it was sewn. This sinks the thread into the fabric and reduces the bulk of the seam. This habit can eliminate the "hanging-up" on the walking foot while machine quilting. Karen Reske

Construct a sample block of your chosen fabrics. If you don’t like it do not continue it won’t look any better in the morning. Ruth Spangler.

Use a flannel backed vinyl tablecloth as a portable design wall. Darlene Leosh

When making flying geese or half square triangles-don’t throw away your “waste”. Take the pieces you cut off and, keeping the two together-use it as a starter piece in your machine. Be sure to use ¼” seams. Beth Hirschberg

To prevent quilt pieces from stretching when “un sewing” (taking out a mistake), use your seam ripper to slit every 4th or 5th stitch in the seam rather then pulling the two pieces apart and cutting the threads in the middle of the joined pieces. After slitting the stitches, your mistaken seam will come right out. I kike to remove all the thread pieces before re-sewing, to prevent threads from showing up in my finished quilt top. Sue Reid

To clean your rotary cutter mat use a piece of tape and rub it over the cuts in your board. This will clean all the lint and fabric particles from the cut. Karen Reske

Use a CD tower to store your fat quarters. Arrange by color to see what you have in your stash. June North

Machine Embroidery Tips

Always test sew out your embroidery design on like fabric and stabilizers. This way if the design and stabilizer is not correct you will be able to make adjustments and have not ruined your project. A little testing takes far less time then tearing out. Barb Pinneo

Hoop properly-Use temporary spray adhesive to spray your stabilizer. Hoop fabric and stabilizer together. Hand tighten screw, un-hoop, then re-hoop. Never pull fabric tight in hoop. Hooping and un-hooping releases the tension in the fabric and prevents puckers. Barb Pinneo

Pressing your finished embroidery upside down on a piece of batting or plush towel will make your embroidery design stand out. Barb Pinneo

Do your embroidery before you cut out your finished project. That way there will be no alignment mistakes. Kathleen Stroshein

Always clip thread jumps in between color changes. It is often easier and produces a better result than waiting until the design is completed and many of the jump stitches are partly stitched over. Kathleen Stroshein

Taking out embroidery errors can really be hard. I use my seam ripper to cut whatever threads I can on the back, then I use masking tape to remove all loosened threads. This leaves a lot of loose ends which I trim on both front and back. I continue in this way alternating between small sharp scissors, seam ripper and masking tape. I have been able to take out very dense designs without making any holes in my final project. Barb Pinneo

Heirloom Sewing Tips

Use a Herra Marker to pre-crease tucks for Heirloom Sharks Teeth. Barb Pinneo

Always use the best fabric you can afford. You will put a lot of work into your project, so it's worth using great material. Barb Pinneo

For more control when sewing French laces, lightly starch the lace without stretching before sewing.

Use a small sharp rounded scissors for removing the fabric from behind shaped lace. With pointed scissors there is to big chance that the lace might get cut.