Sewing with Fat Quarters

I’ll admit that when I first heard about ‘fat quarters,’ I was a bit confused.  But, then someone explained what a ‘fat quarter’ of fabric is, and it all made perfect sense.

So, here goes -

Usually when we buy a quarter yard of fabric, it is cut from selvedge to selvedge. This means that we get a long, narrow piece that is 9 inches wide by somewhere between 40 and 44 inches long, depending on the measurement of the fabric from selvedge to selvedge.

That’s great if you are making a border or sashing. But if you want to cut a bunch of squares or triangles from the fabric, you might not have enough simply because the fabric is the wrong shape.

So, some creative quilter – or possibly quilt shop owner – decided that you could still get a 1/4 yard of fabric that was more usable if you cut it a different way.

And a fat quarter was born.

This quilter cut a piece of fabric that was 1/2 yard wide, giving her a piece that was 18 inches by 40-44 inches.  Then she cut it in half on the straight grain of the fabric (through the center fold as you match the selvedge edges of the fabric).

This resulted in a piece of fabric measuring 18 inches by 20-22 inches, and meant that quilters could cut fairly large squares and triangles from the piece.

Many quilt shops sell individual fat quarters, so you can choose a wide variety of fabric in small quantities – perfect for a scrap quilt.

Quilt shops also sell packets of fat quarters. Some packets are color coordinated, or combined as a line of fabric. Others are made up of scrap-looking fabric, although the fabric is all new.

For more details about fat quarters, pictures of fabric and hints for pre-washing your fat quarters, visit:

http://www.how-to-quilt.com/articles/1019-fat-quarters.php

Happy Quilting!

Penny

 

Happy Freedom from Machine Quilting Frustration Day

Oh, I know, today is also the 4th of July, so here is wishing a Happy 4th to those in the US.

The thing is that our quilters are all around the world, and many don’t celebrate the Independence Day we celebrate here in the US.

But as quilters, we can all celebrate Freedom from Machine Quilting Frustration Day.

Several days ago, I declared that today would be just that day.

For the past several days, you have received tips for making your machine quilting easier and more beautiful. These tips have covered topics like:

* how to mark your quilt with a quilting design

* using basting spray to hold your quilt layers together for machine quilting

* understanding that your particular sewing machine might like to eat or break certain kinds of thread

* the difference in how your quilt will look if you use matching thread or contrasting thread

There is no shortage of tips and great techniques when you take advantage of the newly updated version of The Machine Quilting Adventure.

Thousands of quilters have perfected their piecing and machine quilting skills using this fabulous resource, and now it’s even better.

When expert longarm machine quilter, Paula Rostkowski, agreed to be interviewed for our Eavesdrop on a Telephone Conversation, I knew that the CD recording of the conversation should be included with The Machine Quilting Adventure.

Now, in addition to all of the great quilting instruction you get in this package, you get 15 Bonuses, including the brand new CD recording of Paula’s conversation.

This was a top notch interview on the topic of machine quilting because Paula talked about machine quilting on a home sewing machine as well as on a longarm quilting machine.

And, she gave us tips for working with a professional machine quilter so you will know the questions to ask to make sure that you get the quilting you want on your quilt – even within a budget.

A quick reminder that today is the last day to reserve your copy of this outstanding information package:

http://www.TheMachineQuiltingAdventure.com

Happy Freedom from Machine Quilting Frustration Day and Happy Quilting!

Penny

 

My Thread Collection has Dwindled

I’ll admit that when I first began quilting, I spent a bunch of money on thread. At one time, I owned probably every color that was produced.

Like so many of us, I learned how to sew clothes before I learned how to make a quilt.

And, everyone knows that when you are sewing clothes, the idea is to match the fabric as closely as possible, going a little darker (but not lighter), if you have to. And only for decorative stitching should your thread contrast with your fabric.

Since I taught myself how to quilt, I figured the same rules applied. So when I bought fabric for my quilts, I bought a load of thread that matched the fabric.

So, when I was in a workshop and the teacher mentioned that you really only need a few colors of thread for piecing your quilts, I cleaned out my ears to hear what she had to say.

Her idea was that the stitches are all between the layers of the quilt, tucked inside the seam allowances, and unless they show in your seam or through your fabric, nobody will know what color thread you are using.

So, why not make it easy on yourself and use one color of thread as you piece your quilt.

After I got over the shock of it all, it made perfect sense, and now I have only a few colors of thread that I use for piecing.

Quilting is a different story, but for piecing I use white or off white for quilts with light colors and black or navy blue for quilts with dark colors.

Quilting Daughter Stephanie, on the other hand, has a different perspective, and you can see some examples of quilting using both matching thread and contrasting thread when you visit:

http://www.how-to-quilt.com/articles/6005-matching-thread.php

Happy Quilting!

Penny

 

The Perfect Thread for Your Machine Quilting

Greetings Quilter

Does your sewing machine eat certain types of thread? Or, maybe it doesn’t eat the thread, it just snaps and breaks it.

Either way it is frustrating and annoying.

If you are anything like I am, you are always on the lookout for a solution to problems like these that make your machine quilting (and even your regular sewing) more difficult.

You can imagine my surprise, then, when Paula Rostkowski, professional longarm machine quilter, mentioned that our machines actually have preferences for certain threads.

I’ve heard of all the problems and possible solutions – adjusting the machine tension for the top thread; adjusting the tension for the bobbin; making sure that the spool is feeding easily and properly; making sure that the bobbin isn’t wound too loose or too tight or too full; matching the top and bobbin threads.

But to learn that, while all of those things might be interesting, they really may not solve the problem was actually, quite a relief.

Paula told us how her sewing machine just didn’t like a particular type of thread. I can assure you that this is a high quality thread, and the manufacturer loves machine quilters, so it isn’t really the thread that has the problem.

Paula said that no matter what she tried, her machine choked and sputtered, and the only conclusion she could come to was that the machine didn’t like that particular type of thread. But it likes other brands – no problem.

The bottom line for us amateur quilters is to try the thread we want to use on a quilt sandwich, and make any necessary adjustments. But, if it still doesn’t work, try a different type of thread.

Paula also said that the problem isn’t necessarily specific to a brand of sewing machine. In one machine the thread might work fine and in another machine – same brand, same model – it would cause a problem. Sorry, can’t call your quilting friend who owns the same type of machine and be sure that the thread she uses will be perfect in your machine!

Listen to Paula’s comments and read more about thread for machine quilting:

http://www.how-to-quilt.com/articles/6008-machine-quilting-thread.php

Happy Quilting!

Penny

 

Soapstone for Marking Your Quilts

Once your quilt top is finished it’s time to plan your quilting design.

If you decide to stitch a simple design, it could be possible to quilt without marking your quilt.

Often when I am hand quilting, I use 1/4 inch wide masking tape to mark my design.  It’s easy to find – either at a quilt shop or paint store – and fairly inexpensive.

As you can imagine, you can mark straight lines for quilting.  In addition, you can mark some gentle curves using the tape.

You can place it on your quilt, stitch your quilting stitches, and then move the tape to a new place on the quilt. It’s usually good for 3-4 moves before it won’t stick any more.

If you are going to quilt a grid or parallel lines, using wider masking tape (or painters’ tape – the blue stuff) is a good choice since you can quilt on both sides of the tape.

If you have a more involved design, marking your quilt with masking tape usually doesn’t work.

There are still several things to choose from, and one of them is Soapstone.

It was one of those items that jumped out at me as I was scouting the notions in my local quilt shop.  Once I used it, I was pretty impressed.

You can read more about soapstone and see how I used it to mark a quilting design:

http://how-to-quilt.com/articles/6030-soapstone.php

Happy Quilting!

Penny

 

Weekly How to Quilt News – Machine Quilting Tips

Whew! That was a fast and intense June. I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for a summer full of fun.

Thanks to the hundreds of quilters who have already responded to our 5th Annual How to Quilt Survey. Your input has given me some great ideas for valuable quilting information to come.

There have been some great suggestions for topics for articles and the types of information you want to see in the weekly newsletter and daily tips.

We appreciate the input and will work hard to make sure that you get the information you want.

If you haven’t responded, there is a link in this week’s newsletter:

http://www.how-to-quilt.com/doesdoubleduty.php

The Eavesdrop on a Telephone Conversation with Paula Rostkowski last night was fabulous, and she provided some excellent insights into machine quilting.

There is still time to reserve your copy of the CD recording of the call. The link is included with the newsletter.

Let’s keep the fabric postcards coming for the Birthday Roundup! August 10 is the deadline, and Diane is doing an amazing job keeping them going over to the Middle East to units that need support.

Also in the news:

Tips for Fabulous Free-Motion Machine Quilting
The Machine Quilting Adventure
Eavesdrop on a Telephone Conversation – Paula Rostkowski
Postcard Quilts for the Troops – Birthday Roundup – August 10
Does Double Duty Quilt Block – Video
July Free Quilt Block Patterns

Enjoy and Happy Quilting!

Penny

 

Sewing stars using diamonds for the points can be quite challenging.

Once I had mastered sewing squares and triangles, I decided that making a Broken Star Quilt would be easy.

So I thought.

Little did I know that while the points went together smoothly and easily, the problem was getting the center of the star to lay flat.

After I had each of the little diamonds sewn to make a large diamond, I added it to the others that were complete – filling in the star.

I figured all I needed to do was sew them all together and, since I was sewing them very carefully, it would all fit together and be beautiful.

Big mistake!

After much disappointment and seam ripping, a quilting teacher told me that the right way to sew the points together was in pairs, and then pairs of pairs.

By sewing them together this way, you end up sewing a seam straight through the center of the star. Using this technique, your star is more likely to have a flat center.

There are two choices for pressing your seam allowances:

* press them all to one side so they create a circle around the star, or

* press the seam allowances open

You will see step-by-step instructions with pictures to show you how to sew a star and press the seams open:

http://www.how-to-quilt.com/articles/2206-sewing-8pointed-stars.php

Happy Quilting!

Penny

 

Turning Corners in Machine Quilting

Have you ever noticed that sometimes what seems like a simple question generates a somewhat involved answer?

It happens around here all of the time. It seems like one topic leads to another which leads to another.

Some time ago, Quilter Bonita asked a simple question – How to turn a corner when you are machine quilting. The answer was simple enough – yet it generated other thoughts.

In today’s article, you’ll read the simple explanation of how to turn a corner as you machine quilt.

You’ll also see links to find out more about using a walking foot and a darning foot.

http://how-to-quilt.com/articles/2012-turning-corners.php

If you have quilts that need to be quilted and are thinking about sending them to a professional machine quilter, you’ll want to listen in on the Eavesdrop on a Telephone Conversation with Paula Rostkowski – an expert longarm machine quilter.

Paula will join us on Sunday for our Conversation, and you will learn techniques for quilting with a longarm quilting machine as well as what to ask a professional quilter before you leave your quilt.

Happy Quilting!

Penny

 

eavesdrop on a longarm machine quilter

m. mouse here, the official how-to-quilt.com diabetic
siamese cat, reporting in with some exciting news.

if your house is anything like it is around here, there is
a stack of unfinished quilts. not because the tops are
unfinished, but because they still need to be quilted.

as you might imagine, this is quite distressing for me and
my buddy, jackson – because we love to curl up in finished
quilts. you know the ones i mean. the ones with batting,
backing, quilting and binding.

it seems like everywhere i look there is a plain quilt top
that is waiting to be quilted.

a while back, penny learned some techniques for machine
quilting on her home sewing machine – and she shared them
with you.

her machine quilting got a lot better, and she even finished
some of the quilts that had stacked up.

but now there are more. the thing is, these are big quilts.
not king size quilts or anything, but bigger than she wants
to put through her little home sewing machine.

she talked about getting one of those longarm quilting
machines, but when she told me that my bed would need to
move to a less sunny part of the room, i screamed and let
her know that was unacceptable.

i’ll give up some things, but a sunny location for a nap
just isn’t something i’m willing to give up – even if it
means that i’ll get more finished quilts.

after all, i can really only enjoy one or two at a time -
so why would i care if there were 15 more?

with that eliminated as a possibility, she is now
considering sending those quilt tops out to a professional
machine quilter.

but she didn’t know how to decide which machine quilter to
send them to. plus she worried about what kinds of questions
to ask a machine quilter about the work that would be done
on the quilt. questions like:

* who would choose the quilting design
* how her choice of batting would affect the quilt
* whether it was possible to use different color thread in
different parts of the quilt

then one day she saw an article in a quilting magazine
talking about a professional machine quilter who had been
quilting on her longarm machine for years.

so penny decided to call her up to get some information. the
information that paula gave penny was so valuable that penny
wanted to share it with you, and she invited paula to join
us for our eavesdrop on a telephone conversation.

since penny is busy getting the interview ready (and getting
the upcoming survey ready), she asked me to send you this
invitation.

the conversation with paula rostkowski will take place on
the telephone this sunday – june 28 – beginning at 5pm
pacific time.

as always, it’s a free call, except for any long distance
charges your phone company may charge.

you can get all of the details and register for the call
here:

http://www.how-to-quilt.com/paula.php

this should be a really great call because paula will talk
about how to operate one of those big longarm quilting
machines as well as tell us how to interview a professional
machine quilter in our own area so we know that our quilt
will look great when it has been quilted.

you’ll need to register to get the dial-in information and
the telephone worksheet.

happy quilting!

m. mouse
the official how-to-quilt.com diabetic cat

p.s. mark your calendar – this is one call you will want
to hear from start to finish.

 

Cornerstones in Quilts

Have you ever run out of fabric as you are adding the borders
to your quilt?

It’s almost worse than running out of fabric for the blocks
in your quilt.

There you are – the center of the quilt is done, your border
fabric is perfect – just one little detail. The fabric is
about 6 inches too short, and making the border narrower
would make the quilt look really bad.

Early in my quilting days, I followed the directions and
got all of my fabric before I started making my quilt.

Little did I know that I wouldn’t be able to find the same
fabric 2 years later when I was finally finished with the
quilt.

But there I was. My border fabric was also in my quilt and
I thought it had to be that way. It didn’t seem right to
introduce a new fabric as a border.

And, it probably wasn’t – way back when.

I remember so well, dragging the quilt and border fabric
to several quilt and fabric shops around town only to be
met with sad faces and apologies, but no matching fabric.

How hard could it be to find a light blue fabric to match
what I had.

Impossible.

And the ladies in the shops didn’t suggest that I use a
completely different fabric. They, too, were concerned
with matching the fabric in the center of the quilt.

To solve that problem, I decided to add cornerstones. As
I cut the fabric and sewed it together, it occurred to me
that possibly some quilter a few hundred years ago had
exactly that experience – creating the first cornerstones
in a quilt.

The quilt came out fine. The cornerstones ended up being a
great place for some nice hand quilting.

And I learned a couple of valuable lessons:

* I wait until the quilt top is finished before I decide
which fabric I will use for my borders

* I don’t limit myself to the fabrics in the quilt for
borders

Plus I have gotten fairly creative with cornerstones.

It seems like the possibilities are endless – from simple
fabric to small patches or blocks, cornerstones can be
used in borders and in sashing.

You can see some examples of cornerstones I have used in
quilts:

http://www.how-to-quilt.com/articles/1208-cornerstones.php

And you’ll learn what the problem was that I was trying
to solve when I added the cornerstones.

Happy Quilting!

Penny