For quilters, there's nothing nicer than a chance to put needle to fabric. In order to make the time productive, and walk away with a professional looking quilt, follow a few simple tips and tricks.
Use a Scrap to Start Your Seaming
You are more likely to be off at the beginning and end of your stitching line. If you start sewing onto a scrap, the beginning of your sewn seam is much more likely to be straight, and straight seams mean perky points and painless quilt assembly.
Check Your Work
If you can see the wisdom of the previous suggestion, this one won't be much of a surprise. When you finish assembly line piecing, check your work. It's easy to just move on to the next part of the design, but making sure that you are accurate now will save you lots of agony later. Check your points now and you won't be sorry later.
Use Your Fingers
When you sew the end of a seam, watch the fabric closely. Your fabric is likely to start shifting just as you are content that you're finished with that strip and everything is fine. Those last five to ten stitches are the ones that count the most. Keep your finger or an implement on the fabric until you're sure it's going to go along a straight path to the needle, every time.
Pre-Wash Your Fabric
You know the wisdom of this. You will be able to get your worries about shrinkage out of the way and reduce the likelihood that a fabric will bleed if you wash it first.
Try getting more bang for your fabric-washing buck by grouping your projects. Fall projects can call for lots of similar colors so wash all of those fabrics at once. You might be able to interchange fabrics for many of those projects. Who knows, your work could start to look more cohesive as a result.
Measure Your Seam Allowances
If you start to measure your work, you'll begin to learn how to make a perfect quarter inch seam. Once you've accomplished that, lots of other problems go away. Get into the habit of keeping a small ruler next to your sewing machine, and think of it as your friend.
Use a Gridded Cover on Your Ironing Board
When you iron, make sure your seams are straight and you aren't distorting the fabric by using a gridded ironing board cover. This will keep you 'honest'. It will also help you on those infrequent occasions when you have to fudge a little and ease the fabric.
Use the Right Thread
Ideally your thread should have the same tensile strength as your fabric. Cotton thread for cotton fabric and so on. You might take artistic exception to this, but when piecing, it’s a good idea. If the fabric is as strong as the thread, the thread is more likely to give way before the fabric tears. It's easier to repair a seam than a rip.
Get Organized
You'll accomplish more and have more fun doing it if you get your sewing area organized. There are few things more frustrating than having to go on a scavenger hunt every time you need a tool. After all, you invested in all the stuff, right? You should be able to find it when you need it.
When you finish a project, do something nice for yourself. Your family might not know that you put love in every stitch, by you do.
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