Quick and Easy Gifts for Quilters
Fabric, Tools and Gadgets Every Quilter Will Love
Looking for a last-minute gift for your favorite quilter? Here are nine easy gift ideas that will delight any quilter, including both beginners and experts.
- Fat quarter packs. No quilter can ever have too many fat quarters -- quarter-yard pieces of fabric cut into an 18” x 22” shape. Quilters love them and collect them by the dozen. You can buy fat quarters individually or in prepackaged packs that come in coordinating colors. If you don’t know what colors to give, look at the colors your quilter likes to wear or has on the walls and furniture in her house. She’ll probably like the same colors in quilting fabrics.
- Jelly rolls. Precut rolls of coordinating fabrics cut into 2½” inch strips, these are useful for any quilting project that calls for strips, from log cabin blocks to rail fence blocks to quilt bindings. Like fat quarters, they’re addictive. No quilter will ever think she has too many jelly rolls!
- No-slip rulers. These rulers grip the fabric and help avoid miscuts while cutting. They are also fairly new, so quilters who have been around for a while may still be using the old, slippery kind of ruler and would love to replace the old ones with new no-slip rulers. Omnigrid makes them in a wide variety of sizes.
- Rotating cutting mat. A small cutting mat that spins around like a lazy Susan makes cutting and squaring up blocks a breeze – you can trim all four sides of a block without having to move your fabric or use your rotary cutter at an awkward angle.
- Freestanding bobbin winder. Nothing is more annoying than running out of bobbin thread right in the middle of a quilting project, then having to unthread the sewing machine, thread the bobbin, and rethread the machine before you can load the bobbin and start sewing again. With a separate bobbin winder, those irritating starts and stops are a thing of the past. Simply mount an empty bobbin and a spool of thread on the winder, press the button, and presto! The bobbin is wound and you’re ready to sew.
- Stiletto. Every quilter needs a way to guide fabric under the sewing machine needle without putting her fingertips at risk. That’s where a stiletto comes in handy. It looks something like an ice pick with a slightly blunted point. The point helps feed fabric under the sewing machine’s presser foot while keeping your fingertips at a safe distance from the needle. Once she has one, your favorite quilter will wonder how she ever did without it.
- “Daylight” work lamp. In a craft where color and detail are so important, color-corrected task lighting not only helps prevent strained eyes and headaches, it helps quilters see fabric and thread colors as they really are. Incandescent bulbs often make fabrics look too yellow, while fluorescents can make them look too blue. She’ll love the gift of true colors.
- Really good iron. Proper pressing is one of the most critical steps in making a quilt come out right, with seams and points that join where they’re supposed to. A high-quality iron (Black and Decker, Rowenta, and Panasonic all make highly recommended ones) makes the job much easier.
- New seam ripper. Every quilter already has a seam ripper, but the blades get dull with use, and if your favorite quilter hasn’t replaced hers recently, she’ll be surprised how much easier a sharp new seam ripper makes it to correct those inevitable sewing mistakes.
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