First off, how does changing the blades in your rotary cutter save time? Simple. Cutting with a dull blade takes far more time than cutting with a sharp one because you have to run over the cut multiple times to sever all the wayward threads. You also have to use less pressure and have less of a risk of slipping and cutting the wrong thing or at the wrong angle.

Remember when I said that a sharp blade will slip less? I meant it. You may think that a dull rotary cutter blade would be safe enough to graze your skin, but you couldn’t be more wrong. Even dull blades are dangerous and could mean you head to the hospital instead of finishing part of your quilt that day. Changing out dull blades for new, sharp blades on your rotary cutter tool will definitely save yourself pain and exasperation.

Lastly, using only sharp blades in your rotary cutter will also save fabric. Since dull blades require more force and tend to slip, it’s easy to cut the wrong part of the fabric or veer off in the wrong direction. With sharp blades, you will have much more accurate cuts, so you won’t have to waste expensive fabric or, worse, have to go back to the store to get more because you and your dull rotary blade ran out of usable fabric for your quilt.

As you can see, changing out your rotary blades frequently will really pay off in the end.

The Original Post is Located Here: Why You Should Change Rotary Cutter Blades Often

Though you may have been able to cut with your scissors without the use of a table (or freehand, as some call it), this won’t be the case with a rotary cutter. You will need a relatively large, flat surface. You will also need a cutting mat to protect that surface. And for an optimally straight cut, I recommend highly getting a guide ruler. Few people can make a truly straight cutting line without the use of a guide ruler.

As for what else you’ll need, you need to think about what kind of quilting you do. If you work with varying fabric thicknesses, you’ll want to get a few rotary cutters, all with different blade widths. If your fabric pieces tend to have a large range from tiny pieces to large shapes, look for rotary cutters with small diameter blades for the tiny pieces and large diameter blades for the large fabric shapes of your quilts.

My last piece of advice is to buy rotary cutters which have retractable blades. These blades should be very sharp and can injure you if they inadvertently fall with the blade exposed. Having a retractable blade will protect you, your quilt, and the furniture around you.

The Original Post is Located Here: What to Look for in a Rotary Cutter

Ironing is crucial at the beginning stage. When you get your fabric home from the local fabric store or when it’s delivered to you from online, one of the first steps of the quilting process is to wash and iron all that fabric. You must do this before you start cutting any of the shapes out, especially if you ever want to wash your quilt. This is because different types of fabric shrink at different rates, and if you didn’t wash, dry, and iron all the fabric first, you would stitch together a beautiful quilt that might come apart at the seams later, despite your exquisite sewing. On a practical note, you also want your fabric to be clean and flat, both which will make cutting and sewing, and lining everything up as easy as possible.

For the first ironing task, a regular sized iron is best so you can get the job done as fast as possible. This next task will require a mini iron. As you sew quilt blocks together, you will need to press the seams. A regular sized iron would distort the fabric and make the shapes not quite right. Instead, use a mini iron. Run your fingers along the seam first, then use the mini iron to press the seam. As long as you don’t run the iron back and forth, which could cause bunching, you and your mini iron will have wonderful flat seams in no time!

The Original Post is Located Here: The Necessity of an Iron (or Two!) for Quilting

One popular method of basting is using pins. Many quilters use pins for basting if they are making a smaller quilt or a quilt made with a quilting sewing machine. Queen sized quilts can require about 350 pins, making the process rather tedious, and the pins don’t get caught on the machine’s presser arm like stitching tends to. Some quilters avoid using pins for basting because they can rust over time, if it takes a long while to finish the quilt.

Another option is to stitch the basting in either by hand or using a quilting sewing machine. If by hand, use an thin upholstery needle and light thread color so that you can find it easily to remove it. Begin in the center of the quilt and make lines radiating horizontally, vertically, and diagonally outwards. From there, work at basting the quilt in grids. Before you know it, your quilt will be stitched with basting from end to end.

So when I said before that basting was an integral part of quilting, this doesn’t have to be the case. If you get a quilt frame such as a full size (also known as a stretcher frame) or a three roller frame, the need for basting is completely taken away. If you absolutely despise basting, be sure to add one of these frames to your wish list and make basting go away forever. Good luck with your quilting!

The Original Post is Located Here: The Different Methods of Quilt Basting

The first type of book I would recommend are the how-to manuals or instructional books. These books are full of techniques and tips to better your quilting. There are also lots of ideas for quilting, in terms of patterns, stitch types, and fabric selection. Instructional quilting books are also an asset to help you know what materials you need to be a quilting master and how to select the very best in materials.

An absolutely essential book is an encyclopedia of patterns for quilting. In it, you will find patterns which range from those for beginners all the way to truly difficult patterns. You can get ideas about patterns you may not have thought of so that you can make those or design your own patterns similar to these. Pattern encyclopedias also give direction on how to make these patterns, so you will have a great head start.

Finally, I recommend quilting magazines, either as a subscription or individual issues. Quilting magazines cover the range of what you will need as a quilter. There are instructional sections so that you can learn new techniques or improve on existing ones. There are also lots of patterns, either classic ones or those submitted by readers. Quilting magazines are also a great way to find out about current quilting products and read reviews.

I hope I’ve convinced you that quilting books are essential to any good quilter. I know they’ve been helpful for me, and I hope they will be for you too.

The Original Post is Located Here: The Books You’ll Need for Quilting

Have you been using your ordinary household scissors for all the cutting you do with quilting? If so, shame on you. I bet you’ve noticed that you’re not getting good edges when you cut fabric or that that pair of scissors is quite clunky for cutting tiny threads. If you’re going to be a proper quilter, you’re going to need some scissors to go with the rest of your quilting supplies. In this article, we’ll take a look at the three main types of scissors that you need in your quilting arsenal.

The first and perhaps most important is a pair or two of dressmaker’s scissors. Unless you get all of your quilting materials from a kit with pre-cut fabric pieces, I’m sure you do a lot of fabric cutting. The best way to get clean and accurate cuts in fabric is to use a pair of dressmaker’s scissors.

The next is pretty obvious. To get clean edges when cutting paper, which is necessary when you cut quilting templates, you will need a good pair of paper scissors. Well sharpened paper scissors will really serve you well.

Rivalling only dressmaker’s scissors in importance are embroidery scissors. In fact, if you use a quilt kit with pre-cut fabric pieces, embroidery scissors will still be necessary. Embroidery scissors are a pair of scissors which are small and quite sharp. You will use them to cut thread and trim pieces of fabric with ease. Once you use embroidery scissors, you’ll never want to go back to using ordinary household or multipurpose scissors again.

These scissors may seem at first like frills among quilting supplies, but in reality I’ll bet that you’ll find that they make quilting jobs go much faster and easier and well worth the price.

The Original Post is Located Here: Scissors for Quilting

Have you ever wanted to have a vintage quilt, but didn’t have the hundreds of dollars to get the one you wanted? I can understand. If you know how to already or are interested in learning how to quilt, a great way to get an inexpensive vintage quilt is right before you. You can buy vintage quilt blocks and assemble them into a homemade vintage quilt of your own! Let’s take a look at how you can do this and some of the advantages of making a vintage quilt yourself.

Truly vintage quilts can be expensive. This is in part because of the time that goes into making any quilt by hand. It’s also because the quilt is somewhat of a collector’s item because it is older. If you want a vintage quilt for yourself and have the tools and the know-how to make one, why shouldn’t you have a vintage quilt of your own? You can make one yourself for a fraction of the price of an already made vintage quilt.

At first, you might think that getting your hand on enough quilt blocks to assemble a vintage quilt would be quite an undertaking. In reality, there is a huge supply of vintage quilt blocks just waiting for you to make a quilt out of them. I’ve found that the best place to find these vintage quilt blocks is online. There’s a great selection, and lots of people just looking for someone to take their vintage quilt blocks off their hands.

Buying vintage quilt blocks will help your quilting in general too. When you buy vintage quilt blocks, you will get neat fabrics and designs that you can use for your first quilt. After that, you can use them as inspiration for later quilts. Vintage quilt blocks are thus a way to make many great quilts!

The Original Post is Located Here: Quilting with Vintage Quilt Blocks

If you’re looking to make quilts either for yourself only or as a home business, you might benefit greatly from owning a sewing machine designed specifically for quilting. If you already have an ordinary sewing machine or are accustomed to quilting by hand, this may seem like an extra and unnecessary expense. In reality, though, you can make your quilting go faster and be a lot easier, while at the same time doing advanced stitching and designs. In this article, we’ll take a look at some things to think about when buying your first quilting sewing machine.

First off, you have to consider what you’re going to be using it for. Do you want a sewing machine that will be designated only for quilting or do you want one that you can also make clothes with. Some models will also make curtains with ease and embroider in a flash. The more specific you can be up front about what kind of machine you want, the more likely you will be to get exactly what you need and for the price you can afford, without getting extra features you won’t need or missing out on others that you could have used.

Next, think about how much you want to be automated in your sewing machine. Do you want a needle threader and thread cutter? Do you want thread holders for large cone threads? How many thread holders will you want? Do you want a bobbin winder? Generally, the more features you want, the more your quilting sewing machine will cost. On the other hand, if you’re going to be sewing a lot of quilts, especially as a small business, anything that makes the process faster will be a good thing.

And if you’re really wanting to make your quilting process go quicker, consider finding a quilting sewing machine that has a computer component. Advanced stitching will be a breeze with a computerized quilting sewing machine.

The Original Post is Located Here: Quilting Sewing Machine

Are you searching for ways to make your quilting experience easier, faster, and more enjoyable? Did you know that you could combine or even eliminate entirely all the painstaking fabric, pattern, and color selection and time-consuming fabric cutting? If you get a quilt kit, all of that will be taken care of in one fell swoop. Just pick out your kit and begin quilting! If you’re not yet convinced, let me sing the praises of quilt kits just a little longer.

Quilt kits are all about cutting down on extraneous work, work that you really don’t have to do to make an excellent quilt. The first bit of unnecessary work is all the fabric selection. As you know, many different fabrics go into a high quality quilt. Picking out each and every one and getting the right amount of fabric can be pretty overwhelming, especially if you’re anxious to start your quilt.

The next area that quilt kits help in is fabric cutting. We all know that this stage of quilting can be one of the longest and most frustrating. And if you make the smallest mistake, you can be left with holes in your pattern or waste material and end up having not enough. Having a quilt kit, in sharp contrast, eliminates this great hassle and lets you get started with what you really want to work on with quilting – actually making the quilt.

Finally, isn’t it reassuring to know that you have all that you need before you start a project? When you have a quilt kit, there’s no running to the craft or fabric store one more time because you forgot thread or didn’t have enough batting or need some more pins. All that you need will be found in the quilt kit, ready for you to quilt away!

The Original Post is Located Here: Quilting Kits

If you’re going to be a power quilter, you’re going to need a quilting frame or two, especially if you want your work to look presentable or even impressive. And if you want to make quilting into a home business, you’ll need a few quilting frames. In this article, we’ll take a look at the different types of frames and their pro’s and con’s.

What I would call essential to any quilter is a hoop frame. This is a small, often lap sized round frame which you can drape the quilt square you are working on. This helps ensure that your hand stitches are even and straight. One of the great things about a hoop frame is that it’s quite small, and you won’t feel like it’s in the way.

For the larger quilt frames, there are three main types. The first is called a full size or stretcher frame. This is the frame you will want if you are making larger quilts. It is especially good if you dislike basting or it takes up too much of your time, since this frame is designed for a no basting quilting experience.

The next is the floor PVC quilt frame. This particular frame tends to be very durable and large, so that you can quilt with friends for many years to come. You will, however, need to incorporate basting into the quilting process for this frame.

The last frame is rather complicated. It’s called the three roller frame. There are three bars, and the three layers of the quilt – backing, batting, and quilt top – are placed on each of the bars. While you will have to adjust this frame repeatedly, there won’t be any need for basting using this technique.

As you can see, there are good sides and bad sides to each of the different quilt frames. I hope you can find the right one for your needs, based on your own usage and preferences.

The Original Post is Located Here: Quilt Frames