Your Camera is your most valuable quilting tool

• When you take a picture of a quilt or block it removes your emotion from it and allows you see what need to be changed
• Great tool for checking value, most cameras allow you to take pictures in grayscale you just need to find out how your camera does it.  Take a picture of the block or quilt in grayscale and see if you need to change the values
• Your camera is also a great tool for checking values in fabrics before you even buy the fabric.  Take it with you shopping and stack your fabrics then take a picture in grayscale to check the value.
• Value does all the work, color gets all the credit.

 

• You can also use your camera to help design a quilt with blocks.  Arrange the block on a design wall, take a picture.  View the picture then make changes to your quilt. 
• Keep taking pictures and re-arranging the blocks until you are happy or too tired to move the block around any more.
• Take a final picture and print the picture.  Use this when sewing the blocks together to make sure that you sew the blocks in the correct order.

Accurately Sewing Strip Sets

 

·        In order to keep track of the end you started, leave the threads long on the start end and cut them short on the finished end.

·        This technique works well in our Riding the Waves Quilt Pattern

·        Alternate the starting end when sewing strips together to get straight strips.  The bottom teeth gobble up more of the fabric.  If you always start from the same end then the strips will start to curve.

Reduce background showing through the appliqué pieces

·        With some fabrics, the background will show through even after the fusible web has been added. For example in The Magic Hat pattern the background may show through the snow folk if the background fabric is dark and the snow folk fabric is light. 

·        One way to eliminate this is to use a light weight fusible interface.  Fuse the interface first to the appliqué piece and then add the fusible web.

·        Another way to prevent the background from showing is to fuse a second piece of the appliqué fabric to the first piece of the same fabric.  This will make the piece a little stiffer but it should eliminate the background fabric from showing through the piece/s.  

      

Reduce appliqué stiffness

·        In some of our patterns, some appliqué pieces are fused on top of another appliqué piece.  To reduce the stiffness,  cut out the center of the template on the fusible web leaving ¼” seam allowance on both sides of the drawn line. Then follow the normal procedures for fusing to the fabric.

·        This will give a softer feel to the quilt.

·        Some patterns that this would work well for are most of the turtle pattern such as Heading Out quilt pattern.

 

Temporary Basting Spray

We use a temporary basting spray 505 Temporary Fabric Adhesive to secure the quilt top to the batting.  We also use the spray to secure the quilt top/batting to the backing.  The spray eliminates the need to pin the layers together and makes it easier to stitch around the appliqué pieces.  The following link has some more good information about this product.  You do need to place your quilt on a large piece of fabric to catch the overspray.  The oversprayed fabric can be washed to remove the spray.  However if you spray on a hard surface such as a cutting board or table you can use alcohol (rubbing not drinking).  However I have got the spray on walls as well and the alcohol didn't seem to remove the spray so I had to repainted the wall.  I am more careful now to spray on a very large piece of fabric such as muslin.

http://www.sprayandfix.com/505.html