Year: 2021

One year from now,

Five years from now…

One generation from now…

How will you tell your story?

For the most part, it’s over.  The CDC has changed the mask rules.   According to some statistics, approximately 64 percent of Americans have received one of the vaccines, and there’s plenty of vaccines left for everyone who still wants to be immunized. 

In short, we’ve made it through the COVID-19 pandemic.  And just like our ancestors who lived through the Spanish Flu, 2020-2021 altered our lives in more ways than one.  Most of us still keep one mask in our car, bag, or pocket.  Hospitalization numbers are still reported.  This recent pandemic will continue to cast a shadow on our lives for some time – and for some of us, permanently.

Quilters (primarily women) have a long record of recording history in their quilts.  Elections, assassinations, AIDs, 9/11 – all of these earth-altering events have been immortalized in needle, fabric, and thread.  COVID-19 was no different.  A 14 year-old woman name Madeline Fugate was determined to remember those who died in the pandemic.  She is a young textile artist in her own right.  Madeline put out a call for blocks made in memory of loved ones who passed away from COVID.  She and a few others are turning these blocks into quilts.  Where did she get this idea?  Her mother worked on the AIDs quilt. 

As quilters recording events, we create context.  Much of this context incorporates our own feelings and thoughts, but doesn’t make our quilts less valid than any other essay, news report, blog or vlog.  Our quilts are real and raw and necessary to create calm during chaos.  I had so many quilters tell me they couldn’t have made it through the isolation and fear of early 2020 without their fabric and sewing machine.  I attest to this.  Sewing kept me sane.  Making masks made me feel as if I was making some kind of difference and helping out in some way.   Other quilters chose to record their feelings in a quilt.  There’s Disappearing Act by Linda Colsh.

Home by Maggie Vanderweit

And What’s Your Excuse? By Wendy Starn.

Lots of other quilters incorporated the spikey virus into their quilting.  Some pieced or appliqued it into their quilt.  Every quilt I completed during COVID had some mention of the pandemic.

But COVID changed so much more than just our quilts themselves.  It changed our quilting world.  There were no quilt shows.  I watched as shows ground to a halt in late 2019 and by the Spring 2020 they completely stopped.  In-person classes ceased.  My guild had no retreat.  There were no quilt groups (such as bees), either.  My local guild met in March 2020 and didn’t meet again until January 2021. 

All of our personal universes were upended.  I watched my son-in-law homeschool my two granddarlings (and he’s done a terrific job).  I worried about my daughter who in the midst of the pandemic took a new job which required some travel, long hours, and contact with lots of people.  I saw my 80-something mother at Christmas 2019 and then not again unless I was wearing a mask and the visit was brief. We didn’t get to spend significant time with each other until I was fully vaccinated – May 14-16, 2021.  I watched my son and daughter-in-law spend hours searching (and finally finding) disposable diapers for a friend who is a single mom.  I worked from home, ordered groceries and food delivery online, and like everyone else, hunted down toilet paper and hand sanitizer until supply finally met demand.

And as much as COVID is a horrible sickness and as much as 2020 flipped us on our emotional and mental rear ends, some truly good things came out of a very dark time.  Great things…amazing things.  We learned we could meet by Zoom.  My local Sit and Sew meets via Zoom on the same night we met in person.  I was able to join two guilds in two different states because of Zoom.  I was able to take classes from internationally known teachers because the instructors decided if we couldn’t come to them, they would come to us via the internet.  Under normal circumstances, I would never had the opportunity to take classes with these teachers due to distance issues.  However, with the aid of cameras, software, and the world-wide web, I had a front row seat to instructors in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Wales, Arizona, California … and a few more places I’ve forgotten.  I was able to join an applique group for monthly online meetings via The Applique Society.  Suddenly a host of women whose names I knew became “real” because I could see them at least once a month.  Friendships which at one time were linked only by a newsletter became steadfast because of Zoom. 

We learned to make masks.  Lots of masks.  We learned what we could use to make nose clips and how to scrounge elastic out of the least likely places.  All of the stash we were hopelessly and endlessly teased about became worth its weight in gold.  It seemed as if everyone wanted to learn to sew.  For the first time in my lifetime, I walked into a Walmart and there was no fabric, no elastic, and no sewing machines.  I understand at some point during the pandemic, the wait time to have a machine shipped to you was over eight weeks.  Manufacturers couldn’t keep up.  And neither could fabric stores and quilt shops.  After years of declining in-store sales, brick-and-mortar establishments reported an uptick in transactions and foot traffic.  I hope our LQS’s are now in a better place financially and the number of closings stop or at least slow down. 

We worked hard at ways to keep in touch.  Until COVID, I was the type of person who thrived on the personal interaction with other people.  I needed it to be creative and to flourish as a person.  The pandemic squashed most in-person meet-ups for a while.  I mentioned my mother and my guild.  I didn’t get to see much of my brother, either.  However…necessity is the mother of invention.  We all had to get creative and work to keep in touch.  I went from calling my mom three times a week to a daily 20-minute or so conversation.  I think I learned more about her during COVID than I ever have.  I found I looked forward to those conversations, and even though we’re now post-pandemic and can see each other, you know what?  We still talk every day.  I feel lost if I don’t hear the sound of her voice. 

My quilty friends and I texted and Zoomed.  We had two guild members who offered their house as a pick-up and drop off point.  We were in the middle of the guild’s BOM.  Susan generously offered her front porch as a place we could pick up our blocks.  Karen offered her front porch for everything else.  As so many of us took advantage of the isolation, we cleaned out our sewing areas.  Texts flew back and forth. ”Do you need this?”  “I’m looking for…”  Karen’s front porch bench served as the “post office” for everyone.  Drop it off…pick it up… And somewhere along this, we learned her mother needed Cream of Celery Soup but couldn’t find it at the grocery store.  I think three of us made sure she had plenty.  And while Eric and I only rarely saw each other, we texted several times a week.  Mostly puns or really bad jokes or memes.  We talked, too.  Worried about our mother.  Kept up with his blood counts. 

So, despite all the isolation, I am happy to report my relationships thrived.  We all had to get creative (as I know you did, too), but we came out of this okay.  But I found my quilting changed.  The first aspect I made sure changed was my quilt labels.  I’ve been called the quilt label queen, not because my labels are outstandingly beautiful, but because I’m fanatical about making sure my quilts have labels.  I still did this during COVID, but I added one more line on my label to put the quilt in historical perspective – “Made during the COVID 19 Pandemic.” 

Every quilt I gifted in 2020 had this line added to the label.  As a matter of fact, I only stopped adding it to my label when the CDC announced the change in the mask mandate for fully vaccinated people.  I was vaccinated.  In my mind, the pandemic is over for me.

I found my quilting evolved in 2020.  There were no in-person classes and my Zoom classes dealt more with technique than another project.  For the first time in years, I felt free to make the quilts I wanted to make because I wasn’t hindered by class deadlines.  I not only made these quilts, I made a lot of them.  I finished six quilts during the pandemic – I mean from start to the last binding stitch.  This was a record for me.  And I used whatever techniques I wanted to in order to finish them.  Instead of fawning over the pattern’s preferred technique or construction method, I just made the quilt the way I wanted.  I regained some quilty courage – the kind I had when I first started quilting and didn’t know any better.  And that feeling is amazing. 

I don’t think any of us have come out of COVID the same person we were when the pandemic started.  I’m certainly not.  I have never been a particularly anxious person, but I find myself doing battle with it daily now.  I don’t take in-person moments for granted.  I relish every second.  I have also developed a low-tolerance for politicians, news, and so-called medical experts.  BS tolerance level has reached an all-time low.  My creativity has re-evolved and I’ve engaged with so many other quilters all over the world.  It’s hard to look at any of that as negative.

Maybe COVID-19 has served as a sort of chrysalis or cocoon.  Maybe after hunkering down for nearly an entire year, we’re all emerging as different people and different artists.  If you find this is so about yourself, then this is your story.  This is the tale you will tell in a year…five years….and to the next generation.  We will tell it in words.  It will outlive us in our quilts.  We survived.  We’re loved and we love others.  We’re valuable.  On so many, many levels, we’re all brave.  Now we have a new normal to conquer.

Don’t let anyone else tell you otherwise.

Until next week, Quilt on!

Love and Stitches,

Sherri and Sam

Whether you hand piece or machine piece, whether you prefer machine applique or hand applique, or whether you hand quilt or machine quilt, you must have thread.  Thread is the common denominator which ties all of quilting together. And after thirty-something years of quilting, I admit I’m a self-professed thread snob.  When I started sewing, there were only three thread brands available in my area – Dual Duty, Coats and Clarke, and Mettler.  Mettler was the best of the three. It was more expensive, and was only available at the one quilt  store in my area.  Time and experience taught me the Mettler was worth the extra pennies and the drive clear across town. 

As more fabric stores opened near me and with the upstart of internet sales, I became aware of additional thread brands and suddenly terms like thread weight, denier, and staple became important.  The more I learned, the pickier I became.  As a result, there are some brands I absolutely won’t purchase for machine or hand use.  With this blog, I want to discuss some general characteristics of all thread, and why I prefer certain brands for certain uses, and how I categorize the thread in my quilt studio.  For my long-time readers, I realize I wrote a blog on thread a few years ago, but one of the great characteristics of thread manufacturing is it’s always changing and improving.

First, let’s look into some general construction methods.  It’s worth remembering the higher the quality of thread the less special handing is needed.  Overall, thread is made from natural fibers (wool, silk, cotton, or linen) or from synthetic fibers (rayon, polyester, or nylon).  While there are literally dozens of fibers and fiber combinations which can be made, there are several common fibers used in quilting/sewing.

Spun Thread – Cotton or polyester staple fibers spun into single yarns and then twisted together.

Corespun Thread – Spun cotton or polyester staple fibers wrapped around filament polyester fibers.

Textured Thread – Polyester or nylon which has been mechanically textured to make thread fuzzy, stretchy, or woolly.  Texturing is a procedure and is used to increase the volume and elasticity of a filament yarn.  Textured yarns and those goods made from them are soft, have fullness, a high degree of elasticity, thermal insulation, and moisture-transporting properties. 

Filament Thread – Shiny thread made of polyester, rayon, or nylon strands.

Monofilament Thread – A single nylon or polyester filament.  Polyester is preferred over nylon.

Bonded Thread – A strength-enhancing resin is coated on the outside of the thread.  This increases the tensile strength and helps reduces friction.  Bonded threads are usually meant for upholstery and heavy-duty sewing.

Those are the common thread construction methods.  Now let’s talk about the common thread types.

Cotton – This is the thread most used by quilters.  Cotton threads are made by twisting the fine staples (fibers) from the cotton boll to make a thread.  It’s important to understand there are different degrees of cotton quality.  There’s regular staple, long staple, and extra-long staple cotton.  The regular staples (fibers pulled from the cotton boll) are 1 1/8-inch in length.  Long staples are 1 ¼-inch long and extra-long staple is 1 3/8-inches in length.  The longer the staple, the stronger the thread and the less lint it produces.  That’s the great attribute about long-staple thread.  The downside is long staple thread costs more than the regular staple thread.  Overall advantages of cotton thread are:  strength, medium sheen, and the natural fibers help grab the fabric to create a tight seam.  There are a few disadvantages.  It’s difficult to tell high quality from low quality sometimes (I’ll give you a few pointers further down the blog).  The lint factor can also be problematic, however the longer the staple the less the lint. Cost can also be turn-off – quality cotton thread is more expensive. 

Corespun Polyester/Poly-Wrapped/Poly Core – These three names are used interchangeably for the same thread.  This thread has a filament polyester core which is wrapped in spun polyester.  This thread is strong, reduces puckering, and has excellent stitchability.  It produces low-to-moderate lint.

Filament Polyester – This thread is made from long, thin strands of polyester fibers which are twisted together.  The advantages of filament polyester are elongation (the fibers can stretch and recover) and smooth stitches with no lint.  However, the thread is not as strong as corespun (when considering the same size of thread) and finer filament polyester may require some tension adjustment on your machine.

Monofilament Polyester – Monofilament polyester is kind of like fishing line made for sewing.  It’s simply a single strand of polyester thread.  This is a very fine thread, blends well, and can be ironed on medium heat.  However, since it is so very fine, you’ll probably have to adjust the tension on your machine.

Spun Polyester – Spun polyester is made in a way remarkably similar to the way cotton thread is made – small polyester fibers are twisted together to make a long strand of thread.  This thread is less expensive to produce, so it will affect you less in the wallet than cotton thread.  Disadvantages to spun polyester are moderate-to-high levels of lint build up and it’s not as strong as filament or corespun polyester.

Rayon – This is definitely a thread of a different color.  Instead of twisting fibers together, rayon is created by pressing cellulose acetate (usually made from wood pulp) through small holes and solidifying it in the form of filaments. Rayon has several advantages:  high-sheen colors, softness, and it’s inexpensive.  However, it also has some real disadvantages, too.  It’s not always colorfast (it can bleed onto your fabric when washed, under UV lights, or when it’s exposed to bleach), it’s not as strong as trilobal polyester, and it’s not as durable as polyester. 

Nylon – Nylon threads are synthetic, just like polyester.  It’s often used in the form of a monofilament clear thread or a textured thread.  To be bluntly honest, this thread can give anyone a lot of problems. So much so that it’s not recommended for sewing of any kind.  The most-used version of nylon is a bonded version used in upholstery and other heavy-duty sewing.  This thread is made from a different type of nylon than nylon sewing thread. 

Metallic – Metallic threads are created from multiple layers of materials wrapped and twisted together.  The quality of this thread can range from very high to very low.  A good metallic thread does not require a lubricant.  A quality metallic thread leaves a beautiful sheen and has an excellent stitch no matter if you’re embroidering, quilting, or just sewing.  Usually there has to be some tension adjustments made when you’re using metallic thread and you may need to sew slower than normal.

Glitter or Mylar – Mylar threads are created by bonding thin layers of flat mylar material.  This thread can produce a holographic effect and can be used in embroidery, quilting, or sewing.  The disadvantages are the same as metallic thread – you may have to adjust your machine’s tension and you will probably need to slow down as you sew. 

Now that we’ve covered thread construction and the types of thread, we need to talk about thread processing.  All thread goes through much of the same processing:  twisting, lubricating, winding, etc.  However, cotton thread may have additional procedures done to it.  These extra processing methods will change how the thread is used as well as how it stitches. 

Mercerized – This is the process of immersing the cotton fibers in a caustic solution which will cause the fibers to swell.  Mercerization allows the dye to better penetrate the fibers and increase the thread’s luster.  Mercerized thread is also stronger than non-mercerized.  In today’s thread market, we can take for granted our cotton thread has been through this process, because nearly all of it is, even if it’s not stated on the label.

Gassed – When the label states a thread has been gassed, it means it’s been passed through a flame at high speed to burn off the longest pieces of lint.  This results in a smother thread with low-to-no lint, and it has a brighter sheen than its non-gassed counterpart.  Gassing is also called silk finish or polished cotton. 

Glazed or Coated – Glazed thread is coated with a coat of wax, resin, or starch and then polished to create luster.  The glaze makes the thread stronger than even mercerized thread.  This type of thread is not recommended for sewing machine use because the glaze can rub off in the tension discs and contact points as well as collect lint, fuzz, and dust which can cause a buildup in the thread path.  However, glazed thread is great for hand quilting.  I also use it in back basting applique. 

I realize this is a lot of information – I’ve written nearly 2,000 words at this point and I haven’t told you why any of this is important and where you can find it.  So right now, I want you to pause reading this blog and go grab a spool of thread with a label on it.  Go ahead…I’ll wait.

Got that spool of thread?  Okay.  Now look at the label.  Just like the labels on machine and hand sewing needles, there’s a lot of information packed onto the label of a spool of thread.  Keep that spool of thread nearby while you finish reading this blog. 

I’m using Superior Thread King Tut, Aurifil, and Mettler as examples.  These three brands are the ones I use most consistently in my machine piecing.  Hand sewing thread is a completely different animal and we will hit that hard in my upcoming blogs on hand applique.  On any label, you should be able to identify the thread manufacturer and the color of the thread.  The color is usually identified by a number.  With my King Tut, the number is 918.   The Aurifil is 2605, and the Mettler is 623.  The number is important – especially if you’re using the thread for topstitching or decorative stitching.  If you run out of thread and need to re-order or pick some up at the LQS, you know exactly what you’re looking for and it will match up wonderfully. 

The next item which should be readily available is the type of thread it is.  With these three, it’s plain to see they’re all cotton – but remember, I mentioned earlier most quilters piece with all cotton.  So, let’s take a look at some thread I use on my embroidery machine so you can see the difference. 

On the tiny label on the top of the thread, we see it’s 100 percent polyester and it even states it’s an embroidery thread.  However, even if the label had fallen off the spool of embroidery thread, I could tell it’s not a cotton thread because of the sheen.  We know from the definitions of the types of thread that polyester threads are brighter and shinier than cotton threads. 

Another piece of information on the label is any additional process the thread has been put through.  Remember the additional finishing processes only apply to cotton thread.  So, if you’re using cotton thread, you will need to see if it is gassed, glazed, or coated.  A quick run-though of my thread inventory turned up no gassed thread, but a Google search found that Wonderfil Thread is gassed, which is plainly listed on the label. 

If you look at this label on a spool of Coats hand quilting thread, we fine the tern Glace’, which means glazed – so this is clearly thread we won’t use in our sewing machines. 

What you don’t see on any of these is the term mercerized because nearly all cotton thread is put through this process – so much so that most cotton thread manufacturers simply don’t put the term on the label.  You will still find mercerized on older spools of Coats and Clark Dual Duty, though.

In addition to these terms, you’ll find numbers, and just as with needles, these numbers are important. Some numbers are included on all spools of thread, and others aren’t.  The first crucial number is weight.  If you don’t remember anything else in this blog, commit this to memory:  The smaller the weight number, the heavier the thread.  A size 30-weight (30 wt) is larger than a 50 weight (50 wt) thread.  I could get into a lot of details on how thread manufacturers come up with weight, but it deals with a lot of metric measurements and would probably bore you.  Just keep in mind the smaller the weight, the heavier the thread.  The weight of thread you pick out will have a lot to do with the finished look of your quilt.  For instance, if you’re raw-edge machine appliqueing, you will want your thread to cover the edges of the fabric as much as possible to prevent fraying.  For this reason, you would probably want to pick a 40-weight or even 30-weight thread.  If you’re machine quilting and you want your stitches to really shine, again, you may decide to use a heavier weight quilting thread.  However, you wouldn’t want to use a heavier thread when you piece.  It’s important to keep the ¼-inch seam allowance as true as possible for accurate piecing.  You want to go with a higher number weight thread – such as a 50 or even 60 weight (60 wt. is my preferred weight thread for piecing).  Thread labels aren’t uniform, so you may have to look around for the weight.  And if the spool has labels on the top and the bottom, part of the information may be on each label. 

Another number which may be on the label is the denier number.  This is the weight in grams of 9,000 meters of thread.  If 9,000 meters of a thread weighs 120-grams, it’s a 120-denier thread.  Larger denier numbers are heavier threads.

Tex is an additional number which deals with the weight of the thread.  This is the weight in grams of 1,000 meters of thread.  If 1,000 meters of thread weighs 25 grams, it has a tex number of 25.  Larger tex numbers indicate it’s a heavier thread. 

The last set of numbers can be confusing, so I will try to explain them as clearly as I can.  These numbers are used on thinner threads, and they’re often mistaken as the weight, but it’s not.  The Number System or Number Standard was developed in Japan and is also known as the Gunze Count System.  For instance, if you see No. 50 or #50 on a spool, it doesn’t mean it’s 50-weight (50 wt) thread.  However, just like most of the other numbers on a spool of thread, the lower the number, the heavier the thread. It’s important to remember all the numbers don’t mean the same thing.  You may have a spool of thread stamped with 50 wt., No. 50, and 50/3.  All three numbers mean something a little different.  Don’t get too anxious about all of the figures and fractions.  Further down the blog I’ll tell you what I think are the important ones to remember. 

Finally, on most thread labels, you’ll see something like this:  30/3 (or 30/1×3) or 50/3 (or 50/1×3).  These are called composition numbers.  The first number is from the number system and tells us if it’s a heavier thread or a thinner one.  With these two examples we know the 30 is heavier than the 50.  The second number tells how many plies – threads twisted together – are in a strand of the thread.  Each of the examples has three plies.  As a general rule, the heavier threads have more plies than the thin ones.  For me, this is more important in hand sewing than machine sewing because the eyes of hand sewing needles are smaller than the ones on sewing machine needles and thus harder to thread.  It’s a whole lot easier to get 2-ply thread through the eye of a needle than 3-ply. 

Really good thread companies will also supply you with one more piece of information:  what size needle to use with the thread.  For instance, if you take another look at the label on my spool of King Tut thread:

You’ll notice it clearly states, “Use Topstitch #90/14.”  I know exactly what needle to have inserted in my needle mount before I make the first stitch.  However, if this information isn’t on your spool, the rule of thumb is you need to use a needle whose eye is 40% larger than the diameter of your thread.  To keep it simple, remember this – a 50 weight thread uses a 75/11 or 80/12.  A 40 weight uses 90/14, and a 30 weight needs a 100/16.  These are the three most used thread weights in quilting.  If you find your machine is skipping stitches or shredding the thread, go up a needle size. 

Okay.  I realize I just gave you a lot of information about thread – maybe more than you ever wanted to know.  What I’d like to do now is distill it down to what I believe are the most important items to consider on a thread label, where I purchase most of my thread, how I classify my threads, and the brands I prefer for different uses.  Again, let me reiterate, I do not work for any of these companies, nor do I receive any “freebies” for recommending them.

For me, the most important number on a thread label (beside the number which references the color) is the weight because the weight affects everything about the appearance of my quilt.  I want my ¼ seams to be as accurate as possible, therefore I don’t want the thread taking up a lot of room.  This means I will use a 50-weight or better yet, a 60-weight thread to piece with because they’re thinner and take up practically no room in a seam.  If I’m making a quilt which has raw-edge applique, I’ll use a thicker thread (30 wt or 40 wt depending on how I want the applique to look) to make sure the edges of the fabric are completely encased.  If I want my quilting stitches to melt into the background of my quilt, I’ll reach for an 80 or even 100 weight thread.  The desired appearance of any aspect of my quilt has the ultimate bearing on which weight thread I use. 

The second-most important number is the thread ply.  For this reason, I love labels which have fractions, such as 50/2 or 50/3.  For piecing, I want the thinnest, yet strongest, thread I can get.  If there is a 50/2 or 60/2 available, I’ll use it.  Same for hand applique – the thinner the thread, the easier it is to get it through the eye of the needle.  I use 2-ply or even 1-ply if I can find it. 

However, all my cotton thread has one thing in common:  it’s all long-staple.  Long staple thread is stronger and produces less lint.  If you’ve ever been in a situation where you have to go through the aggravation of re-threading your machine time and time again because your thread is breaking – you’ll learn to love and value long-staple thread.  And if you have a computerized machine, spare it the lint and don’t use cheap thread.  Plunk down the extra pennies for the long-staple thread.  Your machine will thank you in the long run.

Most of the time, my studio is humming with the long arm and at least one sewing machine.  I have multiple projects under my needle and multiple deadlines (even if they’re self-imposed).  Because of this, I don’t break down my thread by brand, ply, or weight.  I categorize it into three broad labels:  piecing thread, quilting thread, and machine applique thread. I have an area which houses all my piecing thread.  Since I favor 50- or 60-weight for this, all of the thread in that cabinet is one of those weights.  They’re also all either beige, light gray, dark gray, white, or black.  Piecing neutrals work with just about any quilt or color combination and keep you from having to change the thread to match the fabric.  My quilting thread is a little more complicated, but like my piecing thread, it’s all kept in one area.  My quilting thread ranges from 30-weight to the 100-weight Micro-Stippling thread from Superior Threads (one of my very favorites).  I use my quilting thread on both my domestic and long arm and it’s not hard to tell the higher weight from the lower weight.  What really comes into play with my quilting thread is appearance – how do I want my quilt to look after it’s quilted?  Do I want my stitches to really show (this calls for heavier thread) or melt into the background (the thinner the thread the better)? 

However, the one type of thread which is all over the thread-map is my machine applique thread.  Since I love both raw-edge and finished-edge machine applique, I have a lot of weights and colors. It’s difficult to keep them straight!  For this reason, I tend to keep them sorted by color and then by weight.  For instance, all my blues are together, and they will be put in a row from lightest to darkest and within that range, they will be grouped by weight.  For instance, my light blues will be together, and they start at 30-weight and go down the line to 80-weight (for finished edge applique). 

As I’ve mentioned before, after 30 some years of quilting, I am a self-professed thread snob.  Through trial and error, I’ve learned what brands work best for me.  At this point, I will mention which thread brands I consistently use and why.  Again, let me remind you, I receive no freebies and I’m not employed by any of names I’m about to mention.

Aurifil – This is my go-to piecing brand.  I can purchase it in 50- or 60-weight, and one of the best things about it is the spools are different colors for different weights.  A green spool is 40/2.  An orange spool is 50/2 and a white one is 60/2.  You don’t even have to read the label to know what weight you have.  It’s also 2-ply, which means it’s a great, thin piecing thread.  They also have a wonderful  brand of hand applique thread, and it’s on brown spools.

Superior Threads – Any type of thread, any color of thread, any weight, ply, or specialty thread is housed at Superior Thread.  They have great pre-wound bobbins and a wonderful piecing thread called Bottom Line – technically, this thread is for bobbins, but I’ve used it in piecing if I’m out of Aurifil.  Superior Threads have wonderful hand applique thread and equally fantastic quilting thread.  Almost any of their thread can be purchased in cones or spools.

Both Aurifil and Superior Threads are made from long-staple cotton.

If you want to purchase Superior Thread, you can go directly to their website:  https://www.superiorthreads.com/sewing-threads.

You will find not only a seemingly endless array of thread and pre-wound bobbins, you’ll find needles, thread notions, and a terrific educational section.  Let me throw this in here – if you’re ever able to attend a workshop with Superior Threads, it’s well-worth your time.  Their customer service is second-to-none and I’ve never had to wait more than a day or two to receive my thread.

Aurifil is made in Italy, and it has a website, but individuals cannot purchase from the site.  The website has good information about their product, but for actual purchase, I love Red Rock Thread:  https://redrockthreads.com/. This site is all things thread.  The selection is outstanding, and the customer service is stellar.  It also houses needles (both hand and machine in lots of different brands) and other thread notions. 

I hope this blog has at the very least given you a good overview about thread.  At the most, I hope it has explained my thread snobbery and maybe has produced a few coverts to join me.  Somewhere in the middle, I can only hope it gives you the information you need to make the right thread choices.  Thread is truly the factor which does more than hold and bind our quilts together and it just makes good sense to use quality thread to finish our projects.

Until next week, Quilt On!

Love and Stitches,

Sherri and Sam

I’ve written blogs for a pretty long time now.  And in these blogs, I’ve discussed different quilting notions, what works for me and what doesn’t, as well as those which are worth the money and those that are more hype than substance.  As a result of these blogs, I’ve been asked (several times by several different people) what are my favorite quilting notions.   A few months ago, I started making a list of those items I used regularly.  And by regularly, I mean every time I sit down to quilt.  These tools are the subjects of this week’s blog, but before we take a deep dive into Sherri’s Favorite Notions and Gadgets, let me throw in two disclaimers:  First, these are the notions which work best for me.  They may not work for you.  However, I’ve quilted a long time over thirty years, but who’s counting and I think my opinions are worth some consideration.  Two, I am not nor have I ever been employed by any of these companies, nor do I receive any “freebies” from them as a result of my endorsements.  The quilting tools which made this list are here because in my unadulterated opinion, they are simply great notions to have in your quilt studio.

One final item to remember – these items are used primarily for piecing, not applique, although some may be used in both quilting techniques.  I am planning a blog on my favorite applique tools which is getting so long it’s embarrassing. 

•  Faultless Niagara Spray Starch

I’ve said it before many times, but it bears repeating:  I like spray starch better than Best Press.  Yes, I have Best Press in my studio and use it on occasion, however, I like the crisp, sharp, flat edge which regular starch gives.  Best Press doesn’t equal starch in appearance.  And before anyone complains about the “all those flakes starch leaves behind when you press fabric,” if the starch leaves a white residue, you’re not using it correctly.  Spray lightly, let the starch sink in the fabric, and then press.  You don’t want to soak the material.  If you need your fabric a bit stiffer, starch it twice.  One additional tidbit of starchy information – purchase your spray starch at a grocery or drug store.  The cans sold at dollar establishments are second runs and have a higher water content.

•  Clover Seam Ripper

All seam rippers are not created equal.  The Clover Seam Ripper is easy to hold onto and the “hook” part is thinner, allowing you to get it under stitches easily and cleanly.

•  Wooden Clapper

This is one of those tools left over from the days when I made most of my clothes and all of my children’s.  After you press the seam, you run the Clapper firmly over it.  This forces the heat to dispel quickly and flattens bulky seams out nicely.  So, if you’re making a quilt block which has a lot of seams which join together at one point (such as in a Pinwheel Block), using a clapper will help tamp down all the bulk.

•  Karen Kay Buckley Scissors

I’ve mentioned these scissors quite a few times in my blogs.  These wonderful tools have tiny, serrated edges.  When you must use scissors to cut quilting templates, these are great!  The serrated edges act like tiny pinking shears, which means your quilting cotton fabrics won’t fray badly.  I have a pair of small KKB scissors in my on-the-go quilting bag, and a larger pair which stay near my sewing machine.  Two words of caution:  First, when you take these scissors to be sharpened, make sure the person doing the sharpening is aware the of the serrated edges (the teeth are so tiny).  Second, occasionally there will be a copycat pair advertised on social media.  Don’t be fooled by the knockoffs.  They’re nowhere near as good as the real thing.  

•  A Round Rotary Mat

I love these round mats for two reasons.  First, they sit on a base, which makes it super easy to get to the area you need to trim or cut – just rotate the mat until it’s right in front of you.  Second, the mat comes off the base and they both are easily packed up to take with you on a retreat or vacation.  Standard rules apply for these mat as for other mats – store flat and keep away from heat.

•  Wool Mat

I’m always a little skeptical when a new quilting tool hits the market and proclaims itself as the “best quilting tool ever!”  Maybe I’m just old-school or maybe I’ve quilted so long, and I’ve heard this line so many times I have a hard time believing any new product is just that good.  Let me tell you, wool mats proved me wrong.  While a bit on the pricey side, they are well worth the money.  Seams lie flat, and they’re wonderful for freezer paper applique.  If they made a wool mat large enough to fit my entire ironing board surface, I would save my pennies and purchase one.  I have a small one for my hand sewing kit and a medium-sized one next to my sewing machine for quick presses.  I’ve even given them as gifts to my closest and bestest quilting friends.

•  Pincushion/Thread Catcher Combo

This may be one notion you have to make yourself or purchase at a quilt show.  Either way, this tool has a thread catcher with a pin cushion on top.  The pincushion on mine is attached with Velcro, so I can remove it and move it to my long arm if I need to.  I just think it’s super-handy to have them both together right by my machine – I don’t have to reach very far for pins or to dispose of small snips of fabric or thread.

•  Ott Light

Good lighting is essential with any type of crafting.  I’ve tried many brands, but I keep coming back to Ott.  The light is clear and bright, and Ott has designed their lamps in nearly anyway imaginable.  They have everything from the large floor lights to the tiny ones with clips you can attach to a book for reading or your sewing machine.  Their customer service is stellar, and the bulbs last a long time.

•  Glass Head and/or Silk Pins

Many quilters use the long, thin pins with a flat head.  I have a couple hundred of these, but primarily use them to pin my quilt backs to my leaders on my long arm.  I also use them to hold stacks of block units together.  However, for pinning my pieces together before putting them under my needle, I prefer silk or glass head pins.  They’re sharper and thinner than the other kinds, and the glass head pins hold up to the heat of an iron without melting. 

• Cordless Iron

I was a little skeptical of cordless irons when they hit the quilting market a few years ago.  I had owned cordless vacuums and sweepers and it seemed after a period of time, they lost their power and didn’t perform as well as their counterparts with a cord.  However, after a couple of my friends brought this cordless iron to quilt retreat and allowed me to test drive it, I changed my mind pretty quickly.  This iron is great for ironing rows or tops – there’s no cord to get in the way.  It holds it heat well for several minutes before you have to put it back on the charger.  It reheats super-quick, so there’s no time lost.  And the fact it has points on both ends means you can use it in either hand. 

•  Creative Grids Rulers

I’ve sung the praises of Creative Grids Rulers for years.  This company has any ruler, in any width or length, you could possibly want.  They also have an impressive line of specialty rulers as well as the acrylic templates for ruler work on a long arm or domestic machine.  What makes them wonderful to me are the grippers built in the rulers and the fact they’re reasonably priced. 

•  Frixion Pens

Remember what I said in my blog about freezer paper:  Quilters are known for using items in their quilting which aren’t technically made for quilting.  Frixion Pens are in that group of nonquilting quilting tools.  These pens are made for writing and the heat from the friction of an eraser makes the ink go away.  Quilters were quick to pick up on this and use the heat of an iron to make the ink disappear.  The downside to this is the ink technically never permanently disappears.  It fades, but if the object is subjected to cold temperatures, the ink reappears.  For that reason, I wouldn’t mark a quilt top with it, but as far as marking dots for Y-seams or tracing templates, I love these pens.  They have fine points and work well for marking the parts of the quilt which will be covered by other fabric or trimmed off.

• Good Thread

I admit it, I am a self-professed thread-snob.  But in my opinion, I have never seen the value in plunking down a lot of cash for fabric, notions, and a pattern and then skimp on the thread.  Cheap thread can be bad for your quilt and equally bad for your machine.  I like the long-staple, cotton thread in a 50-to-60 weight for piecing.  I do have a new blog in the works dealing with thread.  It will publish in a few weeks.

•  Quilter’s FabriCalc

This handy-dandy fabric calculator is simply wonderful.  I love it mainly for two reasons.  I do a great deal of math when I design my own quilts – even though I have EQ 8.  When I work with Quilter’s Cake or the Golden Ratio, I always work with decimals (chalk it up to teaching chemistry and physics for too many years).  However, I have to convert the decimals to fractions, inches, and yardage when dealing with fabric.  The FabriCalc performs this conversion with a click of a button.  It also gives you quilt yardage, block yardage, square yardage, border yardage, drop, and about a hundred other measurements quilters need at one time or another.  I know there are phone apps out there which tout they can do the same thing.  And I’ve tried quite a few of those.  However, they fall short of the FabriCalc and all it can do.  This is one of those tools I use literally every week.

•  My iPad

I have a great laptop and my EQ 8 lives there.  However, my iPad lives right next to my sewing machine so I can binge watch Netflix, Disney, Hulu, YouTube, or PureFlix while I burn the midnight oil quilting.  During the COVID pandemic, I developed a new appreciation for the device.  I took so many great Zoom classes and it was so wonderful to have the iPad right by my sewing machine.  I didn’t have to keep standing up from my machine to walk over to my laptop.  I could stay right there with Big Red and keep working while I listened to my teachers. 

• A Quilt Planner

I have to write things down.  I don’t think my memory is that bad, I just have a lot to remember! Before I go to bed, I write down what I need to get done the next day.  I’ve learned that this list takes a lot of pressure off of me.  I don’t have to try to remember what I need to do; I just have to consult the list.  A quilt planner works in a similar way.  I list the quilts currently under my needle and then check off what stage they’re in, if I have a deadline, and who (if anyone) it will be gifted to.  It’s nice way to make sure everything gets done and it gives me a feeling of accomplishment and makes me feel that progress is really being made.

•  Quilting Clips

These little items are worth their weight in gold.  They can hold all the units of a block together until you can sew them, or they can hold long edges together (like the border to the side of the quilt).  They’re primarily used to hold binding down as it’s sewn to the quilt, but they have so many more uses.  I’m teaching my grand darlings how to sew and put these in their sewing kit instead of pins.  Almost anything you can use a pin for, you can substitute a clip for instead.  And dropped clips are so much easier to find than dropped pins.

•  Small Rotary Cutter

My favorite brand of rotary cutter is the Martelli line, because they are so ergonomically outfitted for your hand, wrist, and arm.  Since the handle is on the side of the blade, it takes a lot of stress off the wrist – which is important if you’re like me and have some Carpel Tunnel in your wrist.  I have the large, medium, and small cutter and out of those three I use and love the smallest one the most.  The 28 mm blade allows for accurate cutting of block units and gives you the ability to cut around templates.  I like the control I have with the small cutter.  I use the larger ones to cut multiple layers of fabric, but for everything else, I reach for the small one.  If I can take only one cutter to class or retreat, this is the one which goes in my travel bag.

•  Design Area

This area can either be large or small, depending on what you need and the room you have. If you have a wall with nothing on it, this will make a great design area.  Purchase a vinyl tablecloth with a flannel back. Hang it on the  wall with the flannel side out.  The flannel will hold your blocks in place as you decide how you want to lay out your quilt.  LeeAnne the Long Arm takes up too much room in my studio for me to have a design wall, but I do have this:

Which really comes in handy.  If I have a complicated block, I can use this to lay out the units in the correct order and then sew them together.

• Eleanor Burns Triangle Square-Up Ruler

In this blog I’m taking for granted everyone has their favorite rulers they use for cutting squares, rectangles, and strips.  And I want to add it’s extremely rare I get attached to a specialty ruler.  However, I make an exception for the Triangle Square-Up Ruler.  I’ve sung the praises of this ruler before, so I won’t go into a lot of detail here.  But let’s just say half-square triangles make their way into a lot of quilts – and they can get wonky because of bias.  With this ruler, you square up your HST while it’s still in triangle form.  It’s quick.  It’s oh-so-accurate.  It’s easy.  I don’t care if I’m only making one HST – this ruler comes out.  It stays on my cutting mat at all times, so I don’t have to go looking for it.  It’s just that good.

•  My Sewing Machine

At this point, let me remind you I’m not employed by any company, nor do I receive any type of “freebies” for mentioning brands and names.  I have sewed on several brands of machines (including Bernina), but my favorite is Janome.  You can’t beat them.  They’re work horses.  While some of the models are heavily computerized, they won’t drain your bank account like other brands.  They’re user friendly.  My first “serious” sewing machine was a Janome and I really haven’t strayed too much from the brand.  For me, having a dependable sewing machine in my studio is the best quilting tool available.  If the machine is fussy or finicky, all the joy can be sucked right out of quilting.  Yes, I’ve had minor issues with them, but I can say with complete candor those are issues I’ve been able to resolve myself.  Aside from basic cleaning and oiling, none of my Janomes have been in the repair shop for a major overhaul.

And now it’s time to introduce you to the newest Janome in my studio – the M7 Continental. 

Her name is Dolly (as in Hello Dolly….I saved my pennies for a couple of years to bring you home).  She’s amazing and has a prettier straight stitch than Marilyn, my Featherweight.  We’re still getting acquainted, but man, does she come loaded with a lot of great stuff – including an even  bigger harp than Big Red.

For those of you wondering if I’ve given Big Red the boot, I have not.  She’s now in semi-retirement.  We plan to purchase a vacation home in the very near future, and she will go to live there, waiting for me to spend time with her then.  This means I’ll have a great machine at both houses and won’t have to drag one back and forth.  But for right now, she’s still in my studio and I still sew on her every few days to make sure she and I keep our established relationship going strong. 

These are my favorite piecing notions.  Please remember, I’ve quilted a long time and acquired all of these over a period of years, which means I not only spread out the cost, but also (through trial and error) discovered what worked for me and what did not.  If you’re a beginner quilter, you’ll go through a similar process.  If you’ve quilted longer than I have, I’m sure I’ve missed some items which you may really love.  No matter what, I’m sure my list is probably a little different than yours.

Now a bit of a housekeeping issue.  Several of you have asked how my brother, Eric, is progressing with his Multiple Myeloma treatments.  He began chemotherapy on April 27.  He has the treatments on Tuesdays, which involves a steroid, an infusion of a bone-strengthening medication, an injection in the abdomen of the chemo, and a pill.  All of this is done in the pharmacy – he doesn’t have to go into the chemo unit at the hospital at all.  And while he has ample drugs to combat any nausea, so far, he hasn’t had to use them.  I’m thankful the doctors caught this disease early and it’s treatable – even curable.  Continue to keep him in your thoughts and prayers and I’ll keep you up to date with what’s happening.  Depending on his blood counts, he’s looking at stem cell replacement in the fall.  If the chemo works faster than expected, late summer.  Thanks to everyone who’s told me they’re praying for us.  I appreciate your concern – I appreciate your prayers even more.

Until next week, Quilt On!

Love and Stitches,

Sherri and Sam

Quilters are famous for using items in their quilting which really aren’t quilting tools at all.  Bicycle clips are great to use for keeping quilts rolled up.  The magnetic dishes used by mechanics to keep screws in are great storage places for pins.  A clear, plastic shower curtain is a wonderful tool to use as you plan your quilting designs — lay it on top of the quilt and use a dry erase marker to draw your quilting pattern.  If you don’t like it, use a dry paper towel to remove the marks.  One kitchen item which seems to find its way into all quilt studios is freezer paper.  Whether you applique or not, freezer paper is a great addition to any quilter’s notion box.

For anyone who may not know, freezer paper is a heavy-duty paper with a plastic coating on one side only.  Years ago, before things like freezer bags, aluminum foil, and plastic wrap found their way into our pantries, freezer paper and butcher paper ruled the food-storage world.  Freezer paper was used to wrap cuts of meat or fish in, with the plastic side of the paper against the meat or fish.  This would allow the shopper to continue their grocery store trek without the meat or fish leaking all over the other food and household items.  The butcher or fishmonger would write what was inside the wrapped bundle on the plain paper side.  Even today when you get a special cut from your grocery store’s meat or seafood counter, chances are it’s wrapped in a type of freezer paper before it’s placed in a plastic bag. 

Today, we’re much more accustomed to using freezer bags than freezer paper – to the point, it’s sometimes difficult to find freezer paper such as this:

In the local grocery store.  I’ve found it primarily in Food Lions, but I’ve also had to order it from Amazon.  This boxed freezer paper is the most common type, but as soon as the quilt world caught sight of how versatile freezer paper can be in the studio, quilt notion companies came out with their own freezer paper.  An internet search for quilting freezer paper can yield these:

The extra-large kind can be used for planning borders.  The big sheets may be used for large applique pieces, such as those in Blackbird Designs Country Inn quilts.  My personal favorite is the 8 ½ x 11-inch size because those can be run through an ink jet printer.  More on why this is important a bit later down in the blog.  Right now, you may be asking yourself, “Is there any difference between the Reynold’s brand freezer paper and the other freezer paper?”  That’s a great question and it really deserves a two-fold answer.  First, let’s compare price.

According to a Google search, most stores which have Reynolds Freezer paper sell the kind that is 75 feet long by 18 inches tall.  When we convert the feet to inches (75 x 12), we have 900 lengthwise inches of freezer paper.  Multiply 900 by 18 and we know we have 16,200 square inches of freezer paper.  Another search told me the average price in retail establishments is $3.69 per 75 feet roll (consumer awareness bulletin here – Reynolds freezer paper was much higher on Amazon than in stores).  When we divide the square inches by cost per roll, we literally get fractions of cents.

Now let’s look at the freezer paper which is sold in sheets.  I want to shop on my own turf here.  Let’s look at the 8 ½ by 11-inch sheets produced by C. Jenkins.  I’ve used other brands of freezer paper sheets, but always come back to these.  In my opinion, they’re the best.  Each sheet in these packs is 8 ½ x 11. This means each sheet has 93 ½ square inches (8 ½ x 11).  Each pack has 50 sheets, so we have a total of 4,675 square inches (50 sheets x 93 ½-square inches per sheet).  Comparing Reynolds Freezer Paper against C. Jenkins product shows the Reynold paper has 11,525 more square inches than its competitor. 

The average price for C. Jenkins sheets is $9.94 (consumer awareness bulletin #2 – this freezer paper is less expensive on Amazon than in most quilt stores). This means we’re paying roughly 20 cents per sheet ($9.94/50) for the C. Jenkins 8 ½ x 11-inch freezer paper sheets. 

So yes, price per inch, you’ll pay less by purchasing the roll of freezer paper verses the freezer paper sheets.  However, there are a few details you may want to consider before you run to Target or Food Lion to grab that roll of Reynolds Freezer Paper. 

1.  Rolls of freezer paper destined for food use is food-grade paper.  While this may sound completely obvious, what must be taken into consideration is this paper is not meant to last through multiple ironings, starched edges, and sewing (either by hand or machine).  This paper was produced to wrap food in, be stored for a short while in the freezer and then tossed in a garbage can.  So, it’s not as sturdy as freezer paper made with quilters in mind.
2. Reynolds Freezer paper can’t easily be fed through an ink-jet printer.  The key word here is easily.  It can be used in a printer, but I’ve found it finicky and difficult – which means I gave up after about the 10^th unsuccessful try feed it through. 
3. I’ve found I can use Reynold Freezer paper for most quilting applications, but I have to iron two pieces of it together in order for it to be sturdy enough to stand up to the abuse quilters put it through – which means I’ve now halved the useable square inches in a roll to 8,100.  However, the roll is still a better buy even with the reduction in square inches. 
4. This last detail is also pretty obvious – one type of freezer paper is a roll, and the other type comes in sheets.  This means the rolled paper wants to curl and this can make tracing difficult.  The sheets are flat, so they’re easier to work with. 

The second detail which must be considered is purpose.  Although Reynolds Freezer paper plainly touts it can be used for quilting, that isn’t what it’s constructed for.  It’s made for kitchen freezers.  Quilters put freezer paper through some serious abuse, and quilting freezer paper is made to withstand it.  This freezer paper is thicker, and the plastic coating can withstand multiple ironings before it will no longer adhere to fabric.  Personally, I’ve found even if I iron two sheets of the Reynolds Freezer Paper together so I have the needed thickness, the plastic coating will not stick to fabric for more than a couple of pressings before I have to toss it.

For me, the quilter’s freezer paper sold in sheets just works better and I use it far more often than the freezer paper sold in grocery stores.  Let’s look at some ways quilters use freezer paper.  I’m sure you know some of these, but others may be new.

1.  Applique – Freezer paper has been used for applique templates for a long time.    Some quilters like to use the templates on the right side of their fabric and others on the wrong side – it just depends on which applique method used.  I definitely use the freezer paper sheets for applique because I can reuse the templates several times before the plastic side is completely gone.  Add the fact this paper holds up well to the starch-and-iron method, and the freezer paper sheets are just better.   Another reason I generally use the sheets for applique is their ability to be run through a printer or copier.  If you have an ink jet printer (please….don’t run freezer paper through a laser printer…it’s not pretty), you can make use the 8 1/2 x 11-inch paper to make accurate copies of your templates.  Be sure to consult your printer’s manual to determine if you should load your freezer paper shiny side up or down (the shiny side is considered the wrong side of the paper with most printers).
2. Labels – Before I purchased my embroidery machine, I made all my labels using freezer paper, my laptop, and my ink jet printer.  It’s really super easy.  With your word processing or graphics program, design your quilt label.  You can play with fonts and graphics (even photos) until you get it exactly the way you want it – just make sure it fits on an 8 ½ x 11-inch layout.  Cut a piece of light-colored fabric which is also 8 ½ x 11-inches and press it onto an 8 ½ x 11-inch piece of freezer paper (the freezer paper sheets seem to work best for this).  Make sure the fabric has no air bubbles and it’s firmly pressed to the freezer paper all around the edges.  Load this into your ink jet printer and print as normal.  Once the ink has dried, remove the fabric label from the freezer paper and press the label with a hot, dry iron to set the ink.  Easy-peasy.  I still use this method if I want to personalize my label with a lot of detail. 
3. Stencils for Quilting – This idea has been a lifesaver for me both on the long arm and my domestic machine.  Sometimes you find a drawing you simply love and want to quilt it in your quilt.  But either you can’t find it in a pantograph (for your long arm) or the design may be a little more complicated than your free motion quilting skills can undertake.  This is where freezer paper (either in roll or sheet form) can come in handy.  Trace the design on the freezer paper and cut it out.   Then press it onto the area you want to quilt.  Quilt around the freezer paper template and then remove it.  You’ll have to quilt the inside of the area as you desire, but the outline of the design has been made with the help of a freezer paper template.  I find freezer paper templates especially helpful when quilting on my domestic machine.
4. Paper Piecing – I was only made aware of freezer paper’s paper piecing potential a few years ago when one of my friends made a quilt which was roughly 12-inches square.  It was paper pieced, and I swear I think that small square had a million paper pieced pieces.  My friend used freezer paper in her small quilt.  I wrote a blog about it:    https://sherriquiltsalot.com/2020/01/15/paper-piecing-with-freezer-paper/.   While I wouldn’t use the freezer paper piecing method for all my paper piecing, (I still love the paper you can see through best) it does have potential.  Depending on how the pattern is drawn, you could use either the sheets or the roll. 
5. Extending Your Fabric – Okay, I’ll be completely up front here:  This trick is not going to work if you need a large chunk of fabric.  If that’s the case, you need to go back to the quilt shop or the website and simply purchase another yard or two.  This little stunt works if you only need a small amount of fabric – like a few inches or so.  You’ll need a piece of your fabric, the freezer paper sheets, an 8 ½ x 11-inch piece of white or light cream-colored fabric, and an ink jet printer capable of producing a good, quality photograph.  Prepare your freezer paper and piece of white or light-cream colored fabric in the same manner you do for labels.  Place it the printer tray.  Place the fabric you need more of face-down on the copier bed (just like you’re preparing to make a copy), and simply proceed to make a copy.  Removed the copied fabric from the freezer paper and heat-set with an iron.  Please note there will be slight color discrepancies between the copier fabric and the original.  However, if you only need a few inches and can place it in an area where the copied fabric won’t stand out so much, this little trick can be a sanity saver. 
6. Taming Fussy Fabric – Most of the time – probably somewhere around 99 percent – I sew with quilter’s cotton, batiks, or some other type of cotton fabric when I’m piecing.  But when I applique, all bets are off concerning the type of material I’ll use because I’m after effect and appearance, which means I may use any type of fabric.  Need something that looks like ice?  I may opt for a see-through, shimmery material.  Is there a fancy dress or stars in the applique pattern?  I’ve been known to use lame’.  While piecing quilt blocks may lend itself solely to 100 percent cotton fabrics, applique fabric can run the full fabric spectrum.  Usually, I’ll still opt for cotton fabrics in my applique, but if there’s another type of fabric which will give me the appearance I want, more often than not, I’ll use the non-cotton material.  Usually, I can sew these alternate fabrics by hand or machine with only a few minor changes (such as don’t use a hot iron or use a pressing cloth).   However, sometimes the non-cotton fabric may be loosely woven and fray easily.  To help the fabrics keep their shape, I may back them with freezer paper.  After the material is stabilized with the paper, I can cut out the shapes.  I keep the freezer paper on the applique pieces until I’m ready to stitch them down.  This doesn’t prevent all fraying, but it does help.  I have also found this freezer paper technique handy when sewing homespun – which can be both super-stretchy and loosely woven.
7. Squaring up My Quilt Squares – I know, I know – we square up our quilt squares with rulers.  This is true.  However, freezer paper can be used in emergencies.  Let me set the stage for this great, little trick.  You’ve made all your squares and are in the process of trimming them down to the needed unfinished size.  However…there’s this one quilt square which is giving you real grief.  All the block units are the correct size except this one unit on the edge and it’s somewhere between 1/8 to ¼-inch too short.  At this point, if you’re like me especially if you’re like me, you don’t feel like taking the block apart to fix your mistake (because you’re almost through) or you don’t have enough left-over fabric to re-make the block.  Here’s where a handy-dandy roll of freezer paper will save your sanity.  Cut a piece of freezer paper the same the size as the unfinished quilt block is supposed to be.  Center and press this to the right side of your wonky quilt block.  The sides of the freezer paper should match up with everything except the area where your units are a bit too short.  Proceed to sew the block into the row or setting triangles as normal, but when you get to the area where the block unit is too short, use the freezer paper edge as the edge of your fabric.  This will work if the unit which is too small is less than ¼-inch too short. 
8. Templates – There are two different ways I use freezer paper as quilting templates.  The first concerns English Paper Piecing (EPP).  On the rare occasion I EPP (remember, I use and adore Cindy Blackburg’s quilting template stamps), I use freezer paper instead of the cardboard for templates.  For this, I use the freezer paper sheets, since they are sturdier than the freezer paper on rolls.  I iron two sheets together (plastic coating sides facing) and then cut my templates from this.  These are sturdy and will stand up to the wear and tear of EPP.  The other way I use freezer paper templates are for really odd-shaped block units.  I came across this method when I was working with my first Dear Jane.  This quilt has some unusually shaped block units.  To use freezer paper to help me piece these blocks, I printed the block out on the freezer paper sheets and then cut the units apart.  I ironed each unit to the wrong side of the fabric and then cut the units out, allowing for a ¼-inch seam allowance (an Add-a-Seam ruler comes in super-handy here).  I would line up the edges of the fabric, making sure the lines of the freezer paper, as well as the points, matched and then stitch.  Most of the time this method worked exceptionally well – however, with Dear Jane, there’s always a unit or two which drove me nearly completely crazy.  I used traditional paper piecing with those blocks.
9. Pattern Stabilizer – This use for freezer paper isn’t remotely related to quilting, but since some quilters also make garments, I thought I’d throw it in.  Years ago, when I made most of my clothing and all of my kids’ clothes, I had a hefty amount of money invested in patterns – those brown, tissue patterns which would tear easily if you weren’t too careful.  We were definitely living on a budget back in those days, so I wanted to take care of those patterns and make them last as long as I could.  I discovered if I pressed those pattern pieces onto freezer paper and then cut them out, they would last longer and stay in pristine condition for a long time.  I used Reynolds Freezer Paper for this.  Once I had finished with the pattern, I’d clip it to a clothes hanger with safety or clothes pins and store it in a closet.  I’d put the guide sheet and pattern envelope in a freezer bag and pin those to the pattern as well.

I keep both kinds of freezer paper in my quilt studio and use both kinds regularly.  Freezer paper is one of those non-quilty tools I don’t think I could live without.  It’s versatile and not too expensive.  Applique is the most common use, but it lends itself to a lot of other tasks, too. 

Until next week, Quilt on!

Love and Stitches,

Sherri and Sam

Most of the time, this blog is about quilting.  But not today.  Not exactly, anyway.  Today it’s about family.

Several years ago, I wrote about chasing my Dad’s family tree in South Carolina.  But today…today, Eric, Mom, and I chased hers.  I knew a little about Mom’s family. Her mother, (my grandmother, Cora Alberta Perry Forbes) was born in McDowell County, West Virginia.

By  1930, she moved to Leaksville, North Carolina. 

Leaksville was a sleepy little town nestled next to the Dan River, whose financial life blood was textiles.  In 1967 Leaksville, Spray, and Draper were incorporated into Eden, NC.  Grandma married George T. Forbes and had five children – Garland (Denny), Donald, Mom, Elizabeth (Beth), and Herman.  Grandpa went off to fight in World War II, and when he came home, he decided the family life wasn’t for him.  He took off to who-knows-where, leaving Grandma a single mother with five mouths to feed.

Single motherhood wasn’t a popular title back then.  Grandma had her mother (Annie Elizabeth Wolfe Perry) and her dad (Felix Gaither Perry) to fall back on, but she knew she needed more than Leaksville could give her.  You see, back then in North Carolina, tobacco and textiles were kings.  And while tobacco still holds value in my state’s economic system, thanks to NAFTA and a short-sighted former President, textiles have pretty much come to a stop here.  And even back while her children were in elementary school, Grandma Forbes knew she and her children needed stability which textiles didn’t offer.  She applied and was accepted into nursing school…

In Alamance County.

Which is not really close to Rockingham County where most of Grandma’s family lived.  It’s strange how you accept some events as a child.  When I was growing up, I knew Grandma was a nurse.  She always had held that position.  It wasn’t until I was an adult with my own kids, did I realize what a monumental thing this was.  A single mother with five growing children, uproots herself and her family from everything and everyone familiar, divesting herself of her support system, to move her family to a town about an hour away, and put herself through nursing school, because she knew – even though it was tough at the time – this move meant better job stability for both her and her children in the long run. 

She was a strong woman, who raised a strong woman, who in turn raised me to be tough, and I’m pretty sure my daughter would say this end of the DNA rubbed off on her (remember Meg went back to school to earn another degree while both of her kids were toddlers, obtained a management position, all while she fought her own cancer battle).  We girls don’t whine…we deliver. 

But today was about more than that.  Today allowed the three of us to have some uninterrupted time together before Eric begins his chemo treatments and Mom has the nerve block put in her back.  Today was about remembering where Mom grew up and letting her have control of the narrative.  Today was about reminiscing, remembering the good times, and not forgetting the ones she loved.  This is the house Mom grew up in…

It’s a little bigger and better than what it was back in the 40’s.  There’s a two-car garage in back and it now has indoor plumbing. 

And this is her grandparent’s house.  There was little distance between the house Mom grew up in and her grandparent’s home.  Burton Grove Elementary School (no longer standing) was down the street from Grandma and Grandpa Perry’s. 

The ballfield was across the road from their house. 

Mom and her brothers and her sister would walk home from school each day, passing their grandparent’s home.  On Sundays after church, they’d play ball across the street. 

Mom attended church at King Memorial Baptist Church, and was baptized there.

I heard so many stories I had never heard before.  There was a two-story YMCA.  The gym was on the top floor.  Every summer the health department took over the basketball court and inoculated the folks.  Mom couldn’t remember exactly what these shots were for, but she hated the beginning of summer because she knew her mom would walk all the kids down to the Y for vaccinations.  Mom has an intense dislike for needles.  Given her options, she told me, she’d try to run and hide somewhere.  However, Grandma Forbes held steady, and all her kids got the inoculations.  After that, Mom said summer was pretty cool.  She learned to swim in the Dan River, which flowed behind their house.

There was a beauty queen who lived down the street from them.  This lady came all the way to Burlington to see Grandma once.  When World War II was over, lots of people gathered in the town and sang hymns.  There were skinned knees and childhood friends.  Aunts and uncles and cousins.  There was this boy across the street from her grandparent’s house who threw a rock and hit Mom in the back of her head.  I understand Great-grandpa Perry dressed that kid down pretty hard. 

And like with all families, there was loss.  Great-grandpa passed first from a heart attack, before Mom ever married Dad.

Then Uncle Donald, who was a long-distance truck driver.  He hit a bridge in New Jersey in 1970.  He was only 30.

Great-Grandma fell ill with pneumonia and died in 1971.  Aunt Beth died in 1975.  My heart ached for Grandma and Mom who lost three family members in the span of five years.  Let me also throw this fact in:  My Aunt Beth died of kidney failure.  Once she was diagnosed with kidney problems, it was my grandmother the nurse who went back to school to learn how to put Aunt Beth on and off the kidney dialysis machine.  My mother would take the blood samples to the lab to so they could check and make sure the toxins were no longer present. 

We rounded out the day with coffee from The Roasted Bean, a trip to Stitch Party Studio Quilt Shop (where I always have a good time and the folks are oh-so nice), and dinner at Ronni’s in Reidsville.  It was a good day.  I learned a lot about the people I had found on Ancestry.com.  Seeing where they lived and how they grew up not only put names with faces and locations, but also allowed me to see how close the family ties were.  I was especially glad to see where my Great-grandmother, Annie Perry, lived.  Remember, it was her quilt which started me on my quilting journey. 

It’s not a particularly skillful quilt.  The quilting stitches are large, and a heavy blanket serves as both the batting and the backing.  However, it’s irreplaceable to me, and cherished every day.  According to Mom, Great grandma would piece the quilts and then sometimes her sisters and daughters would come over to help with the quilting. 

By the time I had tucked away a great baked ham dinner from Ronni’s and shared a slice of chocolate cake with Mom, I was tired.  I knew she was, too, as well as Eric.  As I caught sight of the last of Rockingham County in the rearview mirror, I couldn’t help but puzzle over the relationship of DNA and location.  I understand DNA and what it means.  This is what makes you male or female.  Decides if you have blue eyes or brown, if you’re short or tall, or have curly or straight hair.  DNA is the chemical sequence which makes you…you.  Unless you have an identical twin, no two people have the exact same DNA sequence.  Your DNA is a combination of the DNA of your biological parents.  But when you consider location…that makes your DNA even more unique.  What if Grandma had never left Leaksville?  Would Mom had ever met Dad?  Would I have ever existed?  Where would I be (or would I be at all) in this trip around the sun? 

I have no answers. 

However, I wanted to share my Ancestry.com adventure with you, especially since I learned a little more about the women who do make me…me.  It’s not all about DNA.  Sometimes it’s about nurture.

And sometimes it just comes from being raised by really strong women.

Until next Week, Quilt On!

Love and Stitches,

Sherri and Sam

This quilt….

Probably needs no introduction.  It’s a Double Wedding Ring.  For years it’s been prized by collectors and esteemed by quilters.  To make one of these – and make it well – is one of the hallmarks of a skilled quilter.  When I began research on this quilt, I had only heard it called a Double Wedding Ring (DWR from here on out).  I also assumed it came into quilty context during the 1920’s and 1930’s.  I was wrong on both counts.  The Shelburne Museum has a DWR dating between 1825 – 1850, and it’s called Pincushion.  The more I studied DWR quilts the more I realized the real history behind its origins is lost in a murky maze of design changes and multiple names.  Before the 1920’s it went by many names – Rainbow, Around the World, Pickle Dish, Coiled Rattlesnake, Endless Chain, King Tut, and Friendship Knot – are just a few.  And it has undergone just as many design alterations.  To get to the bottom of this quilt’s myth and mystery, we’re about to take a deep dive into the world of the DWR. 

The beginnings of the DWR block name may have its origins with this block:

This is the Single Wedding Ring and the earliest published mention of the SWR was October 1, 1887 in Farm Life and Home.  The SWR was also called Sawtooth and Odd Scraps Patchwork.  It is worth mentioning when the SWR was published, it was not given any name, the block was only illustrated in an engraving.  It wasn’t called SWR until April 12, 1930 in the Kansas City Star.  Since that point, it has been consistently called by the name SWR.  There is much discussion among quilt historians concerning the theory if the name change for this block was due to the popularity of the DWR.  We may never know, but while there are some construction similarities between the two blocks, the DWR actually is more closely linked to other quilt blocks (more on this a little later). 

The first time the quilt was called by the name Double Wedding Ring was in Capper’s Weekly on October 28, 1928.  According to the Topeka, Kansas publication, Mrs. JD Patterson of Wellington, KS designed the block and gave it the name.  Whether this is true or even if there was such a person as Mrs. JD Patterson, we may never know.  What we do know is you could order the pattern from Capper’s for the grand sum of fifteen cents.  Then came this lady:

Ruby Short McKim.  If you’re like me and are an avid appliquer, you know her for her applique patterns.  But Mrs. McKim had some serious piecing skills too, and on October 31, 1928, she published the pattern in the Weekly Kansas City.  It’s worth noting she didn’t call the pattern DWR until she published her 1931 catalog, Designs Worth Doing.  I imagine she finally decided to call the pattern DWR then because the pattern was hugely popular (no matter who was publishing the pattern) and this was the name which quilters knew and knew well.  As a matter of fact, the DWR was so popular, for the next 10 years The Kansas City Star published the pattern multiple times and quilters began to get quite competitive by seeing how small they could make the squares in the rings and how many they could fit in each block. 

To keep this quilt in context, it’s important we remember the time frame in which the DWR popularity peaks.  Like most quilt blocks, it appeared in quilts long before it received a name that stuck.  However, it’s interesting to note the DWR, Grandmother’s Flower Garden, and Sunbonnet Sue all hit the height of their fame during the 1920’s and 1930’s.  We’ve already done a deep dive into Sunbonnet Sue, but haven’t yet really touched on Grandmother’s Flower Garden.  To put it in perspective, there were so many DWR and Grandmother’s Flower Garden quilts dominating state and county fairs, a lot of them gave these two quilts their own categories in their shows.  As a matter of fact, one fair in Missouri counted 161 DWR quilts in that quilt category.  Most quilt historians will definitely agree the DWR reached the height of its popularity during the twenties-to-thirties decade and most of the catalogued DWRs fit into those ten years.  Despite this, there are some collectors who believe their quilts are pre-Depression era.  This is perhaps due to the fact that although a time-current DWR pattern was used, the quilt was made out of pre-1920’s fabric (hey, stash is stash…use it up whenever).   Usually, a close look at construction techniques can clear this up – for instance if stars were used instead of four-patches to join the rings, the quilt could very well be pre-1920. 

However, the longer I looked into the DWR, its inception, and its rise in fame, the nagging question kept tickling my mind:  What made it so popular?  All those curves and bias…it’s not an easy quilt.  And you also have to ask, since the quilt was unilaterally made across the United States, how did everyone (pre-internet and Pinterest) learn about the pattern?  Let’s look at the last question first.

We know for a fact the first time the pattern published under the name DWR, was 1928 in Kansas.  Varying Kansas-based publications (primarily newspapers) published the pattern frequently during the ensuing 10 years.   We know other publications picked the pattern up from the mid-west newspapers and the DWR went on to be published in newspapers and magazines up and down east coast and further west.  The pattern was printed in enough publications and so frequently anyone who wanted to obtain the directions and make the quilt was certainly able to do so.

What made it so popular?  I imagine Depression era quilters were no different than we are today – you see a pretty pattern and you want to make it.  And despite the construction challenges the DWR brings to the table, it is a lovely quilt pattern.  Yet the real reason behind its popularity depends on which quilt group you ask – those who either inherited or were given the quilt or those who actually made the quilt.  During the mid-1970’s through the eighties, a nationwide push began for the states to catalogue and index the antique and almost-antique quilts of their citizens.  Various quilt groups and guilds set about this task and were extremely successful.  Part of the intake process (besides photographs) was a questionnaire concerning the history of the quilt – how did you come by it?  Handmade or machine stitched?  Why was this quilt made?  The folks who didn’t make the DWR answered the last question generally in two ways – it was made for warmth or it used up scraps.  Both of these answers are valid, but if the person who made the quilt was present, the answers could be starkly different:  I made it for entertainment or I made it because it was a challenge.  Both of those last answers, at least in my opinion, shows us quilters really haven’t changed all that much.

The more I researched the more I realized another important characteristic about this quilt:  It’s surrounded by more myth than truth.  The first myth surrounds its publication and how it came to be named DWR.  According to Capper’s Weekly (the weekly Kansas publication which published the first DWR pattern), the name was conceived when some unknown man came up with the idea of a double wedding ring ceremony and this gave his wife the idea of a double-ringed quilt. Then in 1932 a brochure was published which connected the DWR to the Civil War.  The publication offered the story of a grandmotherly woman who had made many quilts.  One was particularly special, and she was saving it for a niece’s wedding.  The wedding had been postponed because the groom had been wounded in the war and had been hospitalized for quite a while.  When the wedding date came, the groom had no money for rings, and the niece told her aunt the sad news.  Reportedly the grandmotherly woman said, “My child, I’ll furnish the rings.  You’ll have my favorite quilt, and we will call it the Double Wedding Ring.”

Fascinating stories, but neither are true…even the part which notates the quilt was originally designed in Kansas.  This is the second myth which surrounds the DWR.  The Ladies Art Company in St. Louis also published the pattern in its 1928 catalogue with a 1928 copyright.  So does the DWR claim Kansas or Missouri citizenship?  The fact is we may never know.  Like most of women’s art prior to the Women’s Movement, quilting was relegated a second-class citizenship no matter where it originated.  Apart from patterns printed in newspapers and ribbons awarded at fairs, not much thought or factual preservations was thrown its way. 

However, we can trace back where the concept of the DWR may have begun.  Engravings of what we consider to be this block appeared in fourth century Roman drinking cups.  Gimmel rings, found primarily in England during the 15^th and 16^th centuries also may have contributed to the DWR idea.  Gimmel rings were a type of engagement rings.  The Gimmel ring varies from our 21^st century engagement in this concept — both the man and woman wore one.  Once the wedding occurred, the woman wore both rings.  And as late as the 17^th century, Germanic people who settled in the United States wore the block on their clothing and painted or carved it in their furniture. 

So, we have some idea of where the concept of the DWR came from, but how did this get translated into a quilt block?  Does the DWR have any quilty DNA which can link it to other blocks?  Well…yes…sort of.

A quick glance at the above 19^th century Pickle Dish blocks show where perhaps the first construction idea came from.  Some enterprising quilter probably got tired of making all those triangles and decided squares would be easier.  This would be my theory.  However, if you take a look at the Indian Wedding Ring block below (which was also popular during the 1930’s), it’s easy to see how this quilt block could also lead to the DWR.

  Still, if you look back even further, you find this block:

This is known as the Burr Block or Pine Burr Block.  When placed in a quilt, the effect is very similar to the DWR.  So, if you really want to go all Ancestry.com on the DWR, and consider the Pine Burr a possible quilty DNA donor, you will have to place the quilt’s actual origins in Tennessee, Louisiana, and Texas.  Those states are the first ones we see the Pine Burr block and quilts developed and designed. More than likely as Southerners went West (especially after the Civil War), the Pine Burr block morphed into the Pickle Dish and Indian Wedding Ring and then made the jump to what we know as the DWR. 

One more esoteric fact about the DWR before we leave its history behind:  North Carolina has its own version, and as far as my research can tell, we’re the only state to lay claim to this DWR fact.  Behold the Scuppernong Hull Quilt:

Whether a group of North Carolina quilters took one long look at a Pickle Dish, Indian Wedding Ring, or Pine Burr block and just thought all those blocks or triangles were too much work, we may never know.  They may have decided just to use solid, non-pieced rings cut on the bias instead of employing all that piecing.  However, as a native North Carolinian, I like to think those quilters were inspired by the Scuppernong Hull itself. 

For those of you who have never eaten this delectable fruit, let me explain.  The Scuppernong is a grape with a skin so thick it can’t be chewed up like a green or red grape.  To properly eat one of these, you take a ripe Scuppernong and with your thumb and index finger, squeeze the inside of it out – preferably right into your mouth.  As a child, I spent many pleasant North Carolina summer afternoons doing this very thing.  Scuppernongs make the best jelly and juice.  And very good wine, if you’re so inclined to make some of that.  The discarded hulls look much like the rings in the Scuppernong Hull Quilt.  It was always a good idea to pitch these somewhere pretty quickly, as the sweet juice attracted all kinds of bees and wasps. 

Today we find the DWR quilt still morphing into something new.  While there are still plenty of traditional DWRs still made…

There are lots of patterns which take the original concept and twist it.  Victoria Findlay Wolfe completely deconstructs the “traditional” look of a DWR and replaces it with plays on the negative space, ring construction, and fabric choices. 

Judy Niemeyer has several DWR quilts which toss applique into the quilty equation or replaces the traditional four-patch which joins the rings with stars.

And also gone are the historic calicoes and feed sack prints used.  Today’s DWR quilts have a myriad of background colors and the rings run the gamut from modern prints to batiks. 

The one which is currently under my needle (off and on…I can only work on her for a days at time) has a yellow background and batik squares.  There are templates to help you make the block, as well as paper piecing patterns.  I’m using John Flynn’s method:

It takes more time than paper piecing, but the rings and melons go together effortlessly.

Despite the changing times, fabric, and patterns, the DWR remains one of the most well-loved and challenging quilts to make.  If you’re a true beginner quilter-sewer, this quilt isn’t for you…give yourself a year or two to gain some experience.  But if you feel as if you’re quilting mojo is stuck in a rut, you may want to give the DWR a try.  If all that bias and those rings make you feel a little iffy about the process, make a small one.  There is no rule which says all quilts have to fit on a bed!

Until next week, Quilt On!

Love and Stitches,

Sherri and Sam

Okay, last blog about machine quilting, I promise…

The last basting method I want to discuss is thread basting.  In the past … in the days before nifty ideas like using safety pins or the invention of spray adhesives, everyone thread basted.  And it works pretty much the same way it sounds – you baste the sandwich layers together with thread.  You begin much the same way as if you’re pin basting.  You lay your back out and tape it down, then add the batt, and then your top.  However, this is where the similarities end.  At this point, you’ll need a sharp needle (a long one works best), a spoon, and some thread.  Personally, I use hand quilting thread.  Working from the center out, I stitch from the middle out to form a vertical line from the top of the quilt to the bottom.  Then I stitch another line across the middle.  My stitches range from 1- to 1 ½-inches in length and when my fingers begin to get sore, I use the spoon to help me push the needle from the quilt back to the quilt top.  Be aware whatever surface you use may get scratched from the needle.  If the quilt is larger than a wall hanging, you may opt to continue to stitch horizontal and vertical rows across the quilt sandwich to form a grid. 

I have never thread basted anything larger than a wall hanging.

And with the small quilts, instead of a grid, I “spider web” the thread basting.  I stitch my vertical and horizonal lines and then stitch diagonal from corner to corner, adding more diagonal lines as needed.  Just like with pin basting, the idea is to keep all three layers together, so you may need to have your stitch lines no more than 3-inches apart and certainly no more space between the stitch lines than the width of your hand. 

I only use thread basting if I’m hand quilting a quilt and the quilt sandwich is in a hoop.

Pins would only get in the way of a hoop and any of the fusible basting methods are hard to push and pull a needle through.  I remove the basting stitches as I quilt.  Let me also add this helpful hint: If you really like thread basting but don’t want to go through the process by hand, quite often a long arm quilter can thread baste the quilt for you. This can be a huge times-saver if there’s a big quilt involved.

Now, as promised last week, we’ll cover moving the quilt through the harp, practice, posture, speed, finishing, and stress.

Moving the Quilt through the Harp

To refresh your memory on terminology, this is the harp of a domestic sewing machine:

Big Red has a large harp, plus the lady is on the hefty side (she weighs a bit), and she has an extension table.  This makes her ideal for free motion quilting.  However, even with the extension table, it can be a challenge to move the bulk of a quilt through the harp.  Some quilters “puddle” their quilt:

Some roll it up:

Try both ways to see which one works best for you, especially if you have a standard harp width.   Personally, I’m a “puddler.”  If your sewing machine is a portable or simply doesn’t weigh a lot, you may find the machine wants to move out of place when you shift your quilt.  Some  rubberized shelf lining placed under the machine may help keep it from moving.  

Successful domestic machine quilting begins with the batting.  Whether or not you have a large harp, the space between your needle mount and the right side of the machine is limited.  This size limitation must be taken into consideration when you chose your batt.  A super-fluffy batt would just add more bulk and make it difficult to maneuver the quilt as well as get it under your quilting or walking foot.  A thin batt works best.  I use either a cotton batt or 80/20. 

A smooth, slick surface is also pretty important.  You want to be able to move your quilt sandwich without it getting caught or have any drag.  There are a couple of ways you can make this happen.  Some domestic machine quilters use this:

Silicon spray.  Let me be perfectly clear at this point:  I have never used this.  I understand from other quilters who have that this is a wonderful product.  However, Big Red is highly computerized, and I don’t even used compressed air to clean her because I’m afraid moisture will from the spray can will find its way into the nooks and crannies of her inner works.  If you have a basic sewing machine, this product may work fine.  If you have a sensitive machine like mine, I might avoid it.

However, I do use this: 

This is the Supreme Slider, and it fits over your needle plate and feed dogs:

It has a tacky back, so it sticks to your machine surface (although as mine has aged, I’ve used a piece of painter’s tape here and there).  The front is smooth and slick, making a perfect surface for you to use to quilt your quilt.  This product comes in two sizes (medium and large-ish).  What I like best about this product is it allows you to still keep your feed dogs up as you free motion because the Slider covers them.  This isn’t such a big issue for me now, but when I began to free motion quilt, I was really antsy about lowering my feed dogs.  I had a hard time getting used to the feeling of not having the dogs engaged.  To be able to keep them up (at least for a few days) was extremely helpful.  

Practice

If I could change one thing about how I was taught to quilt, it would be this:  Someone needed to pull me aside and make me start quilting my own quilts way earlier in my quilt journey.  My first quilt teacher hand quilted everything, and this was the way I was taught.  However, I worked, had two small kids, and had a husband who worked out of town.  The thought of hand quilting my tops was frustrating because I didn’t have the time.  Then I learned I could pay someone to quilt my quilts and that’s how I operated for years.  So, when I finally bit the bullet and decided to learn how to quilt my own quilts, I was met with this equally frustrating realization:  I had to practice.

This doesn’t sound like a bad thing, right?  After all, practice makes perfect.  But if your quilting time is limited and you’re already good at applique and piecing, the thought of starting over in some quilty area from scratch can be daunting and, well… frustrating.  If I had been taught (or urged to learn) how to take care of this step at an earlier point, I probably wouldn’t have fought it so hard.  Or have taken so long to learn it. 

However…no matter where you start or how you start, you’ll have to practice.  When you free motion, the dogs are dropped, and you are in control of your stitch length.  It takes a bit to learn how to keep this mostly consistent.  I suggest two plans of attack for your practice strategy.  For both, you’ll need to make some quilt sandwiches.  I made a stack of sandwiches out of the same batting, no larger than 8-inches square.  I did this because I knew anything much larger would be intimidating.  I was determined to at least practice every other day, so this size square was “doable” for me.  And if you have any orphan or left-over quilt blocks, this is a great place to use them.  For the first plan of practice attack, unthread your machine and lower your feed dogs.  Then move the sandwich back and forth and up and down to get used to the feel of not having the dogs engaged and to determine if you have more control moving the sandwich up and down or side to side. For the second plan of practice attack, thread your machine and repeat daily for a couple of weeks.  You may want to start by free motioning your name.  Remember, over half the battle with learning how to free motion is muscle memory.  You’ve been writing your name for years. 

I want to add at this point, every sewing machine is different.  Understand you’ll have to play with the tension to get the stitches to look like this:

And not this:

Or this:

Each sewing machine comes with its own set of feet.  Typically, most come with a darning foot, which is what the majority of quilter use when they’re learning to free motion.  Big Red came with these:

Which really gave me a good variety to start out with.  Later I purchased this:

A ruler foot.  Now, thanks to technology, most domestic machines can perform ruler work just like long arms can.  If you’re interested in that I strongly suggest you point your web browser to Westalee Rulers or Angela Walters.  In my opinion, they’re the best in this field.

As you begin to free motion, there are a couple of websites which will prove to be extremely helpful, informal, and encouraging.  The Midnight Quilter with Angela Walters is fabulous.  She is wonderfully entertaining as well as so informative and helpful. She has all her videos on YouTube. Leah Day (Leahday.com) is just as informative and helpful.  Both of these women are excellent free motion quilting teachers.  And personally, I think learning free motion quilting via video is so much easier than trying to learn it through a book. 

Posture

I went over sewing posture in a lot of detail in this blog: https://sherriquiltsalot.com/2020/12/09/my-space/

There really isn’t a lot of difference between sewing posture and quilting posture.  The one item which changes is our hands. When you free motion, your hands are positioned similar to this:

What you don’t want to do is let your hands get too far ahead of your quilting area (so you’re moving your sandwich with your elbows) or remain too far behind.  They both should remain parallel to the area you’re quilting.

Speed

Speed – no matter how slow or how fast you move through the quilting process – is a very personal thing.  Some quilters feel they have more control moving a bit slower and others seem to be true speed demons.  Much of this has to do with experience.  The more you machine quilt, the more you become aware what is your most comfortable pace.  And, if you’re like most of us, certain types of quilting work better at a slower rate and the simple designs allow you to move quicker. 

What I really, really don’t want you to do is compare your speed to how quickly the domestic machine quilters are moving on their YouTube channels. I’ll let you in on a little secret about that – most of those videos are sped up.  Why?  Well, the quilting process takes time and to have a video of someone spending long minutes quilting would be…well… boring.  So, many of these videos are fast-forwarded during the quilting process when they’re edited.  Sometimes this effect is obvious and other times it’s not.  Just don’t be intimidated into thinking, “I’m not a great quilter because I can’t stitch that fast.”  Chances are, the quilter in the video isn’t quilting that fast in real-life, either. 

Eyes on the Finish Line

I love the quilting process.  I mean, I really love just about everything concerning making a quilt.  I’m not crazy about cutting the top out, but I’d still rather be doing that than say….laundry.

Joking aside, I love adding the texture quilting brings to a quilt.  For me, the piecing or applique (or both) can be picture-perfect, but it’s the quilting which adds the soul and personality to a top.  The quilting stitches can add anything from a touch of whimsey to a formal atmosphere to a quilt sandwich.  Truthfully, I’m always kind of sad to see the quilting process end.  However, I also realize not every quilter enjoys this as much as I do.  For those of you, I offer a couple of suggestions.  First, I still think you should learn to quilt your own tops, but you may only want to quilt those quilts which won’t require a great deal of “fancy” work.  You may want to stick to cuddle quilts, play quilts, or those quilts on the smaller size range.  Let your checkbook quilt the larger quilts or the ones which require a bit more workmanship than you care to get into.  Second, remember once the quilting is done, all that’s left is the binding.  You’re nearly finished with your quilt!  And sometimes that though is enough to spur you on to the finish line.

Stress

I’m really talking about two kinds of stress at this point.  The first is the kind you carry in your shoulders, down your arms, and to your hands as you’re hunched over the sewing machine, trying to get all those stitches in your quilt just right.  To begin with, don’t hunch.  Keep your posture correct.  However, if you find yourself putting the death grip on your quilt, let me offer this suggestion:  Relax your hands and try moving the quilt with only your fingertips.  It’s very, very difficult to keep tension in your arms and shoulders when only the fingertips are used to move the quilt.

The second kind of stress is what I call “regular” stress – the pressure you put on yourself as you try to make sure all your stitches are the same length, and the tension is perfectly balanced.  You know… the kind of stress carried when you want everything about your quilt to be perfect.  Let me offer this piece of advice:

Honey, no one has ever made a perfect quilt.

Few quilters have come close, but most of us have learned how to emphasize our strengths, minimize our weakness, and how to hide our mistakes.  This kind of stress can suck the joy out of everything – including quilting – and that’s not why we quilt.  We quilt to be creative, make something beautiful, and to relax.  Don’t let the stress of perfection ruin your quilting journey.  I learned a long time ago to give it my best, but finished is so much better than perfect.

Until Next Week, Quilt On!

Love and Stitches,

Sherri and Sam

Okay…still talking about quilt sandwiches…this has taken a lot longer than I anticipated, but I think there’s a lot of good information in these blogs.  I had lots of questions when I put together my first quilt sandwich and didn’t know where to get them answered.  Everything I read simply told me to layer the backing, batting, and top together.  No one ever told me I needed tape.  No one ever explained the differences in batting.  No one ever told me how to keep the three layers together.  I spent frustrating weeks simply trying to get the sandwich to stay together while I sewed a simple crosshatch design over the top.  And come to think of it, no one ever told me a walking foot would have made the quilting process easier.

I really don’t want that for you folks.  It’s terribly frustrating.

In today’s blog, we’ll discuss prepping the three layers and some of the different methods used to hold them together.  Again, this process is one you go through if you plan on quilting your quilt on a regular sewing machine – whether you’re doing the quilting or someone else is.  If you plan on long arming the quilt, or having someone else long arm it, the process is somewhat different.  I wrote a blog about it and it’s here: https://sherriquiltsalot.com/2019/11/27/the-demise-of-loretta-and-adding-soul-to-your-quilt/

Baby Got Back

We’ve briefly touched on the quilt back earlier, so I won’t repeat myself.  If you haven’t read the first blog in this series, I suggest you go back and read it if you have questions.  Once you’ve either pieced your back or have purchased the wide quilt backing fabric, you’ll need to press it to make sure it’s a smooth and wrinkle-free as it can be.  I realize some folks can make a quilt sandwich on a small surface, but I’m not one of those people.  I’m explaining how I work the process.

Once the back is smooth, lay it out with the wrong side up on a surface.  Using masking or painter’s tape, tape the top, bottom, and sides down so that the back does not even think about moving.  Remember, you’ll be adding the batting and the top, so you don’t want the back to shift at all.  And one more word about the taping process.  You simply want to hold the back firmly in one place, you don’t want to stretch it.  At some point, you’ll remove the tape and the last thing you want to happen is for the back to shrink back to its normal size.  Lay the back out, smooth out any wrinkles, bumps, or folds with your hands, and tape it down.  That’s all you need to do.

The Right Stuff in the Middle Makes a Good Sandwich

I’ve written entire blogs on batting.  Likewise, I’ve spent a lot of money on batting.  I can tell you without hesitation, the right kind of batting in the middle makes a huge difference in the appearance of your quilt.  So, I want to give you two pieces of advice:

1.  Make sure you’ve chosen the right kind of batting for the appearance you want.
2. Don’t buy cheap batting.  Cheap batting is like cheap shoes – good for a short while, then you deeply regret it. 

Make sure all the wrinkles and fold lines are out of the batt and read the directions which came with it to make sure you have the correct side of the batt against the backing fabric.  With some batts (depending on how they were finished) it doesn’t matter.  If they were needle punched or have a scrim, it will.   Center the batt on the backing.

The Top

The last part of the sandwich is the top – the item you’ve spent so much loving time and care on.  Give the wrong side of the top another look over to be sure you haven’t missed any stray threads and then center it (right side up) on the batting.  Also be careful to make sure there is adequate backing and batting margins on all four sides.  Smooth out any lingering wrinkles.

Now that the sandwich is made, we have to look at some of the different methods quilters use to hold the sandwich together.  If we were to pick the sandwich up as it is right now, the three layers would shift, and we’d have a hot mess on our hands.  First, let me tell you there is no one absolute best way to keep the batting, backing, and top together.  Like most quilty subjects, it’s whatever technique works best for you and what you’re most comfortable with and what gives you the best results.  Truthfully, I use different techniques for different sized quilts.  This part of the blog will highlight the most well-known methods of adhering the three layers together.  I’ll also let you know the pros and cons of each and the ones I like and the ones I’m not so crazy about.  What you don’t want to do is move your quilt before all three layers are joined together. 

Pin Basting

For this method, you’ll need:

Your Quilt Sandwich

Safety Pins – the curved kind made for quilters are easier to use than the standard safety pins

A Long Ruler or Yardstick

(Optional) Kwik Clip

Beginning at the center of the quilt, start inserting the safety pins.  I like to make sure I have pins at seam intersections and at the top of points.  You’ll want to have a pin every three inches or so, but certainly have them no further apart than the width of your hand.  It’s really tempting to have bigger spaces between the pins, but don’t go down that path.  The primary purpose of any type of quilt basting is to keep all three layers together in such a manner they don’t shift.  Larger spaces between pins allow for the possibility of shifting.  Some quilters place their pins on the bias, claiming this angled position holds the quilt sandwich better.  Whatever you do, stagger the pins (don’t have them in neat rows and columns like chairs in a classroom).  As you insert the pins, the quilt top will wrinkle a bit.  Use the long ruler to smooth it out as you go. 

Couple of words of advice at this point.

1.  Store your pins open.  This way you don’t have to stop and open each pin before you insert it in your quilt top.  I store my basting pins open in a jar and when I’m ready to pin baste, I simply sprinkle  some on the quilt top so I can grab them from whatever angle I’m working at and keep pinning.
2. Close all your pins once you’re completely through pinning.  This helps to keep wrinkling and shifting to a minimum.  If your sandwich isn’t too large, it’s easy to simply close the pins with your fingers.  But if it’s a large quilt, all that closing of the pins can lead to sore fingers.  That’s where the Kwick Klip comes in – use it to close the pins instead of your fingers.  Some quilters have told me a teaspoon works just as good, but I’ve never been too successful with the spoon method.
3. There are also these on the quilt market:

These are small bits of foam (you could slice up a pool noodle instead of purchasing them) which fit over the pointed end of a quilting pin.  Some quilters use the long straight pins to pin their quilt and push the foam piece over the end of the pin to hold it in the quilt.  I’ve tried it.  I give this method one out of five stars.  The foam tends to fall off as soon as you move the quilt.

Pros – This is a really secure way to baste a quilt.  The three layers tend to stay together well, and once you’ve purchased the pins and perhaps a Kwik Klip, you’re set (I’m assuming you already have a long ruler).  And it’s not as time consuming as thread basting a quilt.  This method also works well if you’re hand quilting on a frame.

Cons – It does take longer than spray or powder basting, but it doesn’t make nearly as big of a mess as those two methods can.  Two biggest drawbacks are sore fingers and having to remember to remove the pins as your quilting. 

I like this method and use it on wall hanging sized quilts and smaller. 

Fuse Basting Methods

These methods offer the fastest ways to baste, and they hold the sandwich together pretty well.  I’ve used three fuse basting methods:  spray, powder, and fusible batting.  We’ll take a quick look at all three.

          Spray Basting:  This method uses a spray glue which temporarily holds the three layers together until you can get them quilted.  The glue is temporary and does wash out.  Some brands of glue work better than others.  My personal favorite is 505 Spray and Fix Temporary Fabric Adhesive.  

          Fusible Powder Basting:  This is a recent addition to the fusible options methods.  You simply sprinkle the powder between each of the sandwich layers and press.  The heat of the iron activates the bonding agent, so the quilt sandwich is temporarily fused together.

          Fusible Batting:  Usually fusible batting is an 80/20 cotton batt which has been treated with a fusing agent.  You layer your sandwich per usual and then use an iron to activate the bonding agent.  Just like the powder and spray, the bond is temporary. 

I think it’s important to remember with all three types of fuse basting, the bond is temporary.  If you use any of these methods and then there’s a time lapse between creating the sandwich and quilting it, the bond may not have held.  I have no idea how long you can leave the fused sandwich together for the powder and the batting, but I’ve come back to a spray-fused quilt three years later don’t judge me and it was still together.  Keep in mind it was draped over a quilt rack and not manhandled or folded during the wait period.  

Each of the three has its good points as well as a few drawbacks.  The spray basting method is certainly the most flexible of the three.  Since it is a spray and doesn’t need any type of heat to activate the bonding, you can use this method nearly anywhere, including against a wall – simply tape your back to the wall, spray it, add your batt, spray the batt, and then add your top.  So, if you don’t have a horizontal flat surface to work with, with the spray baste you can work with a vertical flat surface.  However, since it is a spray, the adhesive may land on surfaces other than your quilt layers.  It’s easy to avoid this by simply covering the surface with paper or an old sheet (my favorite – afterwards you throw it in the washer).  On a day when there’s no wind or rain, you can use this outside.  It is worth mentioning some of the spray bastes will leave a sticky residue on your needle and it’s important to make sure the nozzle has not become plugged if it’s been a while since you’ve used it.  Spray basting is my favorite way to baste anything larger than a twin-sized quilt.  However, I don’t like it in my sandwich if I plan to hand quilt.  The spray seems to make the sandwich too stiff to needle easily.

The powder fusible is a more controllable than the spray because you sprinkle the surface with it – most of the powder will hit the target.  The powder which goes off course a little can easily be swept up.  It won’t make your floor or table sticky unless it comes in contact with heat.  Since it is a powder, only a horizontal surface will work with this method.  However, sandwiching your quilt works a bit differently with the powder.  You lay your batt out (don’t tape it down), and then put your back on top of the batt.  Then you press the quilt back and the heat from the iron activates the bonding agent in the powder.  Then you flip your quilt and repeat the process with the top.   I’ve found the powder has about the same fusing power as a spray.  I’ve also found a cordless iron is a wonderful tool to have to use with this method.  The biggest drawback for me with the fusible power is I find it difficult to use on larger quilts – they’re harder to flip.  Personally, I love this method on smaller quilts and wall hangings.

Finally, let’s get into the details of fusible batting.  This is my least favorite fusible.  I’ve found it doesn’t hold the sandwich layers together as well as the spray baste or fusible powder.  I’ve had my quilt sandwich shift and come apart as I’ve maneuvered it under my needle.  Since most fusible battings come prepackaged in a bag, the first step is to lay the batt out and let the wrinkles and folds relax a bit.  Here’s where my first issue with fusible batting comes into play:  the wrinkles never seem to really completely relax, which means when you use an iron to activate the bonding agent, it’s easy to get wrinkles in your quilt sandwich – especially if you’re using this type of batt on a large quilt.  The fusing process for the batt is exactly the same one you use for the fusible powder:  Lay the batt out, put the back on top of the batt, press the backing, flip, lay the top on the batt, press the top.  The pressing has to be handled a bit more carefully.  You must hold the iron in one place several seconds before moving to the next spot.  As I mentioned before, this is my least favorite fusible for any quilts larger than a medium-sized wall hanging.  However, for small quilts and bags, the fusible batting is awesome. 

We still have six concepts left to cover:

1.  Moving the Quilt Through the Harp
2. Practice
3. Posture
4. Speed
5. The Finish Line
6. Stress

Plus I want to cover thread basting — a basting technique which doesn’t seem to be used much any longer, but under certain circumstances, it’s the best way to baste a quilt. But this blog is already pretty long.  So, we’ll have one more blog on machine quilting before I move onto another topic.  I realize I’ve probably gone above and beyond in details, but this is info I really, really wish someone would have told me before I sat down back in 1987 to machine quilt my first quilt.

Until next week, Quilt On!

Love and Stitches,

Sherri and Sam

Okay… the above quote deals with an actual sandwich – the kind with bread, cheese, meat, tomatoes, etc.  However, I do think the same idea holds true for a quilt sandwich.  You want the best “ingredients” you have — a wonderful top, the type of batting needed, and a great back.  As promised, this blog will deal with the quilt sandwich, how to prepare it, and several of the different ways you can put it together. 

Let’s take a look at the center of attention, the quilt top.  I’ve mentioned you should press and starch it and clip any long threads as well as remove any loose ones.  What you need to decide now is how are you going to quilt it?  I admit, when I first began quilting on Big Red, I really did not plan this step out well.  My primary goal was getting my quilt sandwich together and then start quilting.  This was not a good idea – in soo, soooo many ways.  My quilting was never consistent, and I had a lot of stops and starts (knotting the thread and re-starting in a different place).   Ideally, you want to quilt as long as you can without breaking the thread.  Some quilting designs will run off the edge of the quilt, so this isn’t an issue, but other times you’ll have to stitch over some areas to get to your next starting point.  This is why it’s important to plan your quilting designs.  It’s so critical I want to spend the next several paragraphs discussing it. 

At this point, I wish I could spout off some magical formula on how to quilt any quilt – what works best on HSTs, or flying geese, or square-in-a-squares.  However, I can’t, because such a formula doesn’t exist.  What I can tell you is that the longer you quilt your own quilts, a couple of facts will emerge.  First, you’ll find your favorite way to quilt certain units.  Let’s take a look a HSTs, since they’re a common block unit.  My favorite way of quilting these units is this:

Nine times out of ten, if I’m quilting HSTs on a standard, domestic sewing machine or a long arm, this is my go-to quilting design.  It works its way around the block, allowing me to emerge at any point of the square and continue to my next design.  It also leaves an open area.  If the HST is large-ish, I can fill in the open area with pebbles or close meanders.  This design leaves a lot of room for variations.    This is certainly not the only quilting design for HSTs, but it’s my personal favorite.  How did I discover the design? 

First, I looked at a lot of quilts – both in person and on the internet.  Truthfully, the best way to determine what designs you like and which ones work best for you is to study quilts which have already been quilted.  And if you’re machine quilting your quilts, you need to study quilts that are machine quilted by either a long arm or a domestic machine.  I look at quilts in Pinterest and Google.  I spend about an hour a week (not all at once, but here and there) looking at quilts.  The ones which really catch my eye are saved either in a file on my phone or computer or on my Pinterest boards.  These are the ones I refer to when I’m considering my quilting designs. 

Second, the more you machine quilt, you quickly realize which quilting designs become your “go to” ones for certain units, like my favorite design for HSTs.  This realization doesn’t happen overnight, but over a period of months or even years.  The more you quilt, the more you recognize which designs you do best as well as which ones allow you ease of travel (moving from one block or one design to the next).  There is no formula for this except practice.  

Regardless of whether you’re using your favorite quilting design or are trying out something new, it’s rare that any quilter can begin the quilting process without making some kind of reference point on their quilts.  This is called “marking the quilt.”  Truthfully, I do this more when I quilt on Big Red than on LeeAnne.  With LeeAnne I have the luxury of seeing the entire quilt top spread out on the rollers.  With Big Red, I’m only seeing a section at a time and may not have a visual reference point of how I plan to get from one point to the next.  If I have the surface marked, it’s like having a road map spread out in front of me.  I just follow the blue line…

My favorite marking tool for quilt tops is a washable marker.  This means all  the ink disappears when you rinse the quilt in cold water.  I don’t use Frixion on the quilt top, because those markings can come back if the quilt is subject to cold temperatures.  I don’t use a pencil because the marking may not wash completely out.  A washable blue marker has served me well for quilting either on my sewing machine or my long arm.  When shopping for such a marker, just be sure the directions plainly state the markings can be removed by cold water.  On a couple of occasions, I’ve grabbed a blue marking pen, assuming the ink will disappear with water only to discover a few days later it was an air soluble eraser and all my marks had disappeared! Not a good day. 

After you have the correct marking tool, you must decide if you want to mark you top in great detail, use a grid, dot-to-dot markings, or use stencils.  I can explain how I go about this process, but again, what works for me may not work for you.  However, the more you quilt, the more you’ll clearly see what the most effective way for you is.

1.  Detail Markups

This type of marking means you’re literally drawing out every line you’ll quilt.    

I find this type of markup extremely helpful if I’m quilting different designs in each block, like the picture above.  I tend to do this with smaller sampler quilts.  I figure if I go to the trouble of piecing different blocks, each block should have its own different “quilting personality.”  And frankly to do the same type of quilting designs over differently pieced blocks can actually detract from the beauty of the quilt (in my opinion).  The detailed marking process can also help you as you plan how your needle will travel across the quilt – you can strategize how you will quilt from one design to another without breaking the thread.  At times, you’ll have to backtrack (quilt over some previous stitches), but you always want that to be as short of a trek as possible.  Beginner quilters may find detail markups the easiest way to get started – there’s a line to follow.

•   Grid Markings

This particular type of quilting strategy is called “Quilting on the Grid.”  This term can have two definitions.  The first is to stitch straight lines to form a grid pattern over the whole surface.

This is not free motion quilting, but straight lines which are quilted by hand, or by using a walking foot on the machine, which automatically gives an even stitch length. Examples of this type of grid quilting are crosshatch, dropped diamonds, or vertical and horizontal lines across the top of the quilt. 

The other type of quilting on the grid deals with lines, but instead of quilting the straight lines on your top, you draw them out, and then use the grid as a base to execute your quilting:

This type of grid quilting is a lot of fun and has endless possibilities.  If you want to try this, or want more information on it, The Grid Design Workbook by Cindy Seitz-Krug is a great reference. 

•  Dot-to-Dot

Some of you may be familiar with this term through the wonderful Angela Walters.  This type of marking is either A) For the more experienced quilter who doesn’t necessarily need a lot of reference points or markings to quilt, or B) the quilter who is more interested in echoing and emphasizing the existing shapes in the piecing.  Instead of making lots of lines or grid marks on the quilt, you simply make a series of dots which serves as your reference points. Then you join the dots with stitching (kind of like those dot-to-dot puzzle books we had when we were kids). To do this on a long arm, you use a ruler for designs with lots of straight lines.  For straight line quilting on a standard sewing machine, you use a walking foot.  The quilter uses the block units as a reference to start and stop.  For more information on this type of marking, go to YouTube and put Angela Walters name in the search bar.  She has several videos on this.  Cheryl Barnes also has an excellent book, Dot-to-Dot Quilting.

•  Stencils

Whenever anyone mentions quilting stencils, I think of these:

I have a drawer full of them.  I’ve been given stacks of these once someone finds out I’m a quilter (“You quilt? My mother was a quilter!  Surely you can use these!”) or I’m a sucker who can’t pass them up at estate sales/yard sales because God forbid any of our quilting heritage end up in a landfill.  If you have any of stencils like the ones in the picture, be aware this particular type of stencil is usually for hand quilting.  And yes, there can be some differences between stencils designed for machine quilting and those created for hand quilting and it’s important to recognize the disparities before you set your heart on a stencil which may not work well for machine quilting.  The best place to start explaining the differences is with some pictures.

If you take a close look at these two stencils, the first idea which pops up is the stencil on top is more complex than the stencil on the bottom.  The more complex stencil is intended for hand quilting.  The complexity of the pattern means the hand quilter would have to “travel” the needle  (push it through the batting only, not allowing the tip of the needle to puncture the quilt top or backing), in order for it to come up at another point to continue quilting.  All of these starts and stops would be harder, but not impossible, to undertake with machine quilting.  There would be a great deal of back tracking involved – so much to the point, I’d just find another quilting design I liked equally as well.

However, the stencil on the bottom is perfect for machine quilting.  The less complex design means you could quilt long lines without back tracking. 

The primary issue to remember is this:  Make sure the stencil fits the space you need.  You don’t want it too large or too small.  It should fit well with a bit of margin around the design.  For this reason, don’t be afraid to use parts of the stencil instead of the whole design.  Don’t worry if you have to extend the design by marking the stencil twice.  There are usually some type of registration marks on the stencil which will help you line everything up nicely. 

Stencils can be marked with chalk, a water-soluble maker, Quilt Pounce, graphite pencil or Hera Marker.  Again, I hesitate to use  a Frixion pen for marking my quilts.  Even though the ink disappears when it’s ironed, I’m always afraid the marks will come back.  There are gaps on stencils, but if you want you can fill those in before you start quilting. 

Quilting with stencils have at least three great benefits.  First, you can take the stencil, some paper, and a pencil and practice drawing the design several times before you actually begin free motion quilting it.  Before you poo-poo this as a waste of time, it’s important to understand that free motion quilting on either a sewing machine or long arm involves a lot of muscle memory.  The more you do it, the more the muscles in your arms, hands, and fingers remember how to do it.  As a matter of fact, the more you doodle any design you want to free motion, the better.  Feathers, pebbles, meanders – it doesn’t matter.  The more you put your body through the paces of drawing the design, the more it will remember how to correctly do it when it’s the actual quilt sandwich you’re working with. 

The second benefit is stencils are a great starting place.  You have all the marking done quickly and easily.  This frees your mind up to think about any fillers you may want to add to make the quilting a bit denser.  And the last one is this:  You can wait to mark your quilt with stencils after you make your quilt sandwich. 

However, since we now can perform ruler work on most domestic machines, as well as even work with pantographs (more on this in a later blog), it’s getting harder and harder to find stencils – at least really good ones in a variety of designs.  If you want to try quilting with stencils, I suggest you try this website:  https://www.quiltingstencils.com/.  This small business has a huge variety of stencils and marking tools at very reasonable prices.

As much as I wanted to and planned on discussing how to make a great quilt sandwich, I got into a lot more detail about marking your quilt than I thought I would.  I promise we will cover the quilt sandwich topic next week.

Lastly, an update on my brother, Eric.  He finished radiation and has begun infusions with a drug which will strengthen his bones for the upcoming treatment. He did get a second opinion from another Multiple Myeloma specialist at the UNC Hospital System.  There were really no surprises and the specialist pretty much echoed what his doctor at Duke Hospital told him – except for a couple of things.  Another consult with the doctor at Duke and they’ve come up with a plan which all parties feel will be the best in order to treat and cure this disease.  Chemo will begin April 12.  Since Eric does not live in Durham (where Duke is located), they are networking with the cancer specialist at local hospital – something they’ve done in the past with outstanding success.  This means instead of a 30-minute drive from his home, it’s only five minutes.  I feel so blessed that he and I live in the area of North Carolina we do.  We have three great teaching hospital systems literally right in our backyard (UNC, Duke, and Wake Forest).  God is good.  Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.  Chemo will continue for several, several weeks before the stem cell transplant.

Love and Stitches,

Sherri and Sam

Okay, confession time.  It’s been a year since COVID slowed us all down.  How many quilt tops did you make? 

Next question:  How many quilt tops have you quilted? 

If the second number is significantly smaller than the first number, this blog series is for you.  For the next several weeks I want to focus on the quilting process with the domestic sewing machine.  Yes, I do have a long arm, but I’m one of those long armers who doesn’t like to off-load one quilt before it’s complete.  For this reason, my small quilts are generally still quilted on Big Red while the larger quilts stay on LeighAnne. However, it wasn’t always this way.  For years, I was a “topper.”  I enjoyed the piecing and appliqueing process and quilted with my checkbook (paid someone else to quilt my quilts for me).  Nothing wrong with this, but if you’re a prolific topper, it can get expensive.  You may want to save the checkbook quilting for large quilts but get comfortable quilting the small quilts on your domestic machine.

And I’ll let you in on a little secret:  For years, the thought of quilting my own quilts scared me to death.  Drop the feed dogs and keep sewing?  I didn’t think I could do it.  But I persisted in learning the process and now, while I’m by no means an expert, I do pretty well.  What’s more, I enjoy the process.  Adding all that extra texture to a quilt top is just so much fun and is so addictive.  So, for the next couple of blogs, we’re putting the spotlight on quilting with the domestic machine.  I’m not a professional domestic-machine-quilter, but I want to share with you what I’ve learned and add lots of links and references for you to have at your fingertips.  And for a point of reference, when I mention quilting in these blogs, keep in mind I’m referring to the actual quilting (joining the back, batting, and top together) and performing the process on a standard domestic sewing machine (not a mid-arm or long-arm, although some of these steps you’ll go through no matter how you quilt your quilt). 

When we think about quilting on a regular sewing machine, there are eight general concepts to keep in mind:

1.  The Quilt Sandwich
2. Planning the Quilt Pattern
3. Moving the Quilt Through the Harp
4. Practice
5. Posture
6. Speed
7. The Finish Line
8. Stress

Hold the Pickle, Hold the Lettuce

This blog, and maybe most of the second blog of the series, will focus on the quilt sandwich, because herein lies a lot of the success or a lot of the problems in the quilting process.    It’s super, super easy to rush the sandwich-making.  I mean, you’ve spent months (and is some cases, years) making the top.  A big part of you is DONE.  You really want to get the quilting over with, get the thing bound, and put on your bed, wall or in someone else’s hands as a gift.  I get it.  I do.  Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.  But putting together a good quilt sandwich is pretty darn important. So, we need to go through the steps.  And the first step is making sure you have everything you need.

1.  Ironed and starched quilt top
2. Batting – Make sure you have the kind you need for the appearance you want.  I’m placing the link to a blog I wrote about batting here: https://sherriquiltsalot.com/2020/01/29/this-is-the-batt-the-whole-batt-and-nothing-but-the-batt/
3. Backing – Remember that backing fabric shrinks disproportionally to other quilting cottons – as much as eight percent.  You may want to prewash your quilt backing fabric, if you’re using this material instead of piecing your back from regular quilting fabric. Just for reference, here’s the link to my blog on quilt backs: https://sherriquiltsalot.com/2018/06/20/backs-for-the-quilting-groove/
4. Sharp scissors
5. Something to keep you quilt sandwich together as you quilt it.  These options will be discussed a little later. 
6. A place to layout your quilt
7. Masking tape
8. Quilting gloves – These are pretty important.  Trust me.

Appearance Counts

Since this whole process is about enhancing the quilt top with some wonderful, quilty texture, let’s park it here for a paragraph or two and discuss why it’s so important to make sure the top is ready to be quilted.  You’ve spent weeks, months, maybe even years piecing and/or appliqueing the top.  You’ve given it the utmost care.  In order for the quilting to enhance the work you’ve already put into the top, it’s critical you flip your quilt over and take a careful look at the wrong side of the top. Clip any long threads and remove any other loose ones which are hanging on for the ride.  If you don’t, folks may actually be able to see these through the fabric once you have the quilt together and quilted.  Next, iron the back of the quilt, making sure seams have been pressed to one side (as much as possible) and everything is neat and tidy.  Press the front of the top with spray starch or Best Press (whichever is your preference).  Then set it aside while we talk about your batting.

Gotta Have a Flat Batt

Batting is sold either by the yard, by the roll, or in packages.  Generally, if you’ve purchased it by the yard or are rolling it off a bolt you purchased, wrinkles and creases are minimal.  Packaged batting has more fold marks.  It’s important to get as many of these out of your batting as you can before making your sandwich.  I don’t recommend pressing your entire batting for a couple of reasons.  First, batting is thin and the push and pull of pressing and then moving the batting can make thinner spots or even punch a hole in it.  I also don’t recommend hanging the batting in the bathroom and running the hot water so the steam can relax the creases – batting will hold that moisture for a while.  What I do suggest is unfolding the batting and letting it lie somewhere for several hours and let the wrinkles relax.  My favorite place to do this is on a spare bed.  After a day or two, I can take my portable iron (dry, no steam) and carefully press any spots where the creases prove to be extremely stubborn, and I can do this while it’s still on the bed. 

Stuck in the Middle with You

I’ve written pretty extensively about backings in past blogs, so if you have questions about how to piece a backing, I suggest you look at those (the links are above).  What is important – no matter if you’ve purchased wide backing fabric or are piecing your back – is make sure both the batting and backing are several inches larger than your top.  When you quilt your sandwich, it will shrink a bit.  Allowing for several inches of backing and batting on all the the sides will ensure you can trim all three sandwich layers down to size.  If a domestic sewing machine will be doing the quilting, two-to-three inches on all sides will be enough.  If a long arm will be used, generally you’ll need a more generous border – about six inches on all four sides.  This is due to the fact most long arm artists secure the sides of the quilt with grips and those clamps will need something to fasten to, yet still be far enough away from the quilt top they don’t interfere with the quilting process. 

The sharp scissors come in to use if the batting and backing are too large.  While you want to make sure the batting and backing are wide enough, you don’t want them too wide.  All that does is give you extra bulk you have to deal with.  And this may not be too much of an issue on a long arm, but with a domestic machine, it’s entirely different.  When quilting on a sewing machine, the idea is not to turn the quilt.  Turning the quilt can put puckers in the back if you’re not careful.  However, during the quilting process, you may get to a point where there is no other option but to turn the quilt.  Any extra fabric makes this process bulky and difficult.  Even if you’re free motion quilting from the middle of the quilt out, you’re still dealing with fabric to the left of you and fabric to the right (and there you are stuck in the middle – extra points to those who picked up on an old Stealer’s Wheel song).  The ideal situation is to keep the quilt sandwich as small as you can so there won’t be a lot of bulk next to the side of the harp or on your left-hand side, top, or bottom which can weight the quilt down, make it difficult to maneuver, or – if part of the quilt is close to the edge of the sewing table – make the quilt pull off the table.   

Before we get to how to keep your quilt sandwich together (because this topic may be a blog unto itself), we’re hitting the last three items on the list:  a place to lay your quilt out, tape, and gloves. 

It’s kind of critical to have a place which is big enough to sandwich your quilt all at the same time.  I’ve read about quilters who are able to make a quilt sandwich on a small table.  I admire this ability; however, I do not possess it.  I need a large area.  I have a cutting table on casters which I can slide out in the middle of my studio and make my sandwich.  This table will work as long as the quilt is no larger than a double.  My kitchen counter/bar works for lap and crib quilts.  Anything larger than this requires some planning. 

At this point, you maybe thinking, “Well, the floor would work, wouldn’t it?”  And it would.  If you have an area in your home where you can move everything out of the way and lay your backing out completely flat, it will certainly work for you – but not for me.  For one thing, Sam would want to participate in the process by laying on the quilt back and leaving cat sprinkles all over it (he sheds…despite the fact he’s brushed several times a week).  Second, my almost 60-year-old knees won’t take the abuse of crawling around on a hard floor and then supporting me when I try to stand up again.

The reason you need a space large enough for the back (or at least I  do), is this:  the back needs to be spread out and taped down so it doesn’t shift or wrinkle as you add the batting and top.  So, an open space on a floor would work great!  But if you’re like me and the knees are showing just a little wear and tear, the floor may be difficult.  However, all is not lost.  If you are a member of a church or other group which has an area with lots of long tables, see if you can get permission to lay out a quilt on those.  If there’s a library in your area with a public room, call or email to see if you can lay out your quilt there.  There may be a break room or some other space where you’re employed which would be perfect.  And my favorite place to layout large quilts is at my annual quilt retreat.  If I plan to quilt any of my tops on Big Red, the retreat facilities are perfect for doing it.  Lots of tables and lots of light.  When I’m finished, I can fold them up, pack them up, take them back home, and quilt them.  Oddest place I’ve ever sandwiched a quilt?  A local boat marina that had a meeting room.  You have to get creative and think outside the box, but there are places which will let you sandwich your quilt.  Many times, they’ll let you have the space for free since you’re not using it the entire day (especially if they’re supported by your tax dollars), or for a nominal fee or donation. 

After you’ve got a location to lay your quilt back out, the next thing needed is tape.  I realize this may sound kind of obvious, but not just any tape works for securing your quilt back to a surface.  You need a tape which will hold the back down securely, but won’t leave a tacky, nasty residue on the fabric.  This means Scotch tape is out – it’s not secure enough.  Electrical tape isn’t either.  Duct tape falls into the “leaves a nasty residue on fabric” category.  The two I recommend (and use myself) are painter’s tape or masking tape.  I find the painter’s tape works well for the smaller quilts, but if I have anything larger than a twin, I use masking tape.  The last thing you want to happen is for the backing to pull loose from the surface and wrinkle on you – because then you have to start all over. 

Finally, let’s talk quilting gloves.  Quilting gloves are needed for three reasons:

1.  They reduce hand fatigue because they help you grip your quilt sandwich. The gloves have a tacky texture on them which help you really hold onto you quilt during the quilting process. 
2. You can get a better grip on the sandwich with them.
3. Gloves keep your hands and your quilt top relatively clean.

Yes, you can quilt without gloves, but honestly, they really do make a huge difference.  If you’re an occasional quilter, you may want to invest in these:

These are gloves from the Dollar Store.  If you look at the surface, there are little bumps on them which are slightly tacky.  They will work great for you if you only quilt occasionally.

If you quilt more often, you may want to invest in “real” quilting gloves.  These are Machingers Quilting Gloves.  These are made of nylon knit, and offer support to your hands and wrist, allowing you to quilt in relative comfort for hours.  Added bonus:  because they’re nylon, loose threads won’t stick to them and transfer back to the quilt top.  They’re seamless and allow you to easily use your fingertips or entire hand.  Only the fingertips are coated, so you get good resistance with no drag, and your hand will stay cool because there is not coating on the palm area.  These quilting gloves have been on the market for a long time, and  are the ones recommended by many well-known quilt teachers.  I have owned several pairs and I love them.  They can be cleaned but follow the directions on the package.  Since the gloves are white, they do get pretty stained after a while.   However, Machingers Gloves aren’t too expensive, so replacing them doesn’t break the bank. 

I also like the three-fingered quilt gloves:

These are Regi’s Grip.  To me, they seem a little more light weight than Machinger’s.  The biggest difference between Regi’s Grip and other quilting gloves is Regi’s leaves your ring and pinky fingers free.  I personally like this feeling better than having my entire hand in a glove, but this is truly a “me” thing and you may not like having two fingers free.  Bonus:  Since they’re gray, crocking stains don’t show up quite as badly as they do on the white Machinger’s.  One word of caution, these run a little small, so I’d order the next size up from what you normally take in a glove.

There are other quilting gloves on the market, but I own and use Machinger’s and Regi’s Grip.  They’re both wonderful products and I like them equally.  Whatever type of quilting glove you decide on, make sure they fit comfortably and don’t cause your hands to sweat. 

This is as far we’re going on quilting for this blog.  Let me throw in one more word of caution since we covered areas to make your quilt sandwich. If you plan on using a floor, make sure it’s not carpeted. It will be difficult to keep the back taped down to carpet. Second, make sure the surface (no matter if it’s a floor or a table or a counter) is clean. That’s kind of important…Next week we’ll talk about the different ways to make a quilt sandwich and the pros and cons of each.

Until Next Week, Quilt On!

Love and Stitches,

Sherri and Sam