Quilts, Quips, and other Nearsighted Adventures

Sooo…. The topic this week is needles.  I realize we’ve talked about needles in one very specific capacity (hand sewing needles), and in a very general way when we have talked about sewing machines.  This week I want to really highlight how important it is to use the correct sewing machine needle for the fabric under it.  For the purpose of this blog, when I use the term “needle,” it refers to a standard, domestic sewing machine needle, and not needles used in embroidery machines or long arms. 

Just as there are some generalities and specifics about hand sewing needles, the same holds true for machine needles.  Let’s talk generalities first, and then we’ll talk specifics.  To begin with, a machine needle is very different from a hand sewing needle.  A hand sewing needle looks like this:

And a machine needle looks like this:

It’s easy to see some characteristics are the same and some are different.  We’ll start with the eye and work upwards. 

Eye – The hole in which the thread slides through.  Remember when we discussed the eyes of hand sewing needles, and I told you cheap needles can have “gunk” in the eyes – areas where the needle had not been properly and thoroughly polished so there are rough edges in the eye which can cut your thread and generally make your sewing life a nightmare?  The same holds true for a machine needle.  A needle should have a smoothly machined eye to prevent thread shedding – so beware of the cheap ones.    The size of the eye depends on the intended thread type (more on this later).

Point – Like hand sewing needles, the shape of the point varies widely between different needle types.  Some needles, such as ball points, have a slightly rounded end because it’s not made to actually puncture the fabric’s threads.  It’s made to slide in between the fibers, which makes it an ideal needle for synthetics.  Other needles, such as those intended for leather or leather-like fabrics, have an almost chiseled point. 

Shaft – The shaft varies in thickness according to the intended fabric.  Thicker fabric requires a thicker shaft. 

Scarf – This is a groove on the back of the needle which enables the hook on the bobbin case to get close to the eye of the needle in order to avoid skipped stitches.

It’s easy to see the only characteristics different from a hand sewing needle are the scarf and the groove.  But what about sizes?  With hand sewing needles, the larger the number, the finer the needle.  Do sewing machine needles work this way? 

Nope.

Generally, with sewing machine needles, the larger number means the thicker the needle is and you can sew bulky fabrics without fear of the needle breaking.  But there’s a lot more information to work with than just a number on a pack of sewing machine needles.  To begin with, like hand sewing needles, machine needles are given a title.  With hand sewing needles, we worked with terms such as “sharp,” “tween,” “milliner,” etc.  Machine needles carry names such as “jeans,” “leather,” and “universal.”  Let’s break the titles down and then well deal with sizes. 

Universal – These are the most commonly used type of machine needle.  They can tackle nearly any type of woven and stable material – but not the stretchy knits.  Universals can handle natural and synthetic fibers, as their tips are slightly rounded (but not as rounded as ball points).  I think it’s always a good idea to have a pack or two of these tucked away somewhere in your studio.  If you have them in sizes 70/10  to 90/14, there won’t be too many sewing jobs you can’t handle. 

Ball Point – Ball point needles can be used for tightly woven fabrics, but they are really made for synthetic fibers and stretchy knits.  The point is rounded, so the needle slides through the link in the threads instead of piercing them (which would cause many of the knit fabrics to tear). 

Jersey – These are specifically made for knit fabrics with a medium stretch factor.  This needle also has a rounded tip designed to slip between fibers and not cause laddering or holes. 

Stretch — These are designed for fabrics with the maximum amount of stretch, such as dance lycra and swimwear fabric. 

Leather – These are used for sewing leather and vinyl.  As a matter of fact, you’d find it very difficult to sew either fiber without this needle.  The end of this needle is ultra-sharp so it cleanly pierces through leather or vinyl.  Always remember to lengthen your stitch when sewing with this needle, otherwise your fabric will become perforated. 

Quilting – These needles are strengthened to pierce through numerous layers of fabrics and batting.  The special treatment on their surface means the needles won’t break or bend.  They’re also great to use in bag making, an activity where you’ll be sewing through multiple layers of fabric, foam, interfacing, etc.

Topstitching – Topstitching needles have large eyes to accommodate thick thread.  Usually when you top stitch, you’re sewing through multiple layers of fabric.  Like the quilting needles, these are designed to go through this thickness.  And since some topstitching uses specialty threads, the larger eye easily accommodates this. 

Sharps – Like quilting needles, sharps are strengthened to deal with multiple fabric layers.  These can be used to sew lots of different fabrics – even thin vinyl.  They also handle silks, applique, and tightly woven material.  They are finer and sharper than universal needles. 

Jeans/Denim – These needles are specifically made for sewing denim.  Denim is thick and dense, so jeans needles are especially strong and are only available in the larger sewing machine needle sizes.

Double/Twin – This is kind of a specialty needle.  I used this needle a lot when I taught Heirloom Sewing.  They’re great for making pintucks.  It literally is two needles joined at the top.  They’re also great for putting hems in stretch garments. 

These are the ten most common needles.  There are some variations on these, such as winged needles (used for producing a kind of lacy effect in woven fabrics – I used this type of needle a great deal in Heirloom sewing) and a few other deviations.  However, for the most part, these ten are the ones you see in the sewing machine needle section.  Since we’re now familiar with the titles, let’s look at the numbers and what they mean.

Just like hand sewing needles, machine needles have numbers on them.  Usually it’s two numbers, separated by a slanted line – such as 80/12.  The smaller number – in this case, 12 – relates to the American system and this number can range from 8 to 20.  And if you remember the larger the number, the thicker the needle shaft, so an 8 needle is thinner than a 20.  The first number is for the European system and it can range from 60 to 120.  However, it works the same as the American system – the larger the number, the thicker the needle.  The most common sewing machine needle sizes are 60/8, 70/10, 75/11, 80/12, 90/14, and 100/16.

These combination of numbers are important because they tell you what needle works best with what kind of fabric.  Generally, the range works like this:

60/10, 65/9, and 70/10 are used with very fine weight fabrics, such as fine silk, chiffon, organza, voile, and fine lace.

75/11, 80/12 are used with light weight fabrics such as cotton voile, silk, synthetics, spandex, and lycra.

90/14 is used on medium-weight fabrics such as quilting fabrics, cotton, velvet, fine corduroy, linen, muslin, jersey, tricot, knits, light wool, sweatshirt knit, and fleece.

100/16 is used on heavy weight material such as denim, corduroy, canvas, duck, suiting, and leather.

110/18 is used on very heavy weight fabric such as heavy denim, heavy canvas, upholstery, and faux fur.

120/20 is used on the heaviest of fabric, such as extra thick canvas or upholstery. 

At this point, I know you’re wondering where all of this information fits into our quilting world.  The needle sizes are good to know for anyone who does any type of sewing.  However, as quilters, we can zero in on the types and sizes we know we will use regularly.  This is enables us to purchase in bulk (if we quilt a lot) and know what to buy when we find a good sale.  The quilting needles in size 90/14 are good to have on hand at all times.  Every quilter needs several packs of these tucked away in our sewing room.  The 90/14’s are the primary piecing needles for quilting cottons. 

However, if you’re also an avid machine appliquer, you want a thinner needle.  A 90/14 will leave visible holes on the applique pieces.  If you work with raw-edge machine applique, you will also want to keep 75/11 or 80/12 sharp needles on hand.  Generally, the machine applique thread is thinner than standard piecing thread and these sizes work great with fine thread.  If you plan on using finished edge machine applique with monofilament thread, 60/8 and 70/10 sharps should also be in your needle arsenal. 

If you plan on quilting your quilts on your domestic machine, the type of needle used depends on the type of quilting thread utilized.  When I machine quilt on Big Red (my Janome 7700), I like to use a topstitching needle if possible.  This needle can easily handle the bulk of a three-layer quilt sandwich without breaking and will cleanly pierce all the layers without a hitch.  I usually stick to a 90/14 for this.  When I do quilt on my domestic machine, I use a thin batt, such as a 100% cotton, silk, or thin polyester batt to keep the sandwich bulk to a minimum.  If I’m using a thicker batting, I will quilt it on the long arm which handles the bulk much better.  I also find a 90/14 handles most of my quilting thread – which varies from a 40 to 50-weight thread.  If I want my quilting stitches to shine, I have been known to drop as low to a size 12-weight thread, which is a thick thread.  Sometimes the eye of a 90/14 can handle it and sometimes it can’t (this honestly depends on the thread manufacturer).  If the eye is too small, I will switch to a larger-sized topstitching needle. I also really love Superior Threads Micro Quilting thread.  It’s 100-weight, so it’s super thin, but still really strong.  I switch to a 70/10 topstitching needle or a 60/8 Microtex when I use this thread.  In case you’re wondering, a  Microtex needle is a type of sharp, designed for use with micro-fibers.  They also work really, really well with Batiks.  If I’m feeling all art-quiltsy and plan to use metallic thread, I will switch to Schmetz Metallic needles.  I start with an 80/12 but have moved to a 75/11 if the 80/12 causes fabric damage.  Any metallic needle has an elongated, specially coated eye which easily accommodates metallic thread flow at all stitch speeds. It also has a specialized scarf which prevents skipped stitches and thread breaks. 

In this blog about sewing machines, (https://sherriquiltsalot.com/2020/11/11/if-you-need-a-new-sewing-machine/) one of the items you want your machine to have is the ability to change the needle without a lot of trouble.  Changing the needle can vary slightly between machines, but usually it goes a little like this:

1.  First, you will need to remove your old needle.  Before I start this process, I insert a piece of paper between the presser foot and feed dogs.  If the needle slips out of your fingers and falls into the bobbin area, it can wedge itself into areas you can’t get to and you’ll have to take the machine to tech to get it removed.  If there’s a piece of paper covering the feed dogs, the needle can’t drop into the area.  It’s also a good idea to turn the power off to your machine.
2. At the top of the needle mount, to the right, there’s a screw.  This will need to be loosened a little in order to remove the old needle and insert the new one. 
3. Before inserting the new needle, make sure the flat side of the top of the needle is facing away from you and the round side is facing toward you.  Insert the needle into the needle mount.
4. Tighten the screw around the new needle.  It’s a really good idea to use a screwdriver to make sure the needle is secured well and there’s no fear of it falling out and into the bobbin area of the machine. 

Always consult your sewing machine manual before undertaking any general maintenance on your machine.  There may be specifics details to follow for your brand.

We know how to change the needle, so how often should you change it?  Generally, after eight hours of sewing, the needle should be changed.  If you’re using titanium needles (my favorite), you can double the time.  Now I know what you’re thinking – something along the lines of “I don’t punch a time clock when I sit down to sew, so how do I keep up with the hours?”  I don’t either, so let me share with you how I kind of keep up with things.

1.  I treat Big Red differently from the machines I only use occasionally.  For my Janome 7700, I change the needle after I’m through piecing a quilt top.  If I’m working on multiple tops, I change it every two weeks. If I’m using titanium needles, I may go as long as three weeks before changing.
2. For the Featherweight, which I may use once a week, I change her needle the first of every month.
3. If I’m paper piecing on either machine, I change the needle as soon as I am through with the project.  Paper piecing dulls your needle quickly.
4. After I’m through quilting a top on Big Red, the needle is changed (unless it’s a really small quilt). 
5. I change it anytime I experience skipped stitches or hear a distinct “pop” when I sew.  The longer you sew/quilt on a machine, the more you understand its nuances – like the sound a dull needle makes or the appearance of stitches when the machine needs a new needle. 

Finally, I offer you two pieces of advice.  First, don’t purchase cheap sewing machine needles.  Buy brand names such as Organ or Schmetz or the brand your sewing machine company produces (such as Singer).  Cheap needles of any type should be the bane of your quilting existence.  Like quality hand sewing needles, good machine needles aren’t expensive.  Do yourself a favor and keep your studio stocked with quality needles in the sizes you use most. 

Second, if you’re perplexed with what size needle to use with a fabric or thread, please go here:

https://www.superiorthreads.com/

Superior Threads offers abundant information on all things thread, needle, and fabric.  They’re my go-to source for any needle and thread questions I have.  I also love their products and their customer service is stellar.

I hope this helps answer any questions you have concerning sewing machine needles.  The sizes work opposite of hand sewing needles.  The type you need depends on both the kind of fabric you’re working with and the thread you’re using.  Change them regularly and keep a supply on hand.  Honestly, a clean machine and a new needle make your quilting life so much easier.

Until next week, Keep Quilting!

Love and Stitches,

Sherri and Sam

Once again, let me reiterate that I do not work for any quilt-related company.  My recommendations (such as Superior Threads mentioned above), come from years of personal experience ordering products from their company.  I also do not receive free merchandise from this company for recommending them. 

As one of the first “official” blogs of 2021, I want to talk about quilt patterns.  We’ve approached this subject before, kind of in a round-about way – we’ve talked about understanding what level of quilter you are and that you need to read the directions through before you make the first cut on your fabric.  I’ve emphasized (and want to do so again right now) it’s a good idea to Google a pattern and quilt designer.  If you Google either or both, and nothing comes up but the designer’s quilt, put the pattern down and walk away.  Chances are, no one else has made it and there’s probably a very good reason:  Either it’s a difficult quilt, the directions are incomplete, or the designer is new to the field.  With any of these considerations, it’s best to step away from the project for a while if not forever. 

To begin, let’s take a deep dive into the history of quilt patterns.  For hundreds of years (actually thousands, if you hold to the fact the first quilts were made in ancient Egypt), there were no real patterns.  The simplest quilt blocks consisted of the four-patch, nine-patch, and log cabins.  These and their variations were passed down either in verbal form or rudimentary written form.  Here’s where quilt pattern history becomes kind of vague.  It’s nearly impossible to find an accurate date or name of a published quilt pattern anywhere except here – in America.  In 1835 Godey’s Ladies Book published this pattern:

We know this block as Grandmother’s Flower Garden and it reached the height of its popularity in 1925 (although with the current hexie and English Paper Piecing craze, it’s enjoying a resurgence of fame).  However, it was known during the Colonial Period, too, under the names of Mosaic, Honeycomb, and French Bouquet.  During the Depression it was a cheerful quilt for dark times and an economical one:  It was scrap friendly. 

Quilt patterns continued to be published in Godey’s and a few other publications.  It reached a peak with The Kansas City Star newspaper, which published patterns for blocks from 1928-1961.  By the end of the pattern run, the Star had published 1,001 quilt block patterns.  Also during this time period, we find the rise in applique quilt kits and patterns from designers such as Marie Webster (If you love applique and have never looked at her patterns, do yourself a favor and spend some time researching them online – they’re beautiful), and the Mountain Mist Batting patterns. 

What may bother you with these patterns are the instructions.  They’re brief.  There are a few line drawings.  The instructions assume you already know how to sew, how to keep a consistent seam allowance, and are comfortable with hand piecing.  And for this era, these direction were adequate – most women and girls were taught how to sew and had been sewing since they were young.  If you decide to make a quilt from one of these patterns, and don’t have several years of quilting behind you, you may run into some problems.  Even quilters I consider “experts” in the field are used to having just a little more detail in the instructions than what’s offered with the Kansas City Star Quilts*. 

Around the time of America’s bicentennial, quilting enjoyed a resurgence in interest.  Magazines came out with patterns.  Books were written.  And along with these, the opportunity to actually walk into a fabric store and purchase only a pattern became a reality.  All three of these quilt pattern options are still available today, along with the alternative of purchasing a pattern online and ready to download.  This is what I really want to focus on – what makes a good quilt pattern?  How do you do you know if it is a good pattern?  What do you do if it isn’t?  And how do you know if you’ve downloaded and printed a pattern correctly? 

First, we will look at some common characteristics of a good quilt pattern, regardless of how it’s obtained.  For me, really good quilt patterns:

1.  Give you the unfinished measurements of each block unit, as well as the unfinished measurements of the entire block.  For instance, take a look at this block:

This is a type of Ohio Star and its finished measurements are 6-inches x 6-inches.  It’s has block units consisting of squares and quarter-square triangles which are 2 ½-inches, unfinished.  Why is this information so important?  It allows me to measure as I go, and honestly, it’s much easier to take a unit apart than a whole block.    After I make my quarter square units, I can measure them.  If they don’t measure 2 ½- inches square, I can correct those units then – which is so much better than finding out something’s a little wonky after I get several blocks made.  If each block unit is the correct measurement, I stand a much better chance the blocks will have the correct unfinished measurement before I begin to join them together into rows. 

•  The pattern will give me several sizes to choose from.  It will offer me several options as far as how big or how small I can make the quilt.
• There are either really great illustrations, line drawings, or pictures in the pattern.  Good pattern designers know quilters (as a whole) are visual learners.  The designer will not only have a great picture of the finished product (because this is what lures you into purchasing the pattern in the first place), but he or she will also have clear illustrations of some of the trickier parts of the quilt.  Beginner quilt patterns should have lots of graphics.  Those for intermediate or advanced quilters may only highlight the really difficult parts. 
• The fabric requirements have a little “oops” room and the list of notions is complete and concise.  Good quilt patterns will have room for cutting mistakes – they will give you a few more inches of fabric than you really need.  They will also list other notions (such as fusible web, specialty threads, etc.) needed.  Great quilting patterns will tell you where to get them – such as websites.  I will also be completely honest and tell you this is something you learn by experience.  The longer you quilt, the more knowledge you gain about quilt patterns and their creators.  Some of these folks are excellent.  Some are really good.  And frankly, some are horrid.
• It gives me a good starting point as far as color is concerned.  I may not like the fabric the designer has picked out for his or her quilt, but it should give me enough differentiation that if I take a picture of the pattern, use the app on my phone to flip it to black and white, I can tell how many darks, lights, and mediums I need. 
• It plainly indicates in some way if it’s a beginner, intermediate, or advanced pattern.
• If it’s an applique pattern, it tells you if the image pattern pieces are already reversed or if you need to reverse them.
• If the designer has a website, they update the patterns and any mistakes found in the pattern regularly.  Pattern designers are people.  People make mistakes.  Good designers admit their mistakes and offer (free of charge) the pattern corrections.  One of the best designers out there who has a dogged dedication to this is Judy Neimeyer.  She updates any changes or corrections for her patterns on her website post haste.

For me, these eight factors are important no matter if the pattern is purchased in a store, found in a magazine or book, or is downloaded.  If a quilt pattern has most of these, it’s a good one.  If it has all of these, it’s a great pattern.    And there’s only one way to find out if a pattern has any or all of these components:  Read it. 

Read every word completely.

Until you get to the end.

I’m completely serious.

No matter if it’s a download or a print version, before you make the first cut in your beautiful fabric, read the pattern completely.  I consider myself an advanced quilter, and I still stop and do this before I do anything else.  I read it through, mark it up, and write down my questions.  If there are questions, usually you’ll find the answers somewhere in the pattern.

But what if you don’t?  Well, this is when you employ Google.  Type the name of the pattern in the search bar and see what comes up.  If you get no substantial information from this, type the designer’s name into the search bar.  Most of the time (especially if the creator has several patterns under their belt), the designer’s web page or Facebook page will pop up.  From there you can search for additional information about the pattern or find out how to email the designer.  There may even be corrections listed.  However, if nothing comes up in the search, you seriously want to re-think making the pattern.  Ask me how I know.

Now let’s look at how the types of patterns are different from each other.  Most of the time when someone mentions a quilt pattern, this is what I picture:

A single pattern, in a resealable, plastic envelope.  To be honest, this is my favorite way to obtain a pattern.  Normally, I only want this particular pattern and either A – Don’t want additional patterns cluttering up the process or B – Don’t want the additional expense or space a book or magazine takes up.  These patterns will generally have a nice, color picture of the final product, fabric requirements, notion needs, and instructions.  Depending the level quilter it’s produced for, it may or may not have additional illustrations.  If it’s an applique pattern, it will also have all the graphics you need to prep your pieces, including letting you know if you need to reverse the drawings or if they’re already reversed. All-in-all, these are pretty complete patterns and usually includes contact information for the designer.  The front page contains the color photo, then inside the pattern are step-by-step instructions, and the fabric and notion needs are on the back. 

Patterns found in magazines work a little differently.  Where you find the pattern in a magazine depends on how the publication is laid out.   Some magazines have all the pictures and descriptions of the quilts in one section and then puts all the directions for all of the quilts in the back.  Others will have the picture of the quilt, fabric requirements, and then the directions (my favorite way).  They may offer a few different color ways and several different sizes.  They may or may not have information about where to locate the fabrics and notions used.  However, most (if not all magazines) will have the designer and contact information with the pattern.  One great characteristic about magazine quilt patterns is they will publish any needed corrections in a following issue or on their website.  If you decide you want to make a quilt from a magazine, I urge you to take a good look at the publication and understand not only the directions, but also where the directions are.  One word of caution:  If you’re using a magazine which is several years old, note any corrections may not be accessible.  It’s a good idea to Google the pattern and see if any corrections or problems pop up. 

Books of patterns work similarly.  Some books have all the pictures in one section and the directions in another. Others will have the quilt picture followed by fabric requirements and directions.  And I will be honest here:  I don’t purchase a lot of books with patterns in them.  My quilt book library consists primarily of quilt history books.  The pattern books which are on my shelves tend to be of one primary designer (such as Kim Diehl or Marie Webster) or one type of quilt (such as jelly roll, scrap, or table topper). Just as you did with a quilt magazine, you’ll need to familiarize yourself with the layout of the publication.  What you won’t find readily available are corrections.  While magazines tend to have at least one other person make the quilt according to the designer’s directions, book publishers may not – they may have left this as the responsibility of the writer.  Sometimes this becomes glaringly apparent all too late ask me how I know. With magazines, at least one other person makes the quilt by following the designer’s directions, so there is a  safeguard in place which (for the most part) prevents mistakes from becoming published.  My advice is once again, consult Google.  If you’re purchasing the book on a site such as Amazon (or go to Amazon before purchasing directly from the author or publishing site), you can read reviews to see if others find the book understandable and the patterns are accurate.  And I’ll also be completely honest with this point:  I’ve had far more trouble with patterns found in books than any other type of pattern.  As a matter of fact, I’ve had consistent issues with a couple of publishing houses to the point I will no longer purchase any of their books.

The last type of pattern – and the most recent – are the patterns which can be immediately downloaded after purchase or log-in.  And these downloadables fall into two categories – those you pay for and those you don’t.  I want to be really careful  how I discuss this category.  There are designers, such as Esther Aliu, Bonnie Hunter and others, who at various times offer free patterns for download.  And these patterns are wonderful and accurate, and I love them and the designers.  They don’t have to do this wonderful thing, but they do, and should be commended and adored because of their generosity.  Fabric houses (such as Moda, Henry Glass, etc.,) also offer free downloadables, too.  This number has increased as the number of types of available precuts have increased.  It’s these patterns which should be double-checked for accuracy. Often the folks designing these patterns are not as knowledgeable as other designers and there is a risk for mistakes.   I will say the quality (as well as the quantity) of these downloadables has gotten much, much better over the past several years.  Still – read the pattern through before making that first cut. 

Regardless of whether you pay for the pattern or it’s free, there are nearly always downloading issues.  Well….not so much with the download itself, but with the printing.  So, let’s say we want to download this pattern:

I’ll walk you through how I do this step-by-step and hope this helps you.  These steps can also be used if you’re downloading a pattern or block from a CD.  Some quilt pattern books, such as Farmer’s Wife 1930’s Sampler Quilt, comes with a CD which has the block patterns you can download.  Please note some tricks may be specific to your computer or operating system or your ability to remember your own passwords (my personal downfall), which will be up to you to sort out.

Generally, there are two ways to receive a PDF pattern file.  Sometimes, if you’re downloading a free pattern file from a website, it goes through the same process as when you download a picture or document file from an email.  Once you click on the pattern you want, the download appears as a little box at the bottom of your screen.  You click this on, and one of your computer programs (usually Windows Photo) will open the file up. 

However, some free patterns go through the same process as purchased ones do.  That process goes a little like this:

1.  The company will either email you a link for your pattern or after purchase, there will be something like a “My Patterns” tab on the website which will permanently house your PDF patterns in your account.  You can click the tab or link and your pattern will download.
2. At this point, there’s a choice you need to make.  You can open the pattern, print it, and not choose to download it into your hard drive or onto a thumb drive – or you can download it into your hard drive.

Personally, I download mine into my hard drive.  I just find it’s convenient and I don’t have to remember where I purchased the pattern from nor do I have to worry about the company closing up shop and pulling their website (and my patterns) off the internet.  However, I do file my pattern downloads in a manner which makes it easy for me to find them.  I have a file in the documents section of my computer labeled “Quilting.”

The patterns which have multiple files (such as blocks of the month, mystery quilts, or very large patterns) are downloaded into a sub-file under Quilting which carries the name of the pattern.  However, I also purchase single-downloadable patterns.  For those I make a sub-file with the designer’s name on it and file those patterns under that.  If you find yourself downloading a lot of patterns, it’s a good idea to find a system which works for you.  You can print the patterns out or set up some kind of filing system on your hard drive.  If you decide to keep them on your computer, be sure to back them up on a spare drive or on the cloud. 

Okay, moving on to printing these patterns – and this is where real problems kick in.  If you’re only printing cutting directions, you’re good to go.  But if you’re printing a paper-piecing pattern or applique pieces, it’s vital the pattern print to the correct size, or you’ll run into all kinds of issues.  Let’s look at how this works:

Here’s the print screen for the pattern Bed of Roses by Esther Aliu.  Everything looks pretty good at this point.  The paper is 8 ½ x 11.  There are 52-sheets loaded in the printer.  The print is set to go to my HP8600 (the only printer on my home network).  But if you notice as part of the print dialog, the box is checked beside Shrink Oversized Pages.  If you see this phrase or the phrase Fit/Fit to Page, make sure those boxes are unchecked.  You want to be sure Actual Size or Print at 100% or No Scaling is checked.  Any of those checked boxes will assure you your pattern will print to the correct size. 

In addition to making sure the correct print box is checked, I also like to verify the size with one more step.  Most downloadable PDF patterns have one of these somewhere in the document. 

With this Esther Aliu pattern, it’s on page 18.  Before I print the entire 52-page pattern, I print only page 18 and then I measure the 1-inch box.  If that box is exactly 1-inch square, I’m good to go.  But if it’s off any – even as little as 1/16-inch, it can throw the entire block off.  In this case, the square is exactly 1-inch, so I know my printed pattern is correct.  If your test square isn’t the required measurement, check your print dialog box to make sure the settings are correct and try again. 

One additional word about magazine patterns.  If I find a pattern I want to make in a quilt magazine, but don’t need anything else in the publication, I’ll scan the pattern and add it to my computer files.  This way I don’t have to keep up with another paper pattern and try to remember where on earth I put it.

If nothing else, I hope this blog takes the guess work and headache out of printing PDF files.  I also hope it helps you recognize what makes a pattern a really good one – or a really great one.  There are so many choices out there for quilters now.  And the number of patterns seems to only be limited by the designers’ imaginations.

Until Next Week, Keep Quilting!

Love and Stitches,

Sherri and Sam

*There are several current publications, such as The Kansas City Star Quilt Sampler by Barbara Brackman, which feature the Star’s quilt blocks with clearer directions.  If you want to try some of these blocks, this is the initial direction I’d go before trying to interpret the original published patterns.

Last week I announced the 2021 theme – Quilting Survival.  I chose this idea on the backdrop of COVID.  At the time I’m writing this blog, two vaccines have been approved and are rolling out.  However, even with that, most us know it will be months before any of us receive it.  Masks will continue to be worn and we’ll still need to social distance.  This new year will continue to be one of challenges and changes.  With this in mind, I’d like to encourage you to set some quilting goals this year.  I wish I could drop into each of my reader’s homes for a nice cup of coffee or tea and talk about your quilting and what you want to do – the new things you want to try and the projects you want to finish.  I’d love to help you set some goals so you can steadily progress to finishing your projects and starting some new ones.

However, even pre-Covid, this wasn’t possible.  At least not with all of you.  Instead, I’d like to tell you about the steps go through to set my New Year’s goals and reasonably follow through with them.  At this point, at least with myself, I’m thinking about two different sets of goals – the projects I want to start or complete and what I want to learn from them.  The first step is to review the projects I completed the previous year.  Since 2020 was the marathon-to-end-all-stay-at-home-marathons (seriously, I felt like I was 13 again and grounded by my parents), lots of us had more finishes than ever before.  For the first time in my quilting career, I finished three quilts for Christmas gifts!  Before December 24!  Actually, all three were finished by October – quilted, bound, and labeled.  The reactions from the recipients makes me want to gift more quilts to the quilt-worthy people in my life.  All three of these quilts involved panels.  Two of them I simply square-up and added borders.  The other one – The Fish Almighty Quilt – involved more work and more math.  That one stretched me out of my comfort zone.  I also finished two small quilts and five lap-sized or larger quilt tops.  I started two ambitious applique projects (I’m half-way through appliqueing the blocks on one and the other was started in November).  From these projects I’ve learned more about piecing my applique off the block and how to pre-quilt the backgrounds (since both of them will use crosshatching in the background). 

Not too shabby for one year.  I’ve learned more about panels, applique, and pre-quilting as well as chalking up some serious “final” finishes and several “first” finishes.  I’m pleased.  I think this probably the most I have gotten done in any year thank you so much COVID (yes, this is sarcasm). 

Then I take the complete finishes (pieced/appliqued, quilted, bound, and labeled) and make a list.  And I put it somewhere I can see it regularly during the next year.  This serves as a tangible reminder of what I can do when I have grit, determination, self-discipline, and don’t go anywhere.  Yes!  I can do this.  I am the quilter. 

Once I’m through gloating over what I have accomplished, I make another list.  This is all the WIPs (Works in Progress) which are currently in my quilt studio. Please be assured I have many WIPs, but only keep the ones I’m presently working on in my studio.  I list their name and approximately how much I have done on each, what are the major steps I need to accomplish to finish them, and where they’re at on my priority list.  Some of these I know I will complete in the next year.  In my case, it’s my guild’s 2020 BOM, a quilt for a friend who is undergoing chemo, and two pieced quilts I was supposed to finish at quilt retreat.  All the blocks are complete for the BOM.  I simply have to set them together in a top and quilt it, so it’s 80% complete and I have a deadline with it.  I will move this up into a top priority slot because I want to get it finished.

The other three are at different stages.  The chemo quilt is pieced and simply needs quilting. One (Twinkling Twinkle) is 90% complete.  It only needs borders and quilting.  The other is cut out, but not one stitch has been put in.   This one is at the starting gate.  I will have to spend serious time on this top to complete it.  I want to get the chemo quilt to my friend ASAP, so it comes right after the 2020 BOM. Twinkling Twinkle is in the third priority position (again, I want to get it done and I’m super-close).  The other pieced one (All Roads Lead Home) will take the fourth priority slot.  My reasoning behind this is once I get the BOM, chemo quilt, and Twinkling Twinkle out of the way, I can devote more time to that fourth top.  Plus, finishing three tops will spur me to complete the fourth one.

Other WIPs are what I call “Lifers.”  These are the projects which have a lot of detail and handwork.  They will be finished – but not in 2021.  I’m working on them at least once a week, but it may take several years before the last stitch on the label is sewed in.  Currently I have three of these:  Language of the Flowers, Horn of Plenty for a New Generation, and A Day in Grandmother’s Flower Garden (all hand-pieced, hand-appliqued, and probably will also be hand-quilted).  I won’t give these a priority or a deadline until much later.  Currently, I think my Grandmother’s Flower Garden may be the first one to cross the finish line.

Now I make a third list.  This list is a cross between my hopes and dreams and a hard crash with reality – these are the projects I want to start.  I list these projects, give them a priority, and record what I hope to learn from them.  First up is a T-shirt quilt.  The one thing to remember about me and T-shirt quilts is this:  If I make you a T-shirt quilt, I must really love you because I hate making T-shirt quilts.  I know hate is a strong word, but honestly, they’re my least favorite.  And probably the reason is I don’t have a lot of experience with them.  I’ve made a couple of small ones, way back in the mid-1980’s.  So many new products are now on the market for them and there’s so much information about their construction, I am seriously hoping I learn to love them. The big stick-and-carrot for me with this project (besides who it’s made for) is the pattern layout.  It’s not your typical T-shirt layout.  I am excited about this project! 

I want to start one other quilt in this new year — my guild’s 2021 BOM.  I have the yardage requirements.  However, it’s freaking me out just a bit because it’s a two-color quilt. In 35 years of quilting, I’ve never made a two-color quilt.  Ever since this BOM has been announced, I’ve spent hours on Google and Pinterest looking at two-color quilts.  I still haven’t made a decision.  So, with the 2021 BOM, I hope to get comfortable with using only two colors in a quilt.  The struggle is real, y’all.  Right now, my Fig Tree fabrics are in the first-place bracket, but that may change.  Stay tuned.

At this point, my lists look like this:

I know what I finished.  I know what projects I’m in the middle of and the order I need to finish them.  I also know what new projects are on the horizon.  This is a great place to jump start the 2021 quilting year.  However, there are two additional steps I need to take in order to be sure I can accomplish these goals.

The first one is to clean out my studio.  This step is my least favorite, because after Christmas, the best way to describe my quilt room is “There appears to have been a struggle…”  And this year is worse than most because during the time of COVID, I supported the small on-line quilt shops by purchasing fabric.  I think this was one of the only times in my quilt life that I pretty much just randomly chose and purchased significant amounts of yardage (not pre-cuts, or a yard or two…we’re talking three-to-five yards at a clip) because I desperately want them to stay open.  There is literally a stack of fabric I need to go through and sort into colors.  I’m not looking forward to this, but I need to organize the clutter.  I don’t function well with a lot of chaos, so while this step may take some significant time up front, in the end it will allow me to function much better.

The second step can be done while I’m organizing and sorting – and that’s make a list of supplies I need to purchase.  As I’m working my way through the patterns, fabric, and thread, I can make a list of the items I need to replenish.  I keep the list in the Notes app in my iPhone.  This keeps it readily available for me to peruse if I have the opportunity to shop sales and buy in bulk.

As we begin this 2021 journey, let’s work to be kinder to ourselves.  I know we hear a lot about kindness – being nice to each other while we’re still muddling through the pandemic and yet another year of political turmoil – but let me also encourage each of us to be kind to ourselves.  Take time for you while you try to take care of others, too.  I figure if the age of the average quilter is 63, most of us are at the spot in our lives where we’re squeezed in the middle.  Many of us many have adult or near-adult kids who have been affected by the economy and the pandemic and elderly parents we desperately hope aren’t affected by COVID. It’s easy to feel tired, burnt-out, and overwhelmed.  Let your quilting settle your soul and soothe your mind.

Until Next Week, Keep Quilting!

Love and Stitches,

Sherri and Sam

I am writing this blog on December 2, 2020.  It will be published December 30  — near to New Year’s but not quite 2021 yet.  But close enough for me to give my quilty yearly predictions and announce our theme for the next year.

Overall, this is how I feel about the year 2020.

Yep.  It’s been that bad.  Personally, I’m ready to put this year in the rearview mirror. 

Over the past 15 years, the quilt world has changed dramatically.  We’ve seen more and more LQS’s shutter and go out of existence or change over to on-line sales only.  With the rise of such sites as Craftsy, YouTube, and AQS classes, the momentum was already there for more web-oriented instruction.  If anything, 2020 pushed both of these into the fast lane and then accelerated them to 120 mph.  To be honest, when I looked back at this year and tried to predict what will happen in the next, I really had a difficult time. 

Last year, if you remember, I had three predictions:

1.  Technology would change our quilt world for the good and the not-so-good.
2. Quilt groups would become smaller.
3. There would be a resurgence in quilt preservation.

As a “seasoned” quilter (read that as someone who has been around the quilt block a few times), I had a love/hate relationship with technology.  While it allowed thousands of us to take classes via Craftsy, YouTube, and AQS, I was afraid we would lose our person-to-person interaction. 

Then enter COVID and everything came to a grinding halt until we were introduced to a little tool called Zoom.  Not only did this allow me to continue to meet with most of my groups, but it also allowed me to attend guild meetings all over the world.  I’m now involved with a monthly sit-and- sew with women all across the United States and beyond.  I’ve had the indescribable privilege of taking classes with internationally renowned instructors from the comfort of my studio. 

It. Has. Been. Amazing.

I’ve met so many wonderful quilters I would have never met if not for Zoom.  While I miss the face-to-face meet ups horribly, I can’t not appreciate the technology which has opened so many doors.  As a result of the virus, our physical quilt groups became smaller, but our virtual ones grew.  And I think once most folks get the vaccine, our guilds, bees, and sit and sews will swing back into regular sessions and grow.  I firmly believe quilters will want to see each other in person. And I also think that during all this stay-at-home time, hundreds of folks have started sewing.  I can’t help but think they also dabbled in quilting and would like to join a guild or bee. 

As far as quilt preservation goes, I do think there is an increased interest out there.  I’ve seen more questions asked about old quilts via internet sites than I’ve ever remembered.  And with Barbara Brackman and Electric Quilt publishing the updated Block Base, I’m sure that interest will continue to grow.  I really hope in the next couple of years we can see another round of quilt documentation days.  In North Carolina, the last gathering of such information was in 1985-1986 and it only included quilts made in the late 19^th century through 1976.  I think it’s time for us to procure additional documentation before another generation of quilts are lost.

As far as my quilty predictions for 2021, COVID and its aftershocks have turned the quilt world upside down (just as it has nearly everything else).  Some of you know my daughter now works in logistics with a major international company.  We were talking over breakfast the other day and Bill asked her how the upcoming holidays plus COVID was affecting shipping and shopping.  “Is the genie out of the bottle now?  Will people keep ordering stuff online like this forever?” he asked.

Meg, who is working 16-hour days at this point, rolled her eyes.  “There is no bottle now.  There’s just lots of genies…running amok.”

In short, COVID has changed retail forever.  COVID may have changed everything forever.  The quilt world is no different.  So, my predictions are:

1.  More brick-and-mortar quilt shops will close – with most of them being the small mom-and-pop operations.  They may go online only or opt to completely shutter.
2. There will be few in-person quilt shows in 2021.  As a matter of fact, I don’t think in-person quilt shows will resume until most of the population has the vaccine (or at least the opportunity to receive it).  However, Mancuso currently has virtual shows and they are awesome.  You can access vendors, quilts, and classes.  Take advantage of this while the opportunity is out there.  I kind of hope virtual quilt shows remain even after the in-person exhibitions resume. 
3. Get used to Zoom.  It’s here to stay.  My third prediction is that Zoom classes and meetings will remain long after its safe to meet in person.  It’s easy.  Security has improved a lot, and it allows quilters all over the world to sit, sew, chat, exchange ideas and tips, and fellowship.  Not to mention quilt instructors can now teach from the comfort of their own studio.  No packing or unpacking, no travel.  While I do think (and hope) in-person classes will resume, the opportunity to have instructions from great quilters all over the world is amazing. 
4. Quilt groups will grow.  The folks who were already involved in quilts and bees more than likely will want to return to meeting in person as soon as we’re able.  However, if you’re a numbers geek like I am, and you’ve been looking at how many sewing machines and yards of fabric and elastic sold during this pandemic, you’re more than aware of this fact:  Hundreds of people started sewing in 2020.  I was in a local Walmart around June and it was completely sold out of sewing notions, including sewing machines.  I can’t help but believe (and hope) that out of all these sewing consumers, some of them have either learned to quilt or want to learn and will join bees and guilds once we’re able to start meeting again. 

It’s against the backdrop of COVID I decided what our theme for 2021 would be.  This past year was long and hard.  Collectively, we did some difficult things.  We shut down.  We didn’t meet.  Many of us pushed aside our quilting and made masks until PPE manufacturers could catch up with demand.  We wore masks and made darn sure everyone we loved had one.  We washed our hands multiple times a day (I finally quit wearing my rings.  They were taking a soapy beating and I was scared I’d lose one).  We social distanced.  We’ve put up with toilet paper shortages, meat shortages, and other scarcities.  We watched an economy (which was the best it had been in my lifetime) dwindle down to a near-recession.  We’ve been both afraid and determined and now we’re fatigued.  And you have no idea I wish I had some kind of Harry Potter magical power to wave a wand and make it all go away.

With those thoughts, plus knowing we’re all kind of tired, this year’s theme is “Quilting Survival.”  What does this mean?  It means this year I’ve gleaned all kinds of tips, tricks, and other information to make your sewing life a little easier.  I want to explain what some quilting terms really mean.  Due to an impressive response I received about blocks, I want to dissect certain quilt blocks – from their history to their construction.  I also want to delve into hand sewing and hand applique.  I love applique and haven’t really written any blogs on it in a couple of years.  I’ll also feature machine applique. 

Hopefully, this year will be a little easier on all of us.  That’s my prayer.

Until Next Week, Keep Quilting!

Love and Stitches,

Sherri and Sam

It.  Has.  Been. A. Year.

If someone, anyone would have told me during Christmas 2019, that  I would be spending most of 2020 wearing a mask, washing my hands, and standing 6-feet away from people… well, I wouldn’t have believed them.  If you remember last Christmas, we were excitedly planning to surprise the grand darlings with a trip to Disney World. 

There are days I think we’re handing this Pandemic well.  There are days when I want to smash my television set and berate total strangers for not wearing a mask.  I sail through most days okay, following my ever-present lists, attending Zoom meetings, and quilting like a mad woman.  This year my sanity has been saved by stitches and my quilting buddies who send funny texts (those of you out there know who you are…and you’re the best). 

Thanksgiving was different this year.  Christmas will be, too.  However, let us hold tenaciously onto the fact that the Christmas before AD 1 was pretty rough, too.  And humanities’ need for salvation was answered by a baby’s cry from a manager. 

Merry Christmas from my quilt studio to yours.

Love and Stitches,

Sherri and Sam

God said:  “I need someone willing to take perfectly good fabric

and cut it up into dozens of pieces.

Then, with the patience of Job,

take those pieces and sew them back together in a completely different order.”

So God made a quilter.

God said:  “I need someone who makes sure her children

are involved in music concerts, sporting events, theatrical productions.

And then, when it’s time for the child to graduate into the world,

Will collect all the tee shirts they’ve accumulated

And make a memory of what they have accomplished.

Showing them they can be successful in the future.”

So God made a quilter.

God said: “It has to be someone whose hands are never idle.

Who’s willing to take her projects on vacation, to play groups, and while waiting in line at the DMV.

Someone who’s willing to rip out an entire row of stitches in order to make the corners line up perfectly.

But who also knows that perfection is a goal, never truly attained,

and that “handmade” means, by definition,

Bumps and “oops,” and “I’ll do it better next time.”

So God made a quilter.

God said:  “I need someone smart enough to cut on a bias, miter corners, and chain piece.

Someone who’s not afraid of pattern names like “Drunkard’s Path,” “Broken Dishes,” or “Storm at Sea.”

Someone brave enough to make that first cut and stitch that first seam and never look back.

Someone who gets goose bumps at the idea of a new project,

Who searches high and low for the perfect shade of blue,

And thinks a good pair of scissors is a better investment than a new pair of shoes.”

So God made a quilter.

God said:  “I need someone who enjoys working with needle and thread,

And enjoys even more lending them out for a good cause.

Someone committed enough to make projects for every conceivable occasion or no occasion at all.

Someone willing to stay up all night to finish a project,

then give it away the next day to a newlywed couple or a wounded soldier or a newborn baby.”

God said:  “I need someone who can send a word of thanks, of love, of you’re important to me

Without saying a word, but using only fabric and pins.

Someone who can gather together their friends and neighbors

and share the same thing.

Someone who understands intuitively why family hand-me-downs are precious,

and who stands ready to teach the next generation,

So that they too can create beautiful treasures for their children.”

So God made a quilter.

Amen.

We’re still discussing quilt studios today. I promised storage ideas, lighting and electrical solutions, and the ultimate quilt studio sanity saver. Let’s just dive right in by dealing with rulers. Ruler storage requires an entirely different mind-set.  Quilters use small rulers such as this:

And larger ones like this:

And falling between the two are a variety of sizes and shapes.  It seems there is a specialty ruler out there for any imaginable quilt block.  I found ruler organizational sanity on two fronts:  a filing system and vertical imagination. 

I have quilted a total of 35 years.  During this time span, I’ve amassed quite an impressive number of rulers.  I divided this impressive ruler collection into two groups:  Those I use occasionally and those I use weekly.  Let’s work with the occasional-use rulers first.  I decided I needed some sort of “filing” system for them – somewhere I could store them but still knew what I had at a glance.  I purchased a plastic filing tub (I think I actually got this from Target) and several hanging file folders.  I wrote the name of each ruler on a file folder, put the ruler and any instructions for it in the folder, and then put the file folder in the plastic filing tub.  By arranging the files in alphabetical order, I know what rulers I have with one quick glance at the tub. The plus factor in this storage method is it fits neatly under my ironing board – in a convenient spot, but completely out of the way. 

The rulers I use every week … and sometimes everyday… must be handled differently.  I don’t want to spend time searching for them in a filing system, even if it is a very organized filing system.  I have four rulers I use every time I work in my studio:  My Creative Grids 4 ½-inch x 12 -inch ruler, my Omnigrip 6-inch x 24-inch ruler with a lip, my Omnigrip 2-inch x 18-inch, and my Creative Grids Binding Tool.  Those are simply left on my cutting table.  However, the other rulers needed a space which was easy to access and easy for me to see what I had.  There are ruler organizers/holders which sit on top of a flat surface, but I didn’t want anything taking up additional cutting or sewing space.  With that consideration in mind, I decided to go vertical:

This ruler holder mounts to the wall, organizes my rulers in such a way I can see them, and doesn’t take up valuable horizontal sewing or cutting space.  You may not have thought about vertical storage beyond the possibility of cabinets.  Don’t sell it short.  Ruler holders which hang on the wall are just the beginning.  Pegboards are another wonderful vertical storage idea.  You can group your storage (thread in one area, hoops in another, etc.) and see what you have in a glance.  My dream quilt studio would have one wall of nothing but a huge pegboard and I would have allllllllll my thread on it — because you all know I’m a thread snob and I may have hundreds quite a few spools of thread. 

Moving on to where you do your cutting —  ideally, you need two cutting areas – a large one and a small one.  Obviously, the large space would be where quilts are cut out.  You need enough space to spread out the fabric so it can be accurately cut.  And depending on the size of your sewing area, this cutting space may or may not be in your studio.  When I started quilting, my large cutting area was in the dining room, which was at the other end of the house from my then tiny studio.  Now it takes up one wall in my quilt room and it’s only several steps away from my sewing machine.  You must keep in mind that not all your cutting will need such a large space.  If you’re trimming block units or cutting the dog ears off of half-square triangles, a small cutting space works great.  I keep a small Martelli round cutting mat (the kind which can be turned) on a TV tray near my sewing machine.  This saves me time (and steps). 

The same large/small concept holds true with pressing.  Quilters press fabric – a lot.  And when I really critiqued my sewing area, I have three pressing options – small, medium, and large.  Let me show you how this breaks out. Next to the TV tray which holds my round Martelli cutting mat, I have a wool pressing mat. 

This is my small pressing area, and it’s near my sewing machine.  As a matter of fact, to do small pressing or cutting, I simply turn my chair around and there’s the TV tray.  I don’t have to get up at all.  This saves me time and steps. 

The next area consists of my ironing board.  I have a quilter’s ironing board which is a little wider and doesn’t taper at one end like the standard ironing board. 

It also has a rest for my iron and any spray bottles. I use this for pressing blocks (sometimes) and rows (all the time).   What I’d like to draw your attention to is my ironing board cover:

The horizontal lines really help when I am squaring up a block or making sure the fabric or block is on grain.  This pressing station is several steps away from my primary sewing area, but right next to my large cutting area – this room layout is important, and I’ll explain why in a bit.

My last pressing station is my kitchen counter.  I have an L-shaped counter configuration, and the long end of the L is where we eat.  I had never really thought about the counter as a viable pressing option until my friend, Cindi, had some of this:

At our last quilt retreat and was using it to make a pressing station out of a table.  A lightbulb went off.  “Wow,” I thought to myself, “I could get two or three yards of that, tape it to the kitchen bar, and have a huge area to press my quilt tops!”

Bingo! My third pressing station was born.  And the large area makes pressing quilt tops a super-easy process.  Again, I had to think out of the box, but sometimes the best ideas are the ones not even in the same room as the box.  If you have a table, counter, or other large area which could be used, it may make your pressing life easier.  As soon as you’re through, the ironing surface fabric can be folded and put away.  I purchased three yards of the ironing surface fabric from Joann’s – available on-line only.

Regardless of how many and what sizes your pressing stations are, make sure you have adequate room for your iron (because an iron falling on your foot is no fun – ask me how I know) and any pressing tools you use, such as Flatter, spray starch, Best Press, Tailor Clapper, or pressing cloths. 

Now let’s talk about why the location of your large cutting area, ironing board, and sewing machine is important. To do this, let’s take a detour into your kitchen. 

If you take a look at your kitchen set up, most of the time location of the sinks, refrigerator, and stove form a triangle.  Contractors do this for a reason:  it’s the easiest set up for the person who does the cooking.  It saves steps and is convenient.  Your sewing space should be set up in the same manner for both ease of use and speed. 

The pressing area, cutting table, and sewing machine should form a triangle (it doesn’t matter what kind of triangle – 60-degree, right, isosceles –just as long as it’s a triangle). 

Since we’ve mentioned iron and pressing areas, let’s also hit on a quilter’s electrical needs.  We plug sooooo many things in outlets – our machines, scan and cut, lights, irons, computers, and printers – just to name a few.  And some of those items (such as the irons) can pull some serious amperage.  If you are lucky enough to own a custom-built sewing studio, have a frank and long discussion with your electrician.  Sketch a layout of where you want to place your machines, irons, and other gadgets which require electricity.  Electrical contractors are well aware of the amperage things like irons take and will make adjustments for that in your fuse box.  They will also make sure you have adequate outlets along the baseboards.  If you’re planning on installing cabinets and countertops, don’t forget to allow for some outlets along the top of them.  And if you can get outlets put in the floor, you’ve just entered quilting nirvana.

However, if you’re like most of us, you’re making do with whatever current available space you have in your house or apartment.  The electrical outlets are already in place.  And those outlets will determine how and where you set up your machines and other electrical gadgets. I’m lucky my quilt studio was the family rec room for a number of years.  There are lots of outlet along the walls.  However, I still have to use these:

I’d like to zero in on the power strips and extension cords.  Even if you don’t use them in your studio, chances are you’ll take a class or attend a retreat and need one.  The first rule in using these is to remember they have a shelf life.  Yes, you can use them for years – until they short out or simply quit working – but most of them become unstable after a year.  My husband and I own an environmental business which requires the use of extension cords and power strips to run our negative air machines.  OSHA requires we write the date purchased on every cord and replace them a year later because they can become a fire hazard.  If you’re only using an extension cord or power strip occasionally, you can go longer before replacing them.  If they’re used daily, then plan on replacing them annually.  It’s a cheap fix for peace of mind.  I do plug my machines into power strips, but I unplug them when I’m through for the day, as well as turn off my extension cord/power strip.  As much as possible plug irons directly into an outlet.   Plugging an iron into an extension cord or power strip can cause fuses to blow or trip because the cord is pulling too much amperage. 

In past blogs, I’ve dealt with fabric storage ideas (and by the way, I just came across a new one I want to share next year).  However, I haven’t touched on how to store thread.  First, I want to dispel the myth of freezing thread.  A few years ago, there was a myth circulating around some quilt circles that freezing cotton thread would prolong its life.  This is not true.  Storing thread in your freezer just takes up perfectly good space which could be used for ice cream.  And the only thing it does for your thread is make it cold. 

The longer you quilt, the more thread you’ll accumulate.  If you only piece tops, your collection will more than likely be limited to neutrals.  However, if you machine or hand applique, or quilt your own tops, be ready for your thread stash to grow exponentially the longer you quilt.  And if you own an embroidery machine, you’ll end up with more spools of thread than you know what to do with.  Today’s threads – unlike the thread which is on spools like these –

Have a long shelf life.  The mechanics behind manufacturing today’s long-staple cottons or tri- and bi-lobed polyesters have improved tremendously over the last twenty years.  Polyester thread – which used to be reviled in quilt circles – has improved so much that it now has a welcome place in the quilting world.  In no time at all, the average quilter finds his or herself with quite a few spools of thread.

The first criteria for thread storage is keep it somewhere relatively out of direct sunlight.  Thread can fade.  The next important idea is be sure to separate your thread.  In other words, it’s not a good idea to store your piecing thread with your embroidery thread, hand quilting thread, etc.  This won’t affect its quality, but when you’re in a hurry and go to grab a spool of thread, it’s easy to pick up the wrong one ask me how I know.  Even if you’re storing all of your thread in one area, have some clear boundaries about where one type ends and another begins.  I keep the thread for my embroidery machine in a drawer all by itself.  My hand and machine applique threads make their home shallow bins.  And my piecing thread is stored on these:

Because I tend to purchase cones of this thread instead of spools.  I save money in the long run purchasing it in bulk. 

I also keep my hand quilting and machine quilting thread separate.  I don’t use as much hand quilting thread, so it lives in a small plastic tub with a lid.  The cones I use on my long arm also have their own cone storage just like my piecing thread does, but the two are kept separate.

One last word about thread.  If you do have some thread which is wooden spools or those plastic gold or silver ones, there are two places to store it.

Here:

Or here:

It’s old.  It was produced before thread manufacturing methods and standards changed.  This thread has a shelf life and it’s probably way over due to be tossed.  If you can’t bear to throw it away, find a pretty jar, put the spools in it, and display it somewhere in your home. 

The last two items I’d like to discuss are lighting and doors.  I can’t begin to emphasize how important good lighting is.  Again, if you’re lucky enough to have a custom-built quilting studio, insist on good lighting.  And good lighting for a quilt studio is different from good lighting in a family room or bedroom.  Lighting for most rooms in a house (except a kitchen) is meant to give a feeling of warmth and coziness.  It’s not necessarily bright and clear.  You want the clearest and brightest light you can possibly get.  If you’re inheriting a spare bedroom or other room as your quilt studio, just make a plan to supplement the overhead lighting as needed.  Hands down my favorite supplemental lighting is Ott.  While yes, Ott lights can be expensive when compared to other brands, their light is clear and bright.  I have an Ott light on each of my sewing tables and want to purchase another one for my cutting area.  You will also want a good light for your hand sewing area if it’s in another location than your sewing room. 

And finally, doors.  Not these Doors…

These doors.

Take it from someone who started sewing in a corner of her kitchen.  Doors are your BFF.  If your space is messy or you have to leave a project out, having a door between your studio and everyone else’s line of vision is a sanity-saver.  For me, it was always such a pain to have to put my project up and have to drag it back out every time I had a few minutes to sew.  Being able to stop at a certain point and then have the ability to come back to that same point without having to  rummage through boxes and drawers is a time saver.  Also knowing you have to pull everything back out to start sewing can kill any enthusiasm you have.  

To sum all of this up, as you arrange and re-arrange your sewing space, keep these points in mind:

1.  Your quilting space is important and should work for you and be ergonomically friendly.
2. Space and sewing machine use determine which machines are kept out and which ones are properly stored.
3. Be sure your chair or stool is comfortable, supportive, and can be adjusted for your comfort.
4. Be open minded when it comes to ruler and tool storage. 
5. Have a workable hand sewing area.
6. Have both large and small pressing and cutting areas.
7. Remember the sewing triangle.
8. If you use extension cords or power strips daily, it’s a good idea to replace them on a yearly basis.
9. Separate your thread.
10. Don’t skimp on good lighting.
11. Insist on a door.
12. Don’t store your thread in the freezer.  It takes up the space meant for ice cream.

I hope this helps you evaluate and re-evaluate your sewing space.  This is truly an ongoing process and what works for you today may not work for you five years from now.  Be flexible and think outside the box.  And don’t be afraid to insist on what you need.  Your quilting is important.

Until next week, Level Up Your Quilting!

Love and Stitches,

Sherri and Sam

We all have two sewing spaces in our head.  The first is our dream quilt studio – spacious, well-lit, organized, full of wonderful fabric, and state of the art machines.  Lots of storage.  Lots of electrical outlets.  A huge design wall.  My dream studio looks kind of like this:

Unfortunately, in my real-life, it doesn’t exist.  Not even close. 

It’s easy to look at Pinterest and come up with all sorts of plans and dreams for the perfect quilt studio.  It’s just as easy to think in your head, “One day when all the kids leave home, I’ll have my own space.”  Or “When we upgrade our house, I’ll make sure I have room,” or “We just need to finish that basement!  That’s my space!”  Dreams are great.   But reality is what it is and it’s best to deal with the sewing space you have now.  That way when your dream space does happen, you’ll know exactly how you want to arrange it.

And this is what I want to talk about for probably the next couple of blogs – your present sewing area.  This can be a corner of your bedroom or kitchen.  A walk-in closet.  A spare bedroom.  When I first started sewing, it was a small area in my kitchen.  Then it went to a finished room in an attic (which was so cold in the winter), to  my living room, to the smallest bedroom in the house, to finally the old rec room – which is by far the largest space I’ve had to date.  The one characteristic I have noticed about quilters is they tend to “make do.”  They always put their quilting last – everything else must be done first.  And they tend to work with whatever leftover space is available they can use.  Our quilting is important.  While your space may be limited due to the square footage in your home, that doesn’t mean it has to be subpar.  And I’m not talking about spending huge amounts of money for upgrades. Nope.  I’m just sayin’ your space should be safe, well-lit, and ergonomically friendly.   

I want to be upfront here and say if you make garments and quilt, your needs are different from someone who only quilts.  If you’re the type of sewist who dabbles in a lot of different types of projects, your studio will need more room for buttons, zippers, interfacings, and a dress form.  These types of sewing areas need to be set up differently.  For the sake of this blog, I’m only working with a quilter’s sewing area.  And please do not think just because your quilting area is small, it can’t also be organized and awesome.  Whether your studio is large or small or somewhere in between, it has the potential to be terrifically workable.  It simply takes some effort and the ability to think outside the box.

Let’s deal with sewing machines first.  According to the Craft Industry Alliance 2020 Survey of Quilters, the average quilter owns four sewing machines.  This does NOT include long arms (which were up 11 percent in sales from 2019).  I have five machines in addition to my long arm.  Let your sewing space dictate how many you have out and available for use.  My quilt studio could accommodate all five of them out at the same time. However, if they were all out, I would have precious little room for anything else.  I decided which ones to keep out by weighing these factors:

1.  What machines must stay out all the time?
2. Which machines do I use the most?

It goes without saying my long arm must stay out.   Leighann has a 12-foot frame.  This girl gets significant floor space and can’t be shifted or moved.  Leighann dominates an entire studio wall.  Big Red, my Janome 7700, also must stay out all the time because I do 90 percent of my piecing on her.  I also tend to quilt small projects on Big Red instead of loading them up on the long arm.  Not only does she have to stay out, but she also needs an entire 8-foot table to manage quilts as well as some tools. 

Out of the five machines I have, I use those two the most. Therefore, they had to stay out. Now I had to decide between Jenny (my small Juki), Barbara (Babylock Spirit Embroidery Machine), Jerri (my Juke 2010Q) and Marilyn (my Featherweight).  This decision was actually pretty easy.  My embroidery machine has a large throat and a long carriage.  And I use it a lot.  It stays out on one end of my quilt studio, next to my writing area.  I can scoot my laptop and Brother Scan and Cut over if I need to use Barbara.  I also love sewing on Marilyn.  There’s just something about sewing on an antique Featherweight and it’s connection to the past.  Since I use her several times a month, Marilyn sits on the small sewing table my dad bought me over 30 years ago.  Putting Jenny and Jerri in storage was an easy decision.  The only time I use my small Juki is in classes (which during the time of COVID are not existent) and I honestly haven’t used my 2010Q since the long arm came into my life. 

You will go through a similar process.  If you have a couple of machines, it’s not a difficult choice.  You may have room enough to leave them all out.  If your sewing space is small, there may be no other option than to shift them around as you use them.  If you do put a machine in storage, make sure it’s cleaned, oiled, covered and kept in a temperature-controlled environment (in other words, not the attic).  The primary concept in this decision is to free up as much floor and surface space as possible and still keep your sewing area functional and easy to use. 

Ergonomically speaking, it’s important to have your machine at a level which doesn’t put strain on your arms and neck.  If you’re a young whippersnapper, this doesn’t mean much.  But since the average quilter is 63, the machine set-up is important.  Not only are our bodies older, we’re more prone to arthritis and a host of other aches and pains.  I became personally aware of the ergonomic importance of my sewing area a few years ago after I took a hard fall.  Despite intense physical therapy, my neck hurts nearly all the time now.  I know surgery is looming on the horizon, but until then, I must pay attention to how I sit, look at my laptop, and sew in order to minimize the pain.  Let’s take a look at how to set your machine space up correctly.  If we minimize the stress it can put on our arms, back, and neck, we can sew for longer periods of time – which is something we all want.  Ideally you should have your machine set on as surface which allows you to keep your elbows bent at a 90-degree angle. 

You really shouldn’t have to look up at the throat of your machine or bend your neck to look down.   However, the good Lord in all His wisdom, has not only made our bodies uniquely wonderful, He has also made them uniquely different.  I’m 5-foot, 3-inches (on a good day when I’m standing up straight), but I’m very short-waisted.  If I sit down in a regular chair at any of my sewing tables, I sit low.  This means my arms aren’t at that 90-degree angle and I’m looking up at the throat of my machine.  Both of those scenarios mean I’m putting additional strain on my back, shoulders, and neck as I sew.  And I imagine your body is different from mine.  Since it’s difficult to change the height of a sewing table (unless you’re prepared to spend scads of money for a custom-built one), it’s easier to change the chair you’re using. 

Adjustable chairs or stools on casters are just what you need.  In my space, because it is fairly large, I can use a chair.  The back of it won’t brush up against anything.  But if your space is small, an adjustable stool may work better.  Both of these can be raised or lowered to adjust to the perfect height for you.  And let me throw this in here – test drive your chair.  Go to an office supply store which has adjustable chairs on display.  Plan to spend some significant time sitting in them.  Have a good idea of how big (or small) you need it and focus on chairs or stools that size.  Remember your body will spend considerable time in the chair.  It should support your lower back well.  Also pay attention to the arms on the chair (if it has them).  Arms add width and those additional inches can make a difference how it fits in your sewing area.  And casters are a must.  You’ll move the chair a lot, no matter how small the sewing area is.  As a matter of fact, I think casters or glide pads should be  on sewing and cutting tables, too.  Those little items make changing things around so much easier. 

While we’re talking about sewing spaces, let’s also discuss hand sewing areas.  Their set up is just as important as how a sewing machine is staged.  There are two crucial factors in a great hand sewing station:  Somewhere you can leave your supplies and somewhere that’s ergonomically friendly.  Let’s talk supplies first.  When I sit down to either hand piece or hand applique, I’ll use assorted threads, needles, a pin cushion, water-soluble basting glue, applique pins, beeswax, a thimble, and scissors along with my fabric units.  I like to keep all of these in one place  – preferably close to a comfy chair, my heating pad (for my neck), good lighting, and the TV.  I also want to be able to tuck them away at the end of a sewing session to keep the dust out of them and keep my den looking neat.  There are lots of different storage ideas out there.  Ott not only makes some great lights, but also great lights with storage space. 

I already had an Ott light, but needed somewhere to store everything after a hand sewing session.  I searched around High Point for a while (because I in live in the furniture capitol of the world) and found this:

This is a small end table, but it packs a pretty big storage punch, plus it’s easy to assemble.  The top lifts like this:

And it has a drawer:

And a shelf at the bottom where I can park books I want to read and a small trashcan. 

I can neatly store all my hand sewing supplies when not in use and it’s readily accessible when I want to spend an evening binge watching PureFlix and doing handwork. 

In this hand sewing area, it’s also important to have a flat sewing surface – or at least it is for me.  I find I hand sew much faster on a flat surface.  I have more control over my fabric and my stitches when I either piece or applique on a tabletop or similar surface.  If you find a great storage table with a large surface, then you really are set.  As much as I love my little storage table, the surface isn’t big enough.  To solve this issue, I purchased this from a thrift store:

It’s an over-sized TV tray which folds up when not in use, so it can be tucked away neatly. 

Setting up a hand sewing station is much like finding out what works well with your sewing machines.  You must analyze the space, the lighting, and your needs to come up with an area which works for you in your space. 

Next let’s talk about tools and gadgets.  It seems like all crafters have hundreds of tools and gadgets and quilters are absolutely no different.  In fact, we may be worse. 

There are tools you will keep stored.  These are helpful, but not ones you use on a daily basis.  Then there are the ones you use daily.  And at this point, we’re not even considering rulers raise your hand if you’re a ruler junkie like me.  Tools such as seam rippers, scissors, basting glue, screw drivers, marking tools, pressing tools (other than irons), machine oil, pins,  machine cleaning tools, and stilettos are items which are used on pretty much a daily basis.  These need to be somewhere within an arm’s reach and organized so we can find them without a great deal of searching.  To determine what I used regularly and how much storage I needed, I put a large plastic container beside Big Red.  Then for two weeks, I would drop in that container every quilting tool I used.  At the end of two weeks, I knew I would have a good idea about what tools I used regularly – which would give me a good idea of how much easy access storage I needed.  All in all, I used about two dozen tools on a consistent basis.  Which led me to purchase this:

And this.

The white Depression-era candy dish is wonderful.  I can hang my stilettos, scissors, and screwdrivers in the holes along the side and a pin cushion sits neatly in the dish.  An office desk organizer cleverly stores the rest of my stuff including a few small rulers I use on a regular basis while sewing on Big Red.  The idea behind this storage is it should be small enough to sit near your machines and not encroach too much on your sewing surface.   Hands down, the best place I’ve found such storage is either at an office supply place or a dollar store.  I’ve seldom found such storage containers at a fabric or quilt shop.  My advice is to think outside the box.  Know what tools you need to keep out to make your life easier and how much storage space these require.  Then peruse the aisle of both types of establishments with an open mind. 

Next week we’ll have one more blog about your sewing space. Ruler and thread storage, pressing and cutting stations, and the nuts and bolts of your electrical needs (and safety) and lighting will be discussed — as well as the ultimate quilt studio sanity saver.

Until Next Week, Level Up Your Quilting!

Love and Stitches,

Sherri and Sam

I want to talk about relationship issues today.

Before we start, you need to know something about me.  I’m pretty much a black-and-white person.  And by that, I mean I either like something or I don’t.  I don’t do “maybe” very well.  I like yes or no answers.  Numbers are my friends (because the raw data doesn’t lie), but statistics are my sworn enemy (that’s just a way to twist the numbers to make them say what you want them to say).

Thus, my relationships with pre-cuts.  For those of you who may not recognize the term, a “pre-cut” is fabric which is cut into measurable units before it is sold – such as fat quarters, jelly rolls, and charm packs.  These are generally packaged and sold as part of a line of fabrics.  I love these things, and at other times have a difficult time accepting them.  We definitely have a love-hate relationship.  And I blame our rocky friendship on fabric manufacturers. 

As with most relationships, my affair with pre-cuts began innocently enough.  It started with fat quarters.  In my early days of quilting, between kids, job, and grad school, I mainly completed small quilt projects and fat quarters fit into my schedule (and wallet) nicely.  I loved them and they made it possible for an entire fabric line to come home with me, take up comparatively little space, and didn’t break the Fields family budget.  They were high quality and most of the time held the true measurements of a fat quarter – 18-inches x 22-inches.  Add to those facts there were plenty of fat-quarter friendly quilt patterns, and I was a happy quilter.

Then jelly rolls entered the picture.  While perusing a quilt shop at Myrtle Beach, SC, I came across this roll of fabrics, comprised of 2 ½-inch strips.  It was lovely – all the colors of the fabrics could be seen through the top and the prints were visible on the sides.  When I asked what this was, the salesperson told me it was “A jelly roll –  forty-two 2 ½ inch strips of fabric.”

I was duly impressed.  “But what do you make with this?” I inquired.

“A quilt!  You sew them together and make a small lap quilt,” was the answer.  To give a point of reference, jelly rolls were introduced to the sewing population in 2006.  This could not have taken place long after that.  So at this time, there were no “jelly roll races” and jelly roll patterns were few and far between, if not non-existent.  But the roll I had in hand was pretty and I figured if nothing else, I could use it in my applique.  It came home with me and sat on a shelf for several months before I unwrapped it and tried to sew it together.

Only to be completely underwhelmed.  The strips were not all the same width (some were 2 ½-inches, others 2 1/4-inches) and more than a few were cut crooked.  I sorted them according to color and tossed them in my scrap fabric bins.  I didn’t believe another jelly roll would ever be in my future. 

Which was completely wrong, of course.

In the ensuing three years, I either won or was given a total of eight jelly rolls.  All of which sat on the shelf for a long time.  Once bitten, twice shy.  I didn’t know what to do with fabric strips which were probably cut crooked and not uniform in width.  Since that particular time in my life, I have seen the quilting market flooded with pre-cuts and patterns designed specifically for them.  And this is the topic I want to discuss in this week’s blog – pre-cuts.  I want to touch on what they are, how they fit into our quilting world, and what to do with them. 

Let’s talk about Fat Quarters first.  These pre-cuts were the first ones introduced to the quilting public back in 1980.  These are made by cutting a ½-yard of fabric, and then cutting the half-yard in half on the width, so you have an 18-inch x 22-inch piece of fabric.  Generally, there is a selvege one end, so the quilter is aware what is the lengthwise, crosswise, and bias grains of the fat quarter.  The edges are not pinked (this is important and will be addressed a bit later).  These are sold individually and in bundles.  These bundles may have a fat quarter from each line of fabric in a family or may only have selected ones.  Single fat quarters average costing $3.00 each and a typical bundle of fat quarters (about 26 pieces of fabric) runs about $78.00.  Solid fat quarters are more expensive more than prints. 

For a long time, I’ve believed fat quarters are the most versatile of the pre-cuts and I still believe it’s true.  A fat quarter can be cut into two 10-inch squares (layer cakes) with extra fabric for four 5-inch charm squares.  It can be cut into twelve 5-inch charm squares and a 22-inch jolly strip. It also can produce fifty-six 2 ½-inch mini charm squares, seven 2 ½-inch x 22-inch jelly roll strips, or eight 2 ½-inch x 18-inch jelly roll strips.  If matched with another fabric, you can sew a nearly endless array of half-square triangles or quarter-square triangles.  When you purchase a typical fat quarter bundle of 26 cuts, pair it with a few yards of a neutral and an additional yard or two of your focus fabric, you have a quilt.

Those are the pros of fat quarters.  Now for the cons.  Usually with a fat quarter bundle, you get an array of prints from a line of fabrics.  The collection will include solids, small and medium prints, and at least one large print (which for most quilters is the go-to focus fabric).  This is where you can run into problems.  Sometimes the print is too large for the fat quarter.  You may only get one full rendition of the print or sometimes just parts of the print.  If you’re counting on using all your fat quarters as part of the fabric requirements, that one piece can give you serious issues.  If your fat quarter bundle is a recent purchase, chances are you can find yardage of the large print at your LQS. 

However, if you purchase your fat quarters on-line, you actually may have better options.  Most (not all) fat quarter bundles in a brick-and-mortar store are wrapped in cellophane to keep them clean.  Which means you can’t always determine what fabrics are in the bundle because you can’t see the surface of the material.  When purchased on-line, generally the website will give you tiny thumbnails pictures of all the fabrics in the bundle and list the available yardages which coordinate with the fat quarters. This really helps you make wise purchases.  Most large on-line quilt stores have fat quarters available.  My favorite sites are Pineapple Fabrics, The Fat Quarter Shop, Shabby Fabrics, Stitch Party Studio, and Missouri Star.   However, one selling point the LQS and some big box stores have over on-line establishments is single fat quarter sales.  Most brick-and-mortar stores have individual fat quarters for sale, so you can pick and choose what you want.

My second-favorite pre-cut is layer cakes.  A layer cake is a precut pack of fabric, generally consisting of forty-two, 10-inch squares (although that number may vary). These fabrics are grouped together by designer line, color, or theme. The edges may or may not be pinked. 

Layer cakes are almost as versatile as fat quarters.  One layer cake can produce a twin-sized quilt and two of them make a queen-sized.  They can be cut down into charms and mini-charms, if needed.  They can be sliced and diced to make half-square and quarter-square triangles.  A yard or two of a neutral and a focus fabric can be added and only one layer cake may be needed to make a quilt. 

The problems encountered with layer cake purchases are the same as those with fat quarters, except the large print issues are even worse for a 10-inch square.  However, for whatever reason, many layer cakes are usually not wrapped.  This means you can thumb through the fabric and see what prints are repeated and which ones have large repeats.  This makes purchasing layer cakes in a brick-and-mortar store easy.  And let me throw in this observation – most layer cake pieces are true-to-size.  Overall, they do tend to measure 10-inches square.

Jelly rolls are third on my list, and they have come a long, long way since 2006.  I recently purchased a Boundless ombre jelly roll from Ebay and every one of the strips was 2 ½-inches.  The quality of cutting has greatly improved.  I also think these pre-cuts are packaged wonderfully.  While most of the time they are wrapped in cellophane, they’re arranged so it’s easy to see the colors and prints. 

The strips are generally 2 ½-inches wide and cut the length of the fabric – between 44 and 45-inches.  The edges are pinked, and larger prints are lost in the narrow width – something manufacturers realize and often opt not to have the larger prints in a jelly roll.  Be aware there are rolls out there which are 1 ½-inches wide and these are called Honeybuns (and we’re not discussing them today because I’ve never used one but I have seen them used as sashing and they’re wonderful).  Jelly rolls usually have 40 strips in them.  One roll can make a twin-size quilt and two will make a queen.  I honestly was not crazy about these pre-cuts until I discovered this ruler:

Which allows you to make half-square triangles from the strips.  Now I’m slightly in love with them.  There are hundreds of patterns for jelly rolls and almost every fabric line offers these pre-cuts.  And they make four-patch and nine-patch construction super, super fast and easy.

In fourth place are charms and mini-charms.  The charm packs consist of forty-two 5-inch fabric squares.  Anyone who has pieced even a short amount of time can attest to the fact that 5-inch squares are used a lot.  Mini-charms are 2 ½-inch squares and these packs also have 42 pieces of fabric in them.  The 2 ½-inch measurement is also a pretty common one in quilt patterns.  With both of these, it’s usual to find most of the fabrics from a theme or a line of fabrics.  What you probably won’t find (especially with the mini-charms) are any of the large prints from the fabric line.  I like both of these pre-cuts because they make half-square and quarter-square triangle production fast and easy. 

Can you actually make an entire quilt from just these small pieces of fabric?  The answer is yes, but it takes a lot of them.  It takes 12 packs of the mini-charms to make a baby quilt.  Five-inch charm packs are a larger cut, and they break out like this:

Baby quilt – 1 pack

Crib  quilt – 2 packs

Lap quilt – 3 packs

Twin quilt – 5 packs

Queen quilt – 8 packs

Of course, like the other pre-cuts, when you add a few yards of a neutral and a focus fabric, the number of packs needed lowers somewhat. 

Now that we’ve described the pre-cuts, I’d like to give some over all great things about all of them – even the ones we didn’t discuss.  For me, the best thing about pre-cuts is they are time-savers, which in my world breaks down like this:

1.  The colors/fabric selections are already made.  This means I save time looking at bolts of fabric either in my LQS or on-line.  And while shopping is fun, I don’t always have the luxury of time.  When I find a pre-cut I like, I can purchase it, maybe a yard or two of focus fabric and a neutral and I have a quilt I know will look nice.
2. I’ve minimized my cutting time.  Of all the steps involved in making a quilt, I like cutting it out the least.  Even if I have to slice and dice my precut, I’ve still saved time by not having to cut out 2 ½-inch strips, 10-inch strips, 5-inch strips, etc., and then sub-cutting.

Another wonderful thing about pre-cuts I mentioned earlier:  It’s an affordable way to have most, if not all, of a line of fabric.  Obviously, unless you’re a fabulously rich quilter or a fabric designer, it’s impossible to have major yardage of an entire line.  Pre-cuts give you a taste of what you want with the possibility of purchasing more of your favorite.  

The last absolutely wonderful pre-cut attribute is the patterns available for them.  The pre-cut patterns have gone from an absolute wasteland in the early to mid-2000’s to an overloaded abundance.  And many of these patterns are free.  They either come with the precut (Pineapple Fabrics gives you a selection of free patterns to choose from with every precut order) or they’re available for immediate download from the manufacturer’s website. 

Now for the not-so-great precut attributes.  I mentioned the pinked edge earlier.  Many of the pre-cuts come with a pinked edge, which looks like this:

The idea behind this zig-zaggy edge is to prevent fraying.  Which is a good idea, except  two things happen with the pinking:   The pre-cuts become terribly linty and there is a lot of confusion about what should be considered as the fabric’s raw edge – the peak or the valley?  Let’s deal with the lint first.  I don’t open any pre-cuts in my house except fat quarters, which generally are not pinked.  With the others, I grab my lint roller and step outside.  I open the precut outside and run the lint roller all over the top, bottom, and sides of the jelly roll, charm pack, etc.  This does not eliminate all the lint, but it does a really good job in reducing the amount of lint that can get on your floors, furniture, and clothes.

As far as what is the edge of your fabric, most pattern designers agree it’s the valley, not the peak.  However, it’s more important you remain consistent.  If you begin construction with the peaks as your fabric edge, piece the entire quilt that way. Don’t switch back and forth between the two. 

Another possible drawback with pre-cuts concerns those with stripes, plaids, or checkered prints.  If any of the pre-cuts you purchase have those types of prints in the bundle, make sure they’re printed straight.  The lines should be at 180-degrees and where they cross (as in plaids or checks), they should make 90-degree angles.  If you’re sub-cutting those pieces into smaller units, sometimes you can make do with an off-print.  However, if they’re used as a unit or as a large piece in a block, and the lines aren’t straight, it will be obvious no matter what.

Another drawback to all pre-cuts is the fabric itself.  While yes, there is no worry about the colors harmonizing, you have no choice about the fabrics chosen in each package, and I’ve found there usually is no true dark among them.  When you lay them out, take a picture with your phone, and then view the photo through the black and white filter in your app, all the fabric tends to look gray.  If you’re purchasing additional yardage of neutrals and a focus fabric, you may want to add a yard of a true dark. 

The final issue to consider is price.  Overall, pre-cuts are more expensive than yardage.  When you take the price of the precut and the price of a yard of fabric and break it down, pre-cuts are several cents higher per inch than a regular yard of fabric.  There is a formula you can use to discern if you’re getting a workable value in a precut.  Take the usable inches of a width of fabric (for this example we’re using 40 inches) and multiply that by 36 – the number of inches in a yard – and this gives you 1,440 usable inches in one yard of fabric.  This means:

A forty-strip jelly roll has 4,000 square inches or 2.78 yards of fabric (40 x 2 ½ = 4,000 then 4,000 / 1,440 = 2.78)

A layer cake of 40 squares also is 2.78 yards of fabric (40 squares x 10 x 10 = 4,000 then 4,000 / 1,440 = 2.78

A 40-piece 5-inch charm pack has .69 yards of fabric (40 x 5 x 5 = 1,000 then 1,000 / 1,440 = .69)

A 40-piece 2 ½-inch charm pack has .17 yards of fabric (40 x 2 ½ x 2 ½ = 250 then 250 / 1,440 = .17)

Let’s zero in on jelly rolls to continue this example.  I looked at five random fabric sites and took each of their mid-priced jelly rolls and came up with an average price of $37.17.  When we take the yardage of a 40-piece jelly roll (2.78) and divide the average price ($37.17) by 2.78 this gives us an average cost of $13.37 per yard for a jelly roll.  So, price point per yard, pre-cuts are a little more expensive than yardage. 

The last couple of points I want to make are not necessarily drawbacks to pre-cuts, but they are points of interest you need to be aware of.

1.  If you purchase a pre-cut and it’s really off-kilter – not cut accurately, off-print, or super off-grain, let the manufacturer, on-line store, or brick-and-mortar store know.  Usually they’ll either refund your money or replace the pre-cut.
2. This second point concerns prewashing.  By now most of you know I’m a dedicated pre-washer.  But pre-cuts make this process a little tricky.  Most of the patterns for pre-cuts assume you’re not prewashing.  So if you do prewash and there is some shrinkage, just know your finished project may be slightly smaller than the dimensions given on the pattern. 

Now let’s talk about the prewashing itself.  I don’t advise doing this in a washing machine, even if you put the pre-cuts in a lingerie bag.  Although most of the pre-cuts are pinked to prevent fraying, the agitation in the washing machine will still cause some unraveling.  And that can be a real pain to deal with when you’re trying to pull them apart to dry them.  I’ve found it’s best to simply allow the pre-cut to soak in a sink of warm water which has some laundry detergent or blue  Dawn dish detergent in it.  Agitate by hand, rinse in cool water, and lay flat to dry. 

Pre-cuts are wonderful tools for quilters to have in their studio.  If you see a precut and you love it, go ahead and buy it.  The price points aren’t enough to beat yourself up over.  The additional cost may be made up in the time and trouble it shaves off in cutting. 

Until Next Week, Level Up Your Quilting!

Love and Stitches,

Sherri and Sam

Today I want to talk about how to handle your curves.

And no, I’m not talking about these curves.

I’m talking about these curves.

That’s right.  Quilt blocks with curved units. 

Several quilt block units claim curvy fame – Clam Shells, Orange Peels, and Drunkard’s Path to name a few.  And if you toss in all the applique blocks which have curved pieces, the list would literally be endless.  But today I just want to discuss the quilt blocks which have curvy pieced units.  Curvy applique is another blog for another day.   I’m using the Drunkard’s Path to demonstrate the different ways to handle curves.  I choose this for a couple of reasons.  First, it’s a familiar block – even if you haven’t sewn it, you at least probably know what it looks like.  Second, the convex to concave ratio is steep – in other words, if you can successfully sew this curve, all the others will be easy-peasy.

However, before we get into construction, let’s take a dive into the history of this block.  We know this block best by the name Drunkard’s Path.  But it also is identified by Wonder of the World, Robbing Peter to Pay Paul, Solomon’s Puzzle, Endless Trail, Country Cousin, and Pumpkin Vine.  I had heard some of these names, but others were totally unfamiliar.  I threw them into my EQ 8 (which has Barbara Brackman’s Block Base on it – the old one, not the new one due out soon), and received no results for Country Cousin or Pumpkin vine.  Robbing Peter to Pay Paul was a star block which used half-square triangles.  All of which I guess goes to show how quickly block names can change and even go obsolete. 

This block which has so many names became primarily known as Drunkard’s Path during the Temperance Movement.  And it does kind of look like an inebriated trek home.  Drunkard’s Path and the T-Square (shown below – and it came to be known as the Temperance T Block during this era) were embraced by this movement. 

Both were used in quilts representing the anti-alcohol society.  Many of these quilts were blue and white, since those were the colors chosen to represent the Temperance Movement.  But just as many were not.  I think the ones made in red and white fabric are the most stunning – but then again, I really like red and white quilts. 

However, the block has an even earlier history than the Temperance Movement (which lasted roughly from 1820 to 1933 when the 21^st amendment was nullified).  Archaeologists have found this block on the Roman ruins in Egypt.  So, the block is pretty old – or at least its concept is.

Drunkard’s Path works like this:  There’s a convex curve:

Which must be sewn to the concave curve.

And when they’re joined, this is what they look like:

They appear as if they snuggly and easily fit together.  But I’ll be the first quilter to tell you, those looks are deceiving, because you have to put them together like this:

To sew them.

And it’s trickier than it looks.  However, the purpose of this blog is to give you a few tricks of your own to successfully navigate this curving, winding path.  I will be honest with you – if you want to take a deep dive into quilting curves and never have tried it before, you may want to stick your toe in the water with a gentle curve.  Use the techniques given in this blog to work with curves which don’t have such a steep gradient before moving on to something like this:

Whenever I’m faced with blocks which are difficult or have lots of pieces, the first question I ask myself is “Can this thing be paper pieced?”  To me, if a complicated block can be broken down into units and paper pieced, I’ve accomplished two things.  First, I’ve upped my accuracy, as paper piecing is very accurate, and second, paper piecing makes difficult units easier to work with.  So, I searched EQ 8 for Drunkard’s Path blocks I could paper piece and had no luck.  On each block I received the information:  “This block has curved lines so it cannot be automatically numbered for paper piecing.” In other words, paper piecing these curves is not an option.  At least for EQ 8.  Could you possibly do it?  I have seen blog posts with instructions on how to paper piece these curves, but to me it’s no different than piecing it the regular way.  However, English Paper Piecing the Drunkard’s Path is a viable option – especially if the block is small. And there are several on-line quilt shops which can supply you with the laser-cut cardstock ready for use. 

The next question I ask myself with a block like Drunkard’s Path is “Can it be appliqued?”  The answer is yes.  As a matter of fact, one of the first quilts I made had a block made of red and white Drunkard Path units arranged to look like Cardinal birds.  I needle-turned every one of them and am still really pleased with the results.  The units came out the correct size and they all looked identical.  So, that was a huge win for me as a beginner quilter. 

But that was only one large block made from 12 Drunkard Path units.  If you’re constructing a quilt like this:

It’s a lot of blocks to applique.  Even though machine piecing this block is a slow process, it’s still faster than hand applique (although the speed would be about the same if machine appliqued).  There are two ways to machine piece these rascals – the traditional way and my way.  But before we begin construction, let me give you some general tips for each.

1.  Starch every inch of your fabric.  Even if you haven’t prewashed your fabric and the finish is still on it, starch it.  And for the Drunkard Path block, I use real starch (such as Faultless or Niagara), not a starch substitute (such as Best Press).  This is important because both the concave and convex curves have lots of bias and the bias needs to be stabilized as much as possible.  Real starch does this so much better than a substitute.  I would really recommend starching the fabric twice.
2. More than likely you will use templates.  With most  — if not all – Drunkard’s Path and other curvy blocks, templates will be used.  The quilter traces around the templates (usually made of cardstock or template plastic or acrylic).  Speed is not your friend here, accuracy is.  Trace slowly and be careful not to drag the marking tool across the fabric so that the fabric distorts, and the bias is possibly stretched.  If card stock is used, it saves time to go ahead and make several templates, so they can be replaced as needed.  My favorite curvy templates are made from acrylic.  Missouri Star Quilt Company has several Drunkard Path acrylic templates.  The Perfect Patchwork Company also has them, as well as the John Flynn Frame Company.  I’ve made several quilts which used the Drunkard’s Path block and for me, the acrylic templates were worth the money.
3. Prepare to pin.  And pin some more.  I know some of don’t like to pin, but it’s almost impossible to have a pretty curvy block without the judicious use of pins.  You’ll pin a lot.  This is be explained a bit further down the blog.
4. Speed is not your friend.  Straight seams can be sewn fairly quickly.  Curved seams cannot.  Sew slowly and make sure the raw edges stay aligned as you go along.  Some quilters do great with using their ¼-inch quilting foot.  Others swear by a walking foot for sewing curves.  Try both and see what works best for you.  Regardless, sew slowly to maintain your accuracy and stop frequently (with the needle down) to adjust the fabric so you don’t get pleats, tucks, and puckers.  If you do all of this and you still have issues, you may want to switch to a scant ¼-inch instead of the full one.  Sometimes the narrower seam allowance works better. 
5. I find it easier to sew with the concave piece on top.  If you can’t remember which is concave and which is convex, think about it like this:

This is pie:

This is pie ala mode. 

This may not work for you.  If it doesn’t, switch the pieces so the pie is on top and try it.

•  Even with all the precautions, you may still get puckers.  The tighter the curve, the more you’re apt to get puckers.  If this happens, try stopping frequently (with the needle down) and smooth the fabric out with your fingers.  I find using a stiletto is a big help. 

The first construction method we’ll try is the “traditional” method.  If you want to make one with me, I’m making a 6-inch finished Drunkard Path block.  That means I need to use at least 6 ½-inch unit pieces to allow for the seams.  However, any block with this much bias involved can turn out a little wonky.  I would cut the pieces at 6 ¾-inches and plan to trim them down. 

My first step is always prep several blocks at a time.  It’s a wonderful idea to cut all your pieces out at the same time, but since this block unit requires a great deal of pinning, you may find it helpful to pin a dozen or so block units and then sew them.  This seems to go faster than make a block, prep the next block, sew that block, prep the next block, etc.  It also helps you get a rhythm up sewing those curves. 

After your pieces are cut out, fold the pie shapes in half and press it so there’s a crease running down the middle of each piece of pie.

Next, fold the “ala mode” pieces in half:

And press them so there’s a crease in the middle of it.

Now match the two pieces, right sides together, so the creases line up and put a pin in them.

I’m throwing a personal preference for pins at this point.  When I machine piece any curvy block, I prefer using the glass head pins:

These are fine and sharp, and shorter than a lot of pins quilters use.  They don’t get in the way and are easy to remove before they reach the needle. Don’t sew over them.  This can damage your sewing machine needle. 

After you’ve pinned the middle, then you want to pin the ends of the ala mode piece to the ends of the pie like this:

Here’s where the tricky part comes in – now you want to pin the rest of the curves together, working out tiny tucks and wrinkles as you pin.  This process will require the judicious use of pins.  As a matter of fact, I think the more you pin the better the block will look, and the better the chances of it coming out perfect.

Take the unit to your machine and sew the seam slowly and carefully, removing the pins before you get to the machine’s needle.  I know this is a lot of stopping and starting, but this also gives you a chance to smooth out the fabric, keep the raw edges of the fabric aligned, and correct any mistakes.  I also find a stiletto is very helpful with this step, and remember to stop sewing with your needle in the down position. 

Once the two pieces are sewn together, they need to be pressed.  Even though the seam is sewn together, there still are bias edges involved and they can still be stretched if you’re not careful.  I press my edges toward the concave unit.  If your block doesn’t want to lie flat, try clipping the curves of the seam and pressing again.  Usually this will help the unit lie pretty flat.  After pressing, trim your block to the correct unfinished size. 

The traditional method of piecing a Drunkard’s Path works well for a two-piece block unit.  However, if you remember this year’s blog theme is Level Up Your Quilting – which means this year we’re pushing the boundaries with what we’re comfortable doing.  We’re taking what we know and expanding it to bigger and better quilting experiences.  So…what if you want to make a three-piece Drunkard’s Path with a pieced middle ring?  Sounds complicated, right?  It really isn’t.  It’s a few more steps, but the look is stellar.  Here’s how it goes….

When we look at the drawing, we know we want that center piece to be the star attraction.  Why?  Because if pieced carefully in the quilt, those center arcs can match up and create circles which add movement to our quilt.  So that middle ring must be made true to the unfinished template size.  The middle ring can be made of a single piece of fabric.  If this is your choice, I would suggest using a dominant color or a print which immediately draws your eye to it.  I would make the other two pieces – the pie and the ala mode – out of a neutral tone-on-tone or solid regardless of whether the middle ring is pieced or not. 

The first step is making sure all the fabric has a good starching and pressing – especially the middle ring fabric.  This particular piece has exposed bias on the inner and outer curve.  It’s important to stabilize it as much as possible.  If you’re piecing your middle ring, you’ll want to make sure all the fabric has some starch in it, and if you can paper piece it, so much the better.  The papers will add additional stability to the bias edges. I don’t remove the papers until I’m ready to sew, and if I can avoid it, I don’t remove them until after the entire quilt top is ready for quilting.  But if you struggle to join the middle ring to the two other pieces while the papers are on, go head and remove them, but starch the ring before sewing.   If you’re using a template to draw the ring onto fabric, don’t drag the pen or pencil across the fabric and stretch the bias.  I cut my middle ring pieces out with scissors (more accurate than a rotary cutter) and store them flat.  I don’t pick them up until I’m ready to sew and have been known to give them another shot of starch and a quick press with a hot iron before sewing. 

Now let’s talk about the pie and the ala mode piece. 

Here are my templates:

And here’s how big I cut each out of the fabric:

I increase the size of both templates by as much as two inches.  Why?  Well, it makes the middle ring fit easily onto the pie piece. I find the center of the pie and the center of the middle ring and pin those two together, but I don’t have to keep shifting and pinning to avoid puckers.  This helps keep the bias in both pieces from getting stretched.  I sew these two together, and then add the ala mode piece, finding the center and pinning the same way.

After it’s over, I trim the pie and the ala mode piece down to fit the middle ring.

This makes your Drunkard’s Path look impressively difficult.  Only you will know how easy it truly is. And that middle ring gives so much motion to your quilt.  Remember the Halo Medallion?

When you look at those circling geese, they’re the middle ring of a three-pieced Drunkard Path block.  

Yes, this Drunkard’s Path takes a little more time and a little more prep, but man, is it fun!

The last curvy unit I want to talk about is what I call the Curves of Deception.  This means the quilt looks as if it has curved pieces, but it doesn’t.  Thus, my name, The Curves of Deception.  This effect all has to do with color and fabric placement.  Take a look at this quilt on EQ 8:

This quilt consists of two blocks, with absolutely no curved pieces in either one:  The Monkey Wrench

and the Garden Path Star. 

The manner in which the half-square triangles of the Monkey Wrench lock into the white squares of the four-patch in the Garden Patch triangles makes the quilt look as if it has gently curving pieces when in reality no curves exist at all.  This isn’t an effect you can get with a lot of blocks but I have learned if the blocks have HSTs at the corners and they can be linked up with a four-patch, they have the possibility of this effect.  It’s a good idea to play with this on EQ 8 or graph paper before cutting out the quilt or even choosing fabric. 

There is absolutely no reason at all to dread curved piecing.  Like a lot of quilt techniques, it does take a bit of advanced planning and some prep work.  But it’s not as hard as it looks as long as you slow your sewing down and use pins.  And when you expand a block like Drunkard’s Path into a few more pieces, the look is dramatic and the skill set is easy.  You may want to start with a small curvy quilt to make sure you have the technique well in hand before you move onto a bed-sized one. 

Until next week, Level Up Your Quilting!

Love and Stitches,

Sherri and Sam

A few blogs back when I wrote about hand sewing needles, I promised in the future I’d write one about thimbles.  I must confess I’ve had a love/hate relationship with thimbles for a long time, and it wasn’t until the last few years I made peace with using  one.  Now I generally reach for  it every time I pick up my hand sewing.  This week we’re taking a deep dive into the world of thimbles, their history, how to use one, and how to make sure you have one that fits. 

By definition, a thimble is a “small, pitted cup worn on the finger that protects it from being pricked or poked by the eye of a needle while sewing.”  The Old English word for thimble is pymel.  Pymel is derived from the Old English word puma – meaning “thumb.”  And while today we tend to picture using thimbles on the middle finger, they were and are also used on thumbs. 

Historically, the earliest thimbles closely followed the invention of what we recognize as “sewing.”  Thimbles have been found in England dating back to the 10^th century and by the 14^th century, they were in widespread use in nearly all households.  Most of these early thimbles were made of brass, although Queen Elizabeth I is rumored to have given one of her ladies-in-waiting a thimble inlaid with precious stones.  These brass thimbles were either made of cast brass or from hammered sheets.  Eventually the mass production of these brass thimbles moved to Nuremburg in the 15^th century and then to Holland in the 17^th. 

But by 1693, John Lofting – a Dutch thimble manufacturer – moved things back to England.  He began producing thimbles at Islington in London.  His company grew quickly, and he moved his mill to Buckinghamshire to take advantage of water-powered production, eventually making over two million thimbles per year.  Without getting into a lot of the manufacturing details, by the end of the 18^th century he had changed production methods to produce thinner thimbles with a taller shape. In addition, by this time cheaper sources of silver were available and silver thimbles also became part of his production.  These silver thimbles were very popular and sold well.  Manufacturing speed also increased when a machine was invented to punch the small dimples in a thimble.  Before that, all of those dimples had to be put in by hand.  So, if you’re perusing antique shops for thimbles and you find one with irregular dimple patterns, chances are it was made before the 18^th century. 

Thimbles weren’t manufactured in America until the 1830’s.  Ketcham and McDougall of New York were the first mass producer followed in 1839 by Simon Brothers in Philadelphia – who, by the way, are still making thimbles.  However, a gold thimble, circa 1850, is attributed to Paul Revere, Jr.  It has engraved script initials LD with a wrought domed top and it sold for a whopping $10,000.00 in 2014. 

While brass was the choice for mass thimble manufacturing, thimbles were and are made of other substances:  metal, leather, rubber, wood, glass, and china.  Those thimbles pre-dating mass production were made of whole bone, horn, ivory, Connemara marble, bog oak, and mother of pearl.  Occasionally they were adorned with diamonds, sapphires, or rubies.  Today, in addition to precious and semi-precious stones, thimbles are sometimes topped with cinnabar, agate, moonstone, or amber.  They’re enameled or may even use the Guilloche’ techniques advanced by Peter Carl Faberge’.

Yes, thimbles have come a long, long way since their humble beginnings.  And while at the end of this blog we will discuss collecting them and some other esoteric (but fascinating facts) about them, what I want to focus on is the here and now – what most utility thimbles are made of, how to use one, and most importantly how to make sure you have one that fits correctly.

Chances are if you have either purchased or been given a beginner’s sewing or quilting kit or have looked at thimbles in the notions aisle of a store, this is what usually comes to mind:

A very generic, one-size-fits-all, silver-colored thimble.  And I think the trouble begins here, because most folks assume this is the only thimble out there. If it doesn’t work, then it must be something wrong with them, not the thimble.  This is how I felt for years.  No matter how many of those silver thimbles I purchased, none of them worked for me.  They didn’t feel right and were awkward to use.  I asked my fellow quilters what kind of thimble they used, and learned today’s thimbles are made from leather, silver, gold, plastic, silicon, and pewter.  Determined to find something that worked, I dropped those metal thimbles into a drawer and began my quest to find the perfect thimble. 

After months of research and a handful of thimbles, I still found nothing which worked for me.  While my quilting buddies were hand sewing up a storm with their thimbles, I wasn’t.  It was only when I discovered thimbles came in different sizes and it had to fit correctly that I found the perfect one for me. 

Thimbles work like rings  — a fact not a lot of beginner sewing enthusiasts realize.  Most of us think the generic one-size-fits-all silver thimble is the only one available.  A thimble should fit comfortably on your finger, be snug enough it doesn’t fall off, but not so tight if feels as if it’s cutting off the circulation.  You should be able to put your thimble on your middle finger, then hang your hand down by your side and it does not fall off.  So, let’s talk about how to determine what size thimble you need. 

If you’re purchasing a thimble made in the United States, all you need is the ring size for your middle finger.  American-made thimbles use ring sizes for their measurement.  This makes it pretty easy if you’re purchasing a custom-made thimble.  For instance, if your ring size is seven, then you order a size seven thimble.  Thimbles sold in fabric stores, on-line, or big box stores often are simply labeled small, medium, and large.  These are harder to determine, because like clothing, some brands run small and some run big.  Read the package to see if there is any information indicating what ring size falls into these categories.  If your purchasing a thimble from another country, quite often these establishments will convert your US ring size into millimeters.  You also may notice that you wear two different sizes of thimbles – if your hands tend to swell at certain times (such as in the hot summer months), you may need a larger one for a while and then when the swelling goes down (like in the winter), you need a smaller one.

If you still have a hard time finding a thimble that fits, there are a couple different thimble constructions to keep in mind.  First, there are leather thimbles which  fit over your middle finger. 

These work great, and I’ve used one in all but the hottest of weather, when it just gets too uncomfortable temperature-wise.  There are also adjustable thimbles:

You can push the bendable rings to form-fit your finger.

And there are also these:

Which are called Thimble-It or Thimble Pads.  These are small, plastic disks which have adhesive on one side, so you can press it onto the area of your middle finger which receives the most abuse from the eye-end of your needle.  I love these things, and they can be used several times before the adhesive loses all its stickiness. 

For those of us who have long fingernails, especially the kind you buy at a nail salon, it’s even more difficult to find a thimble we can use.  I finally discovered open-topped thimbles.  These are my two cherished, silver, open-topped thimbles custom made for my right hand:

My SNS nail can slide right through the opening.  Tailor’s thimbles are also an option:

There is no top on these, and they fit snuggly over your fingertip, down to the first knuckle.  Please note that a thimble which stops at the first knuckle is a long thimble.  Personally, I like the extra length.  If you decide to custom order a thimble, you can request it be made long enough to reach your first finger joint.  The biggest difference between in using a tailor’s thimble and a “regular” thimble is remembering to push the needle with the side of your finger and not the fingertip.

Once you find one which works for you and fits well, it’s important to know how to sew with it.  And if you’ve hand sewn for a while without a thimble, it’ll really feel like you’ve slowed down to a snail’s pace until you get used to the process.  But in the long run, you’ll catch your rhythm and actually sew faster with a thimble than without it.  Keep in mind the thimble is there to allow you to use more of your hand while sewing – instead of pinching the needle between your finger and thumb and then pushing the needle through the fabric, the thimble takes the brunt of the work and allows the hand to relax so you can actually sew longer with a thimble than without it. 

To begin, I want you think about two things – how you hold a pencil and relaxing your fingers.  First, you hold the sewing needle between your thumb and index finger and allow the eye of the needle to rest in one of the dimples of your thimble.  The position of your hand should be the same as it is when you’re holding a pencil.  It will be slightly different because you’re holding a needle between your index finger and thumb, but the position of the middle finger should be the same as it is when you’re holding a pen or pencil.

Another perhaps-new idea to consider at this point is how to hold your work. Hand sewing in general works better if you keep your project flat on a table.  Most of us (me included) tend to hand sew with our work in our laps.  If you can position it on a flat surface, not only does this make working with a thimble easier, it also makes the entire process so much faster and you don’t manhandle your work so much. 

The type of stitch you take is also important.  Newbies want to take what I call a “stab stitch”  — you poke the needle in from the top, pull it out through the bottom, then insert it from the wrong side of the work back to the top.  This will result in uneven, unstable stitches.  A fine, running stitch works wonderful for hand piecing – just don’t make your stitches too big.  Give yourself time to get used to the process, but once you find a thimble which fits, and you get comfortable using it, the thimble will become one of your most cherished sewing tools. 

Lastly, I promised some fun facts about thimbles.  Some of these made me giggle and others are just fascinating.

1.  Nearly 30 lots of Meissen porcelain thimbles were purchased for $189,813 on May 14, 2014.  A single Meissen thimble dated circa 1730 with a landscape scene sold for $20,000.
2. The precursor to the thimble dates back nearly 10,000 years.
3. French and English thimbles have size markings on the band of a thimble.  German thimbles have markings on the second row of indentions (knurlings) on the side of the band.  American and Norwegian thimbles have their sizes on the side of the band and sometime the cap.  Thimbles made in England and America during the 19^th century have a domed cap, and thimbles made in the 20^th century have a flat cap.
4. Thimbles have served as advertising vehicles for lots of businesses and presidential campaigns — up to and including Jimmy Carter’s Presidential run.  This custom began in the 1920’s. 
5. There is a museum in Creglingen, Germany devoted entirely to thimbles.  The Fingerhut Thimble Museum opened in 1982 with 800 exhibits.  Today it has over 4,000 thimbles from all over the world.
6. A hand-forged brass thimble said to have belonged to Abraham Lincoln’s mother sold for $3,500 in 2008.
7. The official term for a thimble collector is digitabulist. 
8. In the game Monopoly, first created in 1904, the thimble was one of the eight traditional metal game pieces.  However this piece was replaced with newer versions of the game beginning in 2017 (boo….hiss….).
9. Thimbles are given as gifts in Peter Pan, who thinks thimbles are kisses.
10. In the 1992 version of Batman, Michelle Pfeiffer (who played Catwoman) used thimbles to create the base of her claw.
11. The popular TV show and comic strip Popeye was originally called Thimble Theatre Starring Popeye.
12. The character Elizabeth in the video game BioShock Infinite uses a thimble to cover her severed little finger.
13. Video montages and series of clips are often called “thimble collections.”
14. In the 2000 movie Chicken Run, Nick and Fletcher attempted to sell a couple of thimbles to Ginger as a “quality, hand crafted tea set.”
15. During the World War I, silver thimbles were collected from “those who had nothing to give” by the British government and melted down to buy hospital equipment. 
16. An old superstition says that if you are given three thimbles, you will never be married.
17. In the 18^th and 19^th centuries, leaving a sandalwood thimble in a fabric store was common practice for keeping moths away.
18. Thimbles were used to measure alcohol and gunpower, which brought about the phrase “just a thimbleful.”
19. Prostitutes used thimble-knocking as a means of attracting customers —  they would tap on a window to announce their presence.
20. Thimble-knocking also refers to the practice of Victorian schoolmistresses tapping on the heads of unruly students with thimbles.
21. One of the first collectible thimbles was manufactured to commemorate the Great Exhibition held in the Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London.

Okay, now armed with more than just a thimbleful of knowledge, go find yourself a thimble which works for you.  And hey, if you’d rather wear that thimble on your index finger instead of your middle finger, go right ahead.  For some hand sewers, this works best for them.  A thimble is a wonderful tool which not only protects your fingertip, but also speeds up your work and makes hand piecing so much easier and accurate.  Thimbles, as a whole, are not expensive.  Give yourself permission to try several before deciding which one works best for you.

Until Next Week, Level Up Your Quilting,

Love and Stitches,

Sherri and Sam