Miscellaneous Tips

Today I have been cleaning up this site and going through some of my unpublished posts.  What follows is a selected bunch of tips that I have found in my travels around the web.  Most of the tips are taken from BlockCentral.com  I have to admit that BlockCentral is not a site I would ordinarily visit since I do no true block pieces.  But the tip section is phenomenal.  Here are some ones that sound especially useful.

1. From my florist, I use the netting that comes on the flowers over my spools of thread to hold it all together for storage. No loose ends, everything neat as a pin. - Deborah in Missouri


2. To keep bobbin and spool thread together:  Place the bobbin on top of the spool and run a twist tie through the two of them and twist.  

Then using both the above tips you can keep thread and bobbins neat.  I also have started using those wide white twist ties that you get in the bulk section in grocery stores.  They have enough space that you can even write the type of thread which is useful if the paper label has come off.


3. Heard this one from aunt who has quilted for over 50 years. She uses those vinyl place mats for templates. A good time to get them is buy the holiday ones on sale for great prices after the holiday is over. - Alice in Montana<


4. Use a small piece of the self-adhesive sand paper that is sold for skate boards to keep your rulers from slipping on the fabric. - Kay in Michigan


5. I use Velcro to keep my machine needles organized. Take the fuzzy and non- fuzzy side and stick together, put the size on the sandwich, in goes the needle and "Ta Da"….Organized! - Connie in Washington


6. I keep my needles in those lead containers you get when you buy refills for your mechanical pencil. That way you can carry the needles around without hurting anyone!" - Mary in Texas


7. Want to try the new 'tiltables' but think that they are too expensive? Go to any hardware store and buy two door stops (wedges) in rubber. Push these under your machine to tilt it to any convenient angle. - Shirley in the U.K.


8.  I go to our local pizzeria and buy pizza boxes to keep my blocks in for a project in progress (unused or course, $0.50 each). Then I write on a label (in pencil) the project name and put it on the edge of the box..... since the lid closes, this keeps them clean and dust free.....when they are stacked.  The medium sized boxes are good for blocks up to 12" finished and the large boxes are good for even larger blocks.


9. I have taped a tape measure on the front edge of my sewing cupboard so now I can measure fabric, quilt blocks, etc. without getting out a ruler. - Marlene


10. To remember all the quilts that I have made, I take a photo and cut 2 inch square of all the fabric used then these are ironed to freezer paper. Then these are put in plastic page protectors. Its a great way to really see the true color of fabric 5- 10 years down the road. Of course each page also contains the date, size and who I gave or sold it to, etc. - Kathy


11. I have one of those multi-color wooly pincushions attached to my machine with velcro which is sticky one side. I place two strips on the machine and two strips on the pincushion. I find this very handy and the pins are at my fingertips. - Sylvia in Connecticut


12. Rather than digging into a pin box or trying to pull one out of a cushion, I took a flat refrigerator magnet and turned it upside down beside my machine. I keep about 20 pins on each one. They come in very handy and move from room to room when you just want a few. - Bettye

This is a good one since advertisements on those flat magnets seem to come attached to every phone book!  However, you would also want to keep the magnet away from the machine itself.


13. I use a set of gloves where the whole back of the hand portion is magnetized.  You can get them at any auto parts store.  You can put a lot of pins on it and it'll even hold small scissors for snipping off stray threads, anything that'll stick! It's recommended for holding nuts, bolts, screws, etc but its great for use when pinning on lots of little pieces on a design wall. - Phyllis in California


14. If you have a sewing room or just an area that you use for sewing, place a small astro turf rug so you have to walk on it before you leave the area or room this will catch all those annoying threads that seem to get away when you cut them. - Donna in Oregon


15. Whenever I am machine quilting using nylon thread, I put my spool of thread in a baby food jar on the table beside my sewing machine and thread it up through a binder clip that I have clipped on the lift up lid of my Pfaff machine and through the rest of the machine as usual. This provides the proper tension and I never have problems. - Sue in Ontario


16. Scrap Fabric organization hamper -- available in discount stores often for under $5. Since you can see through the mesh, you can quickly get an idea of what to "grab" when you need a particular color/print. You can store an amazing amount of scraps by just pressing down on the pile, and the contents don't spill out when you reach in and "grab". When you need a large selection of scraps for a project, you can just pick up the hamper by the handle and carry it to your sewing area or to class. The "frame" gives it sturdiness, but the mesh gives a bit of flexibility for easy storage. They come in several sizes, but my 14x14x24 fits perfectly in several "nooks" in my sewing room.


17. Use the new Glad Press and Seal: Draw on the Press and Seal, stick to quilt and embroider. Tear away when done. Does not leave any residue and you have no marks on your quilt to remove. - Violet in Ontario, Canada


18. When your rotary cutter starts skipping, take it apart and turn the blade, add a drop of sewing machine oil and you get double the life on your blades.


19. To resharpen your rotary cutters, fold up a piece of silver foil so that you have several layers and then just cut through it several times and your cutter will be resharpened. - Beverly in Australia 

Has anyone reading this really tried using the aluminum foil to sharpen blades?  Does it work? I usually just use my dull blades to cut paper which dulls them even further! I guess I will try this aluminum foil thing on my very dull blades and then report the results here.