Fabric Center's Quilting Tips and Tricks with Deb

We recently featured Deb's completed Juicy Quilt. Today, she is here to share with us some of her tried and true quilting tips and tricks to help you strengthen your quilting skills!

Deb:

"First, learn to be accurate with your cutting and seam allowances. This is the starting point and foundation for your quilt.  If you are off by even 1/8”, by the time you sew that block 8 times your quilt is going to be off by one inch!  It’s the same as the foundation for your house: if the foundation and framing is not square nothing else is going to fit right.  It just makes the process so much more enjoyable when each block and each row fits together properly.  So take a class or get a book from the library, but learn accuracy.

My second tip is STARCH! Lots and lots of starch!  When I press my fabric prior to cutting, I use starch and also give my blocks a light mist when pressing them.  This is especially helpful when piecing triangles, as the starch stabilizes the fabric and helps prevent distortion on bias edges. And when I finish my quilt top, I press and starch again prior to layering and basting.  By the time I am finished, the quilt top is VERY stiff.  If you do your own quilting you will be amazed how much easier it is to layer with the backing and batting.  The seam allowances stay where they are supposed to be, and the fabric is very stable.   And if you take your tops to a long arm quilter for finishing, they will LOVE you because they won’t have to waste valuable time trying to square it up and smooth it out; it will load beautifully.
 

Available in Lavender, Mint, Peach, Cherry Blossom and Unscented.

We carry Mary Ellen's Best Press Spray Starch at Fabric Center in lots of great scents. If, however, you anticipate using lots of starch like I do, go to the grocery store and in the laundry products section you can find ½ gallons of liquid starch. (Don’t use aerosol starch in the spray cans).   Follow the directions on the bottle, and mix it for extra heavy or extra stiff.  Store any extra mixture in the fridge.  Put your starch mixture in a spray bottle, and use it every time you press your fabric or quilt block.  

Finally, Use GOOD quality fabric and the best tools you can afford to buy.  You will spend many hours making your quilt, and you want the quilt to hold up and continue to look nice during all the love it will get.  Good tools such as good scissors, fine sharp pins, proper lighting all will go a long way to the quilting process even more enjoyable."

Using the right tools helps make your quilting experience more enjoyable. Using a cutting mat, ruler and rotary cutter not only makes it go faster, but ensures more accurate cuts!

Thank you Deb! If there is a question you'd like to have answered about quilting or sewing or would like to see a tutorial done on it, submit your request to info@fabriccenter.net and we'll feature it on our blog! 

 

 

Quilting Show and Tell - Deb's "Juicy" Quilt

You know we love show and tell! Whether it's a customer bringing in a completed project or an employee, we love seeing the finished quilts and projects that were created with the creativity and products that leave our store.

This week, we had our employee Deb sharing with us her "Juicy" Quilt. The pattern is actually called "Stripe It Rich" and was designed by Victoria Findlay Wolf and featured in the June 2013 American Patchwork and Quilting magazine. 

However, Deb was compelled to call it "Juicy" because of it's citrus-y and mouthwatering colors.

If you look closely, the "blooming" petals of the dresden plate are created using chevron fabric!

Nobody could come to a consensus of which dresden plate block we loved the most!  

What's also amazing about this quilt is that Deb quilted it herself on her home machine -- her tips: 

• mark out your pattern with a water erasable pen first (when working on a home machine, you do not have as large an area to foresee where you need your quilting pattern to go)
• use Machingers (special gloves especially for quilting with little pads on your fingers -- to better grip the fabric and guide it where you want it to go).

Her quilting detail is exquisite, with different styles to fill in each space of the quilt with flair.

Deb can't wait for spring to come so she can hang her new quilt and brighten up her home! Thank you Deb for sharing your show and tell with us! 

If you have a project that you'd like to share, send your entry to info@fabriccenter.net. We'd love to hear from you and see plenty of pictures of your projects! 

Check out more Salt Lake and Utah Quilting and Sewing Projects, Pictures and Tips on our Facebook page or at fabriccenter.net

All I Want for Christmas...

We are back with our employee Wish Lists and today we have Deb and Karen. Deb's Wish List is a good idea to look at if you know someone who loves hand needlework and applique quilting; her items are designed to make needlework and applique easier and enjoyable. Karen reveals with her list how much she loves receiving fabric by the yard: this isn't that bad of an idea. With just even half a yard of a hand full of fabrics from a beautiful designer line, any sewer is bound to excitedly think of a dozen projects she/he could make with those pieces!

Don't wait too long to grab up these fantastic gift ideas, Christmas is next week with only one more shopping Saturday left! Even more important, that means only one more week to get all these items 15% off! Hope to see you soon!