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! 

 

 

Fabric Center's Sewing Tips and Tricks: French Seams

We get a lot of visitors to the store who come to us looking for help, tips and tricks for their sewing and quilting needs and projects. But what about our beloved customers who can't make it to our store in the Salt Lake Valley?

Furthermore, we have incredibly talented employees who have such a passion for sewing and quilting, they've decided to spend a large chunk of their time surrounded by quilts, projects and beautiful fabrics  AND STILL go home and continue to work in their sewing rooms -- all for fun!

We've realized we have a wealth of knowledge to share and want to share it with you. We've asked each employee to think of their favorite tips or tricks they've learned over the years that have helped to make them a more skilled sewer/quilter.

Our first segment: Maquel and why she loves to use French Seams! 

French seams are great for when you need a clean, professional and impeccably finished seam or if you want a clean seam but do not have a serger. French seams are especially important to use when working with high-quality, fine fabrics like delicate bridal and apparel fabrics like chiffon, georgette, charmeuse, satin, etc. 

With this tutorial, we're going to show you not only how to make a french seam but give you an idea as to how to use it beyond just a seam and add a cute detail to your next project. 

We have just two square pieces of apparel knit fabric for this example as well as 3/8" wide elastic which we'll use to give a seam a nice ruffled look. 

For your actual project, you want to make sure your elastic is around half the length of the seam you intend to ruffle in order to get a nice, full look. 

To create the actual french seam, you are going to place your two pieces wrong sides together (make sure and line up any designs like stripes!). 

Make a small seam in from the edge, in this case 1/8". 

Iron the seam open (choose the appropriate setting on your iron for this - most delicate bridal and apparel fabrics can't stand up to too much heat. It doesn't hurt to also use a pressing cloth with those kinds of fabrics).

Next, use the tips of your fingers to roll our your seam and realign your pieces, this time right sides together. 

Quickly press to ensure your seam stays completely out and in place. (Just because we aren't using pins in this tutorial doesn't mean you shouldn't. Shame on us. It's a good idea to use pins to keep things in their place.)

Sew your seam again, still rights sides together, this time in a width that is the difference from the original seam allowance minus the amount used for the first line of stitching. For example, if your pattern or project calls for a 5/8" seam allowance, and you used a 1/8" seam when sewing your pieces wrong sides together, you are going to want to use a 1/2" seam for this step. This ensures you still use the same amount of fabric and your project will continue to fit properly. 

If you choose to make a french seam to use with elastic to give a ruffled look, make sure you use an elastic size that fits in your seam allowance! We are using 3/8" elastic and are making a (theoretical) project that calls for 5/8" seams. 

Iron your seam so it lays properly. 

Next, you are going to iron the seam so that is lays flat to one side of the two pieces. 

Top stitch the seam laying to one side, very close to the edge. 

If you'd like, to make your seams appear uniform and balanced, you can then top stitch again on the other side of the seam very close to the edge. 

You now have a completed french seam! What's great about french seams is that the raw edges are completely enclosed in the seam. You get a clean and polished look both outside AND inside!

At this point if you want to use a french seam as a guide for elastic to create a ruffled look, you will want to take your elastic and feed it through the seam with a safety pin. 

Once through, pin both ends of the elastic to the fabric so it doesn't get pulled inside the seam -- remember, the elastic is cut shorter than the seam length. 

You'll get an early preview of what your seam will look like; adjust to how you like. 

For the last step, you are going to want to pull your project and the elastic taught as you sew! This will keep the elastic in it's place. 

Do not pull so hard you are pulling your fabric through the machine faster that it naturally feeds with the feed dogs. You want to just keep the fabric from bunching at this point, while simultaneously guiding the fabric through the machine.

While this is a raw example, you get the idea that by creating a french seam, you not only get a professional, clean appearance both inside and outside of your garment, but you also have a ready-to-go option to add more detail to your projects.

Here is an actual example of how this process was used to create an elegant gather at the seam on the bottom of a dress sleeve. While it is a small detail, it creates a big impression on the dress and your sewing abilities! 

Happy Sewing! If you'd like more tips and tricks or have a request for how to do something, send us an email to info@fabriccenter.net. 

Fabric School -- Things to Know: How Fabric is Ordered.

We recently had a conversation at a staff meeting where the staff came onto a topic of having informed customers. We roundly agreed that, to fairly help our customers as well as contribute to a happy quilting consumer culture in our area, it was imperative to keep our customers informed and knowledgable. The conversation quickly expanded to include ideas to keep you abreast of all sorts of valuable information that not only keeps you an educated quilt/fabric shopper but also a well-informed and skilled quilter/sewer.

This portion of our staff meeting resulted in us creating Fabric School! We've come to see the value we would be contributing to the quilting/sewing community here in Northern Utah as well as online all over the world. Not only will this help us better meet your needs and expectations, but will create a more relaxed and enjoyable fabric shopping experience for both of us!

For the first installment of Fabric School, we want you to be informed of how fabric is ordered and stocked. Many times a week, we have customers who comes in to our store with a sample of fabric they had previously bought weeks, months, sometimes even years ago and had miscalculated how much they needed or had made a mistake cutting and were in desperate need for more. I'm sure we've all been there and can empathize. 

While we do our best to help our customers find the exact print when this occurs, it's important to understand that...

1. we usually don't keep back stock of the majority of our products and 
2. we can't alway reorder fabric we sell in our store if it is sold out.

A lot of the time we do not have the foresight to know what will be popular with our customers and what will sit on our shelves a long time. If we were to backorder all that we offered, this would result in enormous expenses that would increase our prices. We absolutely do not want to do that; remember our motto is "Service, Selection, Savings".

As for the second point, the life of fabric is very much like high fashion; it operates around the seasons. Fabric manufacturers have fabrics designed usually a year ahead of when they plan on providing them in stores. We and all other fabric shops order fabric about a season ahead of when it will be available to sell. This means that, seeing as how Christmas prints usually become available for sale in the middle of the summer, designers were creating the patterns for this Christmas last summer. Sales representatives from the various fabric manufacturers visited our store and we ordered these prints in the fall of last year, a whole season before they will be available on our shelves. 

These are very springy prints, but we got them in our store back in November!  See, a whole season ahead to give you time to make your spring projects.

The reason for this is that fabric manufacturers require a set number of yardage they need to print in order to supply the demand that was created when fabric stores ordered. This cuts down on their costs (which allows their fabrics to be priced lower for you, yay!) as well as the possibility for vast amounts of unsold fabric left on their hands that did not meet as much public acceptance (a nice way to say the fabric was ugly). For us and for our customers, that means there usually aren't any extra bolts to order once we run out of a certain print or fabric line. Additionally, fabric manufacturers want to be on the cusp of what is popular and to creatively expand what they offer to consumers. Because of this they rarely reprint old fabric lines. 

What we would like you to take away from this information is that, while we will thoroughly search through our cabinets and shelves for the print you are short on, there comes a time when a fabric is simply done and gone. As an informed consumer, this will help you to recognize our limitations, keep your expectations reasonable and understand that sometimes miracles just are meant to happen.

This fun comic was found on pickledish.com and explains why the fabric you are looking for is sold out: it's because Mrs. Bobbin takes it all! 

Should the possibility arise that you need more of a certain print and we are sold out, there are a few manufacturers who make it a little easier to reorder from; they will sometimes print a little extra for cases just like this. These manufacturers include Riley Blake, Springs and occasionally Moda. If what you are looking for falls within these manufacturers, we are happy to take your information and do some investigating to see if it is still available to order. Have patience with us as this usually includes  finding the fabric, determining if it is available or not, ordering it and having it shipped to our store. It may take awhile but we will be in touch with you about what we find.

We hope you are as excited as we are about Fabric School and the wonderful opportunities it can provide. Do you have something you'd like to know about and which you'd like to see featured on Fabric School? Leave us a comment or send us a message!

Special Guest from Shannon Fabrics!

We were incredibly excited to receive a special guest yesterday to the store! Shannon Fabrics is the maker of one of our favorite fabrics: cuddle. Shannon Fabrics is the industry leader in plush fabric, offering the widest selection of plush fabrics, like cuddle and faux fur, in the World! Shannon Fabrics recently held a contest called the Sweetest Rewards Contest aimed at rewarding their loyal customers, divided into three categories of purchasers. Fabric Center was entered into the contest at the highest level, or the "Sweetest" level, as being one of Shannon's top purchasers in the nation (if you can't infer by our reputation for having the best selection of cuddle in the Salt Lake Valley and at the best prices too, we go through a lot of cuddle!! On average, we place a new order of cuddle every two weeks. Wow!). Low and behold we won!

Arvin Pairavi visited us yesterday to award Lisa, the owner of Fabric Center, the winner of the Shannon Fabrics Sweetest Rewards Member Contest! By winning, Lisa will get advantages for shipping and ordering new cuddle prints, access to design specialist who will share special cuddle projects to display in store as well as to opportunity to travel to Spring Quilt Market 2014 and get a Behind the Scenes experience with Shannon while they represent at Quilt Market. This will be a wonderful experience for Lisa to explore what will be next on the horizon in the quilting and fabric industry and what to carry in store to meet the needs of our customers!

Not only was Mr. Pairavi impressed by our large cuddle selection, including our beautiful color coded cuddle wall, he also shared some insight into the special nature of cuddle and what sets it apart from other plush material. Did you know that the term "Cuddle" is actually a proprietary term held by Shannon Fabrics? We didn't either, and  if you are at all familiar with plush material, you like us have become used to hearing the terms "cuddle" and "minkee" interchanged randomly. However, there is a big difference between the two. Cuddle is heavier with a thicker, longer pile whereas minkee tends to be thinner and lighter. To ensure you have the warmest and softest blanket that will wear and hold up for years to come, buy Cuddle from Shannon fabrics (always available here at Fabric Center).

It was such a pleasure to receive a visit from Shannon Fabrics. Keep checking back with us as we look forward to working with them to bring you tips, tricks, projects and other cuddle updates. To get an idea, check our their blog: My Cuddle Corner. Congratulations to Lisa for winning the grand prize, but also a giant thank you to you our customers! We are so happy that we can provide such a large array of plush fabric to meet the needs and wishes of our customers, and to be able to do so at great prices. As Shannon Fabric's motto goes, "Making the world a softer place", we love knowing we help our customers bring warmth and softness into their homes to share with their families while making it affordable to do so. Once again thank you!

With cuddle on the brain, don't forget: we have all our bolted cuddle on sale 10% off as well as all solid color and dimple cuddle on sale for $12! These make excellent Christmas gifts, stop in before the end of the month to get your cuddle on sale. See you in store!