A Few Useful Tips

Buttonhole Insurance
To avoid slitting that perfect machine buttonhole too far, place a straight pin, as shown, at each end of the buttonhole, inside the bar-tacks. The pin will prevent you from cutting beyond the stitches!


Design Wall Ideas
A design wall is a great help to any quilter for evaluating your project from a distance! If you don’t have one, make your own! Cut a piece of cotton batting or flannel and attach it to any empty space on your wall. Tack it with thumbtacks for a permanent location or use masking tape to hold it up so you can take it down when its not needed.

Batt Away the Dust
We all have batting scraps that we cannot bear to throw away, but they take up space that can be better used for other things like fabric! Use your scraps of batting for dusting. The batting picks up the dust and holds onto it!

Pressing with Starch
Starch is sometimes needed to give the fabric more body and hold its shape before you cut it into quilt pieces. After the fabric has been washed and dried, spray starch to the wrong side of the fabric and smooth your iron over it. Move your iron in the direction of the lengthwise grain to prevent the fabric from stretching. The crosswise grain of cotton fabric has more stretch and if pressed in this direction will create wavy selvedges which can create problems when rotary cutting and piecing!

I’m Bleeding...What Now?
If you prick yourself and spill some blood on your project, how can it be removed? Don’t go running to your cabinet of cleaners; just blot some of your own saliva on the spot and it will slowly disappear. The enzymes in your own saliva will only work on your own blood. It sounds awful, but it really does work!

Your Machine Needs Cooling Down
When you are machine embroidering long lengths of time, your machine motor gets hot from being on constantly. To help with this, place a fan behind your machine so it is blowing directly on the machine. Set the fan to blow on the slowest speed possible. This will cool your machine down and allow you to sew at longer lengths at a time. Be careful that the fan does not blow your threads or fabric into the needle where the machine is stitching.

Note: I have set a blowing fan by my machine many times and it truly helps! When stitching machine embroidery designs one after another, your machine is running constantly and needs a break at times. If you turn your machine off and back on every few hours so it can reset itself this is also beneficial. One summer my machine was on and stitching for 15 hours a day for three weeks and the fan was a lifesaver! I do not recommend that you should run your machine this hard, but I had three quilts to embroider and a deadline which needed to be met. :)

Take Out the Curls
Here's a tip for using monofilament thread for handwork. Cut off a length of thread and run it under a warm iron. The thread will straighten, making it easer to thread the needle and stitch. Be careful not to leave the thread under the iron or it will melt, it just needs a little heat to take out the curl.