Quick Tips & Tools: Organizing Scraps

I love scraps. I make a lot of quilts with almost all scrap, and in my applique quilts, scraps can go a long way. I am pretty streamline in what I like to keep around in the majority of my life, but when it comes to scraps I am a hoarder. Jeanette taught me that every little piece of fabric is very valuable and so I must save them all. I am sure most of you feel the same way. But in order to use your scraps efficiently, you need to be able to retrieve them easily and keep them stored in an organized fashion that allows you to do this. I am constantly working on this part. So as part of my spring cleaning I have torn apart my work room and am re-tackling my scraps. So far I am really pleased with the solution I have come up with so I thought I would share it with you.

Before I had my scraps in a bunch of clear stackable boxes as shown above, but I just threw them in as I got them and they were not organized by color. I liked to be able to see them, but they looked pretty messy stacked up in my closet.

Now they are neatly tucked away and labeled by color in these clean white drawers! Here’s what I did.

First I separated all of my scraps by color in piles. This part was the biggest pain, it took some time, but luckily I had a lot of Modern Family episodes to catch up on while I sorted.

Then I put each color in its own (some colors required 2) clear plastic bag. The bags I used are about 14″ X 16″, but anything close to that will work. I used 2 Ikea Helmer organizers both in white   ( you may be able to get away with 1, depending on how many colors you have) and stacked them on top of each other, than gave each color a drawer.

Now anytime I need a color, I can just pull out the whole bag, rifle through it and put it back. I love it! What do you think? I think I may have finally found my permanent scrap solution!

Now that my scraps are done, I can move on the the rest of the mess. I will let you know when it is all pretty and perfect.

Quick Tips & Tools: Sandpaper Tabs

This is by far the best, most inexpensive, quick little trick you can do to improve your quilting. Apply sand paper tabs to your ruler. That is it! It is super cheap and takes seconds. They completely stabilize your ruler while you are cutting. So now all of your fabric pieces will be the size they are supposed to be and not 1/4″ larger on the spot that your ruler slipped.   I have tried every fancy ruler out there that is supposed to help with slipping while rotary cutting. There are fancy handles, little rubber bumps and a million other things, but none of them work as well as the sand paper tabs and they are all a lot more expensive. So do yourself a favor and come and buy a package of these little lovelies and slap them onto every quilting ruler you own. You will thank me later.

Quick Tips & Tools: Scallop Scissors!

We have searched high and low for a scissor that will create a fabulous scallop edge on all fabrics. Finally we had to have our own made! These are fantastic! They come in 3 different sizes,small (pink), Medium (aqua) & Large (red) . Think of all of the beautiful projects you can create! The possibilities are endless!We have been going a little nutty with them, they are our new favorite tool! You can purchase them through our website here: Scallop Scissors, or in the shop.

Quick Tips & Tools: Bamboo Batting!

Can you believe that they can turn this into a batting? Bamboo is all of  the rage lately in textiles! Maybe you have heard of bamboo towels or sheets. But now it is being made into quilt batting, and we are huge fans! We do a lot of hand work around here, including hand quilting and bamboo batting has replaced wool or silk for us.  We like it better and it is less expensive . It is super smooth like silk, but also is fresh and fluffy like cotton.  We love it for machine quilting too, you can quilt up to 8″ apart! It is naturally antibacterial , and only shrinks about 2% when 1st washed. Plus there is that whole save the planet thing, Bamboo is very green because it grows so quickly. It is one of our must have favorites around here, and we are pretty sure once you try it, it will be one of yours too.

 

Quick Tips & Tools: Tessa!

Here is a fab new tool that will make a perfect gift for the creative person that has it all! The new Tessa Scissors from Gingher. Hello, my name is Erin and I have a scissor problem.  Seriously , can you really ever have too many scissors? I needed these in both sizes to add to my collection. Gingher puts out a different designer series scissor each year, sometimes, I am not so fond of the print, and other times I go nuts for them. The Tessa is one I am nuts for! Besides the fact that these are so pretty, they are the best little embroidery & applique scissors. The large shears are excellent as well! So leave a hint for your hubby, kids, or just go and get em on your own.

Quick Tip: Thangles!!! & Contest

So this is my very 1st quilt! I made it about 10 years ago. It is funny to look at it now, because I never would pair these fabrics together today, but I love the look of them. I literally just grabbed fabrics and threw them together in about ten minutes. Jeanette taught me to quilt, and the very first lesson I learned was how to use Thangles. Once I knew how they worked, I whipped up quilt after quilt, without needing another lesson for a while. Once you can use Thangles there are a lot of quilt patterns that seem easy to you. Jeanette used Thangles in the Perfect Pinwheels quilt shown on the blog a few weeks ago. So I am going to give you a quick how-to Demo on using Thangles, and I am sure you will love them as much as I do.

Thangles are used to make half square triangles which can be used in quilt patterns a number of different ways. I am going to show you how to make them into a Pinwheel. When you make a half square triangle without Thangles, they seem to never turn out perfect, no matter how careful you are. The reason is because you are working on bias, and bias stretches, so you usually get a finished product that is stretched out of whack. Thangles are a a paper that is attached to your work until you are all done with the block, the paper prevents your fabric from stretching! Also you don’t have to do any math with Thangles ( no more dealing in 7/8th’s)  it is done for you. Just purchase the Thangle that is marked the size that you would like your finished block to be. So if you need a 3.5″ block that is 3″ finished in the quilt, you use a 3″ Thangle. Simple! I am making pinwheels that need to be 6″ finished so I am using the 3″ Thangles in this demo.  So Lets Go!

You will need your 2 different fabrics that make up your half square triangle.

1. Cut a strip of fabric in both colors that is as long and as wide as the Thangle. I always cut mine about 1/8″ larger on both sides of the Thangle, but you can cut it the exact size, either way is fine. I am a fast messy quilter and having that extra fabric allows me to be a little less careful, and I just cut if off later.

#2 Line your 2 strips up, right sides together and place your Thangle sheet on top. Place one pin across each set of lines.

#3 Now take it to the machine and sew directly across all of the dotted lines.

#4 Trim any excess fabric from the sides of your Thangle and cut on every solid line.

#5 you will have little triangles that look just like the photo above. Each size Thangle has a different amount per sheet, so you may have more than four. Do not take the paper off yet!

#6 Press your square open with the fabric attached. Now you can tear the paper off the back, as shown below.

#7 Yay! You now have a finished Thangle. This is all I used to make my first quilt shown above! But I am needing pinwheels for my current project, so just a few more steps and we have a perfect pinwheel!

#8 You will need 4 Thangles to make 1 Pinwheel. Sew 2 pairs together (1/4″ seams of course) in the format shown below. Make sure to press both open towards the light fabric. This way your seams will butt for a perfect center to the block when all you put your 2 pairs together.

#9 Now sew your 2 pairs together as shown below. Make sure your seams butt up to one another and feel like they fit perfectly. Press Open. You now have an absolutely perfect pinwheel that was made with ease! If you have someone in your life that want to learn quilting, just teach them how to use some Thangles! They are especially fun for younger ones wanting to get in on the action.

We sell Thangles in the shop and on our website if you would like to give some a try!

CONTEST!!!!!

We are giving a way a complete set of Thangles , all sizes!!!! Here is what you have to do: Share this demo, either on Facebook or on your blog. Leave a comment here or on the Facebook link and let us know that you did and we will draw a winner in a week! Good Luck!!!

Tools: Fine Pins

We are all a little obsessed around here with these Clover Fine Pins . Everyone wants tools that will make your life a little easier, these pins will. We have tried a lot of pins and these are the only ones we have found that you can truly sew over and they will never break your needle. A must! No more moving seams! Definitely one of our top ten tools!

Quick Tip: Animal Alphabet Onesies

I have been a little obsessed with Jenn Ski’s Animal Alphabet fabric. It is a panel of the most fantastic and unusual animals making up an Alphabet. I am usually not a fan of panels, but love this one. I have made several quilts with this fabric, some with it in one piece and others where I have chopped it up. I purchased some new onesies for my nephew that were long sleeved for fall( as well as a lot larger because he is growing daily). I wanted to spruce them up a bit, so I decided to add Alphabet Animals to them. They took minutes to make and he get compliments every where he sports them. You can also do the same thing very easily with any other adorable fabric. Just cut out a rectangle that is 4″ X6″ of the fabric and some Heat & Bond Lite the exact same size. Iron the Heat & Bond to the back of the fabric and then iron it on to the onesie, .The Heat & Bond ensures that there are no bumps or wrinkles as well as stops any fraying. Then all you need to do it stitch around the edge of the fabric patch with a decorative stitch on your sewing machine. I used the one that looks like a blanket stitch, but there are a lot to choose from. So easy, and so chic! These would make a great baby shower gift and you need very little experience to be knocking these out in no time. Little fabric initials would be darling too, hmmm.

Quick Tip: Cutting Bias Binding

Jeanette filmed a series of quick how to videos a little while back. They are fantastic and really helpful. You can find all of them featured on the side bar of our blog. We have been getting a lot of Bias Binding questions at the shop lately so I thought I would start to feature some of these videos, just in case you did not realize they were here. We are going to start filming some of our very own for the blog. Please give us some suggestions on what tips you would like to see!

Just click the link below for the video.

How To Cut Bias Binding

PS. Around here we love stripes for bias binding!

Double Rulers

Just another quick tip that you may or my not already use.  Many times when you are rotary cutting for a quilt, your fabric is larger than the rulers that you may have.  Whenever I encounter this, I double up rulers as shown above. I have yet been able to find a ruler that is as wide and as long as I need it to be. You can fold your fabric up as well, but then your cut becomes less accurate. Next time try using the double ruler technique, let me know what you think.