Quilting Wisdom you have gained along your quilting journey...
 

Happy Quilting New Year! :)

We all know the saying: Measure Twice, Cut Once.

Please share your Quilting Wisdom with your favorite tried and true tips!

I have learned so much from this board on Organizing and storing fabrics, sewing machine options, and so much more.

My tip that has kept my blocks square is Pinning is Winning. My friends laugh at how much I pin when assembling blocks.

Totally agree with pinning!

Starching- It helps me cut accurately, thus helps me piece accurately.

I've learned that not all rulers/templates are equal. Always use the same ruler or template when cutting your fabric out, switching from ones that LOOK alike can mean uneven blocks.

Starching before cutting as I don't wash my fabrics. The starch will show if the fabric will bleed and then you can take care of the issue. Plus I heavily mist it once dry so if it's going to shrink some, it should do it then. I also use Elmer's Glue to attach my binding to the quilt before I take it to the machine to stitch down using the iron to heat set it. This way I have no pins to prick me and I know I have enough binding beforehand. I also use the glue if I have blocks that have to be matchined and pinning just distorts it. I've used the glue also to piece my backings if I'm trying to play matchy matchy.

Prewash fabrics. Yes, I know many don't, and to each his own. But when I prewash I can identify which fabrics are bleeders and treat them accordingly. Also, I don't have to worry about them shrinking differently from the other fabrics in the quilt. Thus, fabric comes into the house and heads straight for the washing machine.

Also -- another one I just thought of. I know some folks iron the fabric after pre-washing, before putting it into the stash. Granted, some fabrics come out of the dryer very wrinkly. But I just fold everything and put it away in that condition. Then when I need to cut, I only need to iron the amount to be cut off the yardage. It gets wrinkled again in the stash, along the folds if nothing else, so I'd rather iron just once.

I always stitch about 1/8 inch away from the outside edges of my top. The stitching prevents the edges from stretching and keeps joined seams from unraveling. I usually use a regular stitch length, but if my edge has any bias piecing, I will use a larger stitch so that it can double as a gathering stitch just in case a block edge needs to be adjusted.

My longarmer has told me that she really appreciates not having to repair unraveling seams on the edges of my tops.

Quit sewing either late at night or when feeling tired. This rule will save ware and tear of your seam ripper...don't ask me how I know. :D

Borders were my dread. Piecing the long strips, sewing them on, keeping them flat, and an all around hassle for me. I decided why do it the way that was hard for me. Now I sew the border on each edge block like sashing. It is so much easier and I get perfect borders every time. it's easy to sew a pieced border this way as an extra block on each end of the row and cross the top and bottom.

Ha! My advice...notice the good points! Just like I do in my garden, I can choose to see the flowers, not the weeds, and now I seem to think the weeds also have beautiful flowers! Oh, and I am slowly increasing the percentage of my "good points"