Tape -- My Secret Quilting Weapon
 

In my list of "sewing supplies I can't live without" is tape of various sorts but mostly blue painter's tape and masking tape. I used wide blue tape to attach my backings to the long arm or to tighten up fabric on a table. I've used it for labels. I wrap it around my used blades or bent pins or whatever for safe disposal. There is always some in my sewing case.

This isn't a new hint, but it is one where I use tape, in this case I also have a roll of 1/4" tape in my kit and here I'm using it to mark my ruler. I have vision issues anyway and sometimes use the tape to reinforce where I want to cut, say if I need a .75" measurement, easier for me to see the tape than the narrow lines especially on busy fabrics. For me I always have the top of the tape as my measurement, all that really matters is consistency.

I will often design blocks so that they end in standard ruler measurements, in this case I was dealing with 6" squares that I sliced along the diagonal to make a 7.5" (cut, 7" finished) quarter square block. I used up the 6" squares and am now using 6.5" so I have more to trim, I like to make large and trim down for accuracy anyway. With a simple swipe of removable tape, I now have a 7.5" consistent cut, and you can see how marking the opposite angle can help true-up the block.

That's a great idea. I don't have serious vision issues (just poor vision that is easily corrected with lenses) but I was recently making a series of Y-blocks for the first time and I didn't pay enough attention to how I was trimming, so some of my points were off. Once I realized what I needed to do, I should have added the tape to the opposing diagonal on the ruler. That would have made things much easier. Also I was cutting to 7.75 inches, and every time I lined a block up, I had to say "7.75....7.75....7.75" to make sure I was lined up correctly. A piece of tape would have made that job so much faster (and quieter since I have to say it out loud :)).

I like and use both the blue tape and the beige tape. Both are helpful and very reasonably priced in the paint section of your local hardware or big box store. When I want to number blocks or rows, I use a small piece of either color according to what I can see best on my fabric. No pin holes. Easier to move or sew around. Don't get stuck and this is important if you are on a blood thinner. I am, also, bad about turning my blocks so if I always put the block number in the upper left hand corner, I have a better chance of sewing them on right to begin with. It isn't fool proof! It still takes some thought...just not as much.

Exactly Tish, that's what I mean about "reinforcing" where I want to go. There are few things more tragic as well as a 1/4" miscut when you are dangerously near the end of your fabric.

Wanted to make another "use of tape" mention, I'll mark lines on my sewing machine bed. For example, I had a fabric with a selvedge that periodically erupted into a huge (more than an inch) trademark/brand thing, so I marked my seam line with tape. On my old vintage machine I actually used a brightly colored kid's bandaid as my 1/4" seam marker, the little pad of the bandage helped guide the fabric.

Working with these blocks the outer edges are on the bias and I'm having some problems with the points getting sucked into the machine. Happens I have a foot that is designed so I can use either side as my 1/4" (plus note that I pin way down and nowhere near the seam allowance) so I'm turning every other block and nesting them as they go through the feed dogs. If I didn't have the foot or the marking on my foot plate I could still use this technique with that wonderful helpful 1/4" tape!

thanks for posting this. I use tape sometimes, but forget to sometimes and kick myself for not making life easier

I use 1/4" Wonder Tape a lot. I keep several rolls of it on hand.

To Iceblossom. Please be careful with the tape on a vintage sewing machine. I purchased a Singer 201K that someone had marked the seam lines with tape. The tape was gone, but the glue wasn't. It was very difficult to remove the residue glue. I eventually managed to get the glue off, but if you look from an angle you can still see an area where the glue damaged the finish.

https://www.quiltingboard.com/vintage-antique-machine-enthusiasts-f22/help-singer-201k-tape-residue-please-t305027.html

The old masking tape can bake on especially if left in strong light! Old cellophane tape for that matter as well.

When I collected vintage fabrics, some of those had adhesive labels of some sort that also became one with the fabric, in some ways the information on those tags could be invaluable, in other ways always annoying to lose even an inch of vintage fabric.

Sort of related, but we recently had a thread about rusted items in fabric, stapled on price tags often rusted in, especially in a humid climate like Seattle. I make sure that tape is temporary and remove it when I'm done. Likewise, I have brass safety pins and archival paper tags to write notes on. I modern fabrics I sometimes write a note in the selvedge.

I use a lot of tape too. In many of the same ways.

And, when I'm doing lots of triangles like yours, I keep a stack of 2" x 3" bits of tissue paper in a cup beside the machine so they are handy to put under the tips - very much as the paper you have in your picture. I sew right through them and pull the tissue off after I get them all together. I have to go back and cut the threads between blocks anyway, and the tissue comes off fast and easy....usually.

I use blue painter's tape to mark lines on rulers and my strip cutter. No chance of cutting on the wrong line that way.