What quilting/sewing notion are you most Thankful to have been invented?
 

https://cdn.quiltingboard.com/images/smilies/smile.png There are so many gadgets to help make our quilting life simpler. What's your favorite?

For me, I like the rotating cutting mat. It simplifies squaring up blocks.

Depends on how old you are! I was 23 when I learned to quilt, and I'm 72 now. For me, the rotary cutter and mat were godsends! Tracing around cardboard templates cut from cereal boxes and cutting with scissors made the whole process tedious. It took 14 years for me to finish my first quilt!

Rotary Cutter
Knee Lift, Auto Thread Cutter & Start / Stop button on my machine
The Longarm
Wonderclips

Rotary cutter and mats are the top of my list for sure!

I would have to go with thread cutter on machine, rotary cutter, a good selection of rulers available for us.

My Sizzix cutter. It saves so much time and makes the cuts to much more accurate.

The one I'm most grateful was invented is the sewing machine - I'm always amazed to think of some of the clothing that royalty wore at a time that all sewing was done by hand. For more "modern" times, it's the rotary cutter and cutting mat. Without that I might not even make quilts.

On an interesting note, the story is that the first person that came up with a sewing machine did not patent the idea because family convinced him it was a bad idea as it would put so many people doing hand sewing out of work.

The assumption was that consumers would not change their clothing buying habits, but when clothing became much less labor intensive and more affordable, people started buying more clothing ( a lot more clothing!) . So the sewing machine actually created jobs instead of taking them away.

I agree. Without the rotary cutter and mat, I would not be a quilter. At my first quilting class, we drew lines on the wrong side of fabric (with ball point pens), then cut the pieces with scissors. No more templates for squares, rectangles or half and quarter triangles.

Not a gadget, but my quilting is also very dependent on the mindset and books from Eleanor Burns (can I really make a “Quilt in a Day”?) and Mary Ellen Hopkins (Are you sure “Its Okay if you sit on my quilt?”).

Rotary cutter and mat!
But also I love all the features my new machine has. I still love my FW and others but I love those new ones.

The rotary cutter. I remember back in the 90's cutting all my pieces for my 1st quilt with scissors. Now with arthritis in both hands, that just wouldn't be possible or be very painful to do. The rotating mat is my next favorite.

So many inventions that I appreciate I'll rate them 1-5 or 10 1 being the best
1 sewing machine
2 rotary cutters, mats, all the rulers
3 sewing and cutting tables
4 various pins/wonder clips
5 auto shutoff iron
6 ott lights
7 on line quilt groups (read: Quilting Board https://cdn.quiltingboard.com/images/smilies/heart.gif)

Definitely the rotary cutter...we used templates and scissors in Home Economics and then I started quilting again 10 years ago and was amazed that I had no know idea that the rotary cutter existed...or the die cutting machines that are out there now. Can you imagine cutting all those sunbonnet sues out by hand?

It has to be the Rotary cutter and self healing mat! With out a doubt I was able to learn to quilt when these tool becaue available. I was terrible at cutting straight pieces from templates and thrived with the rotary cutter. Now Accuquilt has sped me along more complicated designs.

Beyond the sewing machine, it would have to be the domestic cutting mat and rotary cutter. I received my first of these as a gift in the early 1990s. I thought the mat seemed small compared to my regular cutting board. Little did I know, it was huge for a pre-made mat. I am sure the giver realized I would not fully appreciate the gift until I tried it. I will never forget the twinkle in her eye.

I consider the rotary cutter, mat, and rulers to be as basic as scissors, not special items. I am grateful for the Accuquilt machine and dies. I can't wait to see what other new items are invented for quilters.

1. Sewing machine - I've done some projects by hand, like a puff quilt (AKA biscuit quilt) pillow (in the 1980s), but I can't imagine sewing garments or quilts by hand.
2. Rotary cutter and mat - I learned to quilt around 1990 and cut out plastic templates, traced them onto fabric, and the cut the fabric with scissors.
3. Slotted cutting ruler - This has significantly sped up my cutting and increased my accuracy. I am loving it!
4. LED light strip for my sewing machine - it's so nice to have bright light where I need it.

I also started before the rotary revolution. You need all three things: cutter, mat, and ruler(s).

Now, I had figured out I could buy gridded desk blotter pads and draw out cutting lines and cut through multiple layers of fabric at a time by pinning the open spots. They were a perfect width for folded fabric too! But then the terrible scissors I had came to play, good scissors are every bit as necessary as the sewing machine.

Anyway, if I had to pick the quilting notion I've spent the most time with, it would definitely be the seam ripper!

My list.
1. Rotary cutter, Matt and rulers (including squaring rulers)
2. accu cutter
3. Long arm quilting machines ( my #1 item) and all of their gadgets I can now complete a quilt start to finish in under a week. Such a time and money saver.

I'll also add fusible webbing for machine applique. I love that stuff! LED lights on sewing machines too. ​​​​Slotted rulers like the Stripology ruler.

It's unanimous... rotary cutter, rulers and mat!!

I got to go with the needle.....and thread....those inventions where genius

I think laces were the first sewing to hold pieces together. Smart ancestors and hopefully we will get smarter.

Oh yeah. I learned in the late 80's with a scissor, templates, etc. No way would I have still been making quilts if that's what I was limited to. Even now I'll avoid a pattern with templates if I can.

The same for me. I remember trcing around squares and cutting with scissors. Bah Hum Bug.

My favorites are #1 sewing machine, #2 rotary cutter and mat, #3 my design wall, #4 my quilt frame my son made me, #5 my rulers.

I've hand sewed many historical outfits and their undergarments (a 900's Viking outfit and a 1500's Tudor farthingale dress as two examples) and am getting ready to start my Regency 1812 ball gown - all hand sewn of course. And I only use the equipment available at the time the garment would have been actually made to make it more historically accurate.

But, now that I've gotten into making quilts I could NOT imagine hand sewing one of them. Egads! Don't ask me what the difference is but there is one. lol

My List:
Scissors - good ones
Pincushions - I made one in the shape of a stuffed peacock. The tail feathers are attached with magnets. They come off and they're my pattern weights.
Iron - a good one that does not have auto-shutoff. I have my grandmother's Black and Decker Easy iron that still works great. It's my backup iron. Cannot stand the auto-shutoff on irons nowadays! By the time I'm ready to iron it's turned itself off and then I have to wait for it to heat up again. Grrrr...
Cutting mat and rotary cutter
Rulers - all of them...and I'm trying to own all of them. lol
Interfacing, iron on bias tape, and iron on hemming tape - they make sewing that much easier.

The first QIAD Log Cabin quilt was make quickly. The second time I made the same quilt I timed it. 21 hours from start to finish -- cutting fabric and last stitch at the end.

I will add pre-wound bobbins and wonder clips to the list.

Plus the auto needle threader feature on my machine.

Definitely the rotary cutter and mat. When I first saw them being used, I thought I died and went to Heaven. Just thinking back on cardboard templates and scissors give me angst.

I still have my grandmother's cardboard templates and almost finished hand stitched double wedding ring up in the attic....and there it is going to stay until someone else tosses it or finishes it. I can't even get a hand sewn button to stay on. I put all my buttons on by machine

I have to vote for Wonder Clips. I despise getting poked by straight pins!

When I retired, I joined our small church quilt ladies. Nice people. They wanted me to sew but they’d cut the blocks with a yardstick, pen and scissors. Not a good experience - block size could vary almost an inch. One lady sewed blocks at home & when the corners didn’t meet, (bless her heart) she’d just make a fold. I couldn’t do that, so I’d take blocks home & recut so I could actually put the top together in a decent manner. We moved 8 years ago and our new church has modern methods, thank goodness !

Gadzooks - an inch off?

Sounds like my very first quilt. It had 3 square corners and a handle.

They wanted me to sew but they’d cut the blocks with a yardstick, pen and scissors. Not a good experience

This sounds like the first sew group I joined. The used yardsticks and thought they were fancy using the 12 inch plastic school rulers. I was told the rotary cutter cost too much and you had to always by the blades and had to buy a cutting mat and it was a fad, wouldn't be around long and a waste of money. Fast forward a couple of decades and the very same thing was said about the brand new Accuquilt Die Cutter I bought at the time. Now most all guild members have one.

It's a toss up between the magnetic pin dish and the loop turner. (There's another name for it, but I forget.)

Is the name "bodkin"?

rotary cutter, cut my 1st quilt with scissors I think every block was a different size.

Like almost everyone else, the top of my list would be my rotary cutters and mats. In that same category would be my rotating mats - I love those and would have a hard time squaring up blocks without them.

Next would be my magnetic seam guides. I need a "dam" when I sew - a simple line or strip of tape just doesn't work for me; I end up with a wiggly wobbly seam.

The "big board" ironing boards that I made. I have two of them - one of them is 36"x72" and the other one is 26"x72". They've made ironing so much easier.

Last, but not least, my design wall.

The stiletto.

When I was making the DWR for my sister, I followed Shar Jorgenson's method and she recommended a stiletto. Love it so much I use it for everything now, it's the first thing I pick up when I sit down at my sewing machine.