hobbykat1955

Steam N Seam...My friend told me abt it but why would I spend so much money on it when Wonder Under or Heat Bond worked fine...Until I started doing Collages and found that not having to pin tiny pieces but just using SNS and being able to reposition over and over again

Macybaby

I removed the "top" rail from my LA. I've always floated my quilts and left the rail unused, but then always had to be tucking the top and batting under and it made it hard to adjust as I was working. I figured I needed it as it helped to add tension to the quilt, but then realized that I always loosened the quilt enough before quilting (my machine likes a rather loose quilt) and at that point it was doing nothing.

I fought with that rail for several years - and it is sure nice having it gone and the quilting is not affected by not having it there.

NZquilter

Actually, I bought my first rotary cutter and mat in 2014, after I had already been quilting for several years! I started my quilting love when I was a teen and had no money to buy one. All my first quilts were made with plastic templates made from cleaned out milk bottles! Now I am amazed at how accurate I was able to fudge those pieces! I always wanted a rotary cutter, so I splurged on Black Friday at Joanns and bought my first Friskers set. Definitely the best purchase ever!

IrishMom

This intrigues me and I've just spent the last 15 minutes researching it! Do you use it for piecing as well? A lot of the articles say it's good for piecing, but for me to use my 1/4 inch foot I have to move my needle several spots....I wouldn't be able to do that with a straight stitch plate. But if it makes my free motion better, it might be a good investment just for that! Thanks for the tip!

Jordan

I do have a couple of "aha" moments. One is that I realized buying good quality quilt shop fabrics are much better to sew with than the cheaper fabrics (I could not afford the quilt shop fabrics when I started quilting). Second is that I needed a design wall to put up the blocks and not have them laying on the floor or a guest room bed-my little doggie loved to run thru my blocks and thought it was so fun to mess them up!!!! I went to Home Depot and got sheet of foam core or something like that and covered it with some flannel I had and love it. Use it all the time.

joe'smom

The straight stitch plate is essential to me, especially when piecing with smaller pieces. My pieces would get dragged under and chewed up with the regular plate. But always put a piece of tape or something on your machine near your stitch selector to remind you the straight plate is on!

Sheri.a

I did exactly the same thing. I have found some good strong kitchen scissors work in cutting it. I've also used my old Olfa mat for the bottom of purses.

Watson

My "aha" moment was that you could make HST's bigger and then cut them down to the right size. Who knew?

Also, I watched a Sharon Schamber video about how to put perfectly straight binding and she used glue! Eureka!

Watson

Iceblossom

I've had so many! LOL but then I started quilting before the rotary revolution and was self-taught.

But yes, first rotary cutter/mat/ruler changed my life.

The book Scrap Quilts by Judy Martin changed my quilting career, before that all my quilts were "planned" and I had never seen a scrap quilt I liked. Now I quilt almost entirely with scraps -- still planned, but dozens if not hundreds of fabrics instead of 5-6. The directions are a bit dated now but I'm still such a fan of the book!
https://www.amazon.com/Scrap-Quilts-.../dp/096029709X

As I've been dealing with progressive vision loss I've become a fan of what I used to disdain as "fabric wasteful" techniques. Now I'm a big believer in cutting large and trimming down, it only takes a tiny bit more time and makes my end results better. My favorite way to make triangles now is with a square by drawing a diagonal line across the fabric and sewing on the line, then trimming off the excess. Especially in small triangles the amount of fabric waste is negligible and it is fast and precise. And no need to worry about adding 7/8ths to the finished size dimension for the right cut.

mlt150

I used to nick myself when I didn't close my cutter. Changed to the ergonomic one that you squeeze to open and no accidents now. I love how it feels and works!