Basic Supplies

When using your rotary cutter and your ruler have you fine your ruler slip slide away

Stop,

Get yourself a peice of sand paper some double face tape and place it ond the sandpaper, get a hole punch and punch out a bunch of hole, remove the protective paper and place it on your ruler

no more slipping

To make a non-slip area when tracing around templates on fabrics, use a sandpaper folder.  Take a manila folder and open it up.  Then glue a full sheet of sandpaper to each side of the folder on the inside.  Place your fabric on top of the sandpaper and then trace around your template. The fabric will stay put and not bunch up.  This sandpaper folder is easy to fold in half and take to classes with you and it doesn't take up much room!

DJWolf1414

Want a design wall that is easy to put up then just as easy to take down?  Sew a casing on a flannel backed tablecloth or sheet.  Slide a dowel or curtain rod in the casing.  To hang it, take two of the type of special hooks that have suction cups that have to be snapped down into place to adhere to the wall.  These work great on glass and ceramic tiles as well.  Company coming?  Lift the dowel and "wall down" and snap the hooks up to remove them.  No trace that it was ever there.

Need a quick disposable thread catcher when taking a class? Open a quart zipper bag and turn the top edge of the bag with the zipper down over the outside - this will keep the mouth of the bag open...then just attach to the edge of the table with a couple of strips of blue painter's tape and you have a thread catcher ...once the class is over you can just throw the bag away (though you can just peel the tape off too and keep the bag for the next class!)

Tired of your dining room table too full of quilting supplies to eat dinner? I bought an plain unfinished door  and 2 saw horses for my sewing.My mat fits at one end,sewing machine in the middle,and I wrapped batting and grey nonheat fabric {the stuff on ironing boards} on the other end. Now I can sit and sew, press my seams on my left,and cut on the other end.I also set the saw horses up a little higher than usual so my cutting height is comfortable.And we can now eat dinner together again.

When making I Spy quilts, it's good to have all your squares in clear bags with the number of pieces in the bag on a sticky inside the bag note so you know when you have enough to make your quilt instead of continuously counting them.

Our local thirift store sells a paper grocery store bag of items  for .   With two bags of mens white shirts I can piece a king log cabin quilt top.  The whites are all different shades, makes a wonderful quilt, and I have been using one made from this source for 15 years on our bed. I do not wash out the starch until after the quilt is pieced and quilted.  It is my best selling quilt. 

My aunt sewed for a living, and one of the most important things she had was a large ironing board. About 60 years ago, my uncle made her a large ironing board top that fits on her regular ironing board and the kitchen table.

It was 24"x72" and made out of good plywood (not wafer board), and it had a old wool blanket and canvas top. I remember how great it worked, and how my aunt would get all her fabric laid out and ironed.  I made one a little smaller (24"x 66") and it only cost about and a little time. Hope you all enjoy.

To keep thread from unwinding from the spool and help keep it clean, purchase a roll of 1" wide clear vinyl (costs about ).  I still have about 1/2 roll left after 3 years!  Cut pieces the length needed to wrap around your spool of thread.  The vinyl sticks to itself and is easy to unwrap when ready to use the thread.  You can wrap the bobbin with the spool as well.  You can store the piece of vinyl when using the thread by pressing it onto any smooth surface on your sewing machine.

I had my husband put up a 4' wide by ceiling length peg board for me. I can hang all my rulers, stencils, hoops, scissors and anything else you can think of on it. This way everything is in one spot and can easily be seen and found.