Basic Supplies

I recently ordered "How To Start Your Own Machine Quilting Business" and after reading it through twice, I got started researching.  As a result I have now purchased my sewing machine and quilt frame, both expected to arrive by the end of the week.  The book covers everything very well.  I already have 2 leads for quilt groups who can use my service.  While I am learning as fast as I can how to machine quilt, I am getting all the business details done.  If you are wondering if you should start your own business, I advise you to get the book and consider all the aspects, and do your own research about it.  I suggest joining quilt groups online and talking to your friends.  My leads are coming from unexpected places just by mentioning what I'm doing. 

It just drives me nuts to have my cords flopping all over when I travel with my machines.  I purchased some "stick to itself" velcro strips (fuzzy on one side and loopy on the other).  I use about 4" per cord.  Wrap your cord up and secure with a piece of it.  While you are sewing, you can just loop it around the cord tight enough to stay on and it will wait right there until you are ready to travel home!  No more unruly cords!  Happy traveling!

Sewinggrannie in Illinois

I use plastic video and DVD cases to store fabric swatches, threads, embellishments for each project in these. I also store 1" to 3" squares in them until I have enough to start a project needing them. I also collect oddments like applique pieces ready to iron on for rainy day projects, oddments of laces & ribbons, etc. I find them good for holding small stencils, templates, paper pieces, etc. I also keep a supply of pencils, markers, unpickers, etc. In fact you can think of all sorts of reasons to use these handy storers. You can label them too, and see through most of them and they're cheap to buy. They also stack well in the shelf.

When free motioning get yourself a pair of gardening gloves at your hardware store, the ones that have little dot of rubber on. They give you great control moving your quilt around, and the only cost 1.99.

Happy quilting

Some times I get severl projects going at the same time. I have purchased Rubbermaid shoe boxes for $.99.  This way I can have one project per box and not have a huge expese put into the boxes.  They hold up better than cardboard and they keep the dust out too.  When your project is done you can always reuse the boxes.

I sometimes have trouble pulling my needle when hand quilting.  This especially happens when using short needles.  To help with that, I cut a finger from a latex "medical-type" glove and put it on my thumb.  Pulling the needle becomes so much easier that way.  This will also protect the thumb from too-enthusiastic needle pushing from the thimble finger.

I have found that the toy styrofoam tubes cut down to size are great for storing fabric that is 5 or more yards in length.  I wash & iron the fabric, fold it in half, pin the end down, then loosely roll the fabric & pin again.  I also cut the remaining styrofoam into sizes just large enough to store excess bias binding that I've created.

When cutting blocks that have lots of pieces, I mark off what is cut with a high-lighter. This way you can see where you are if you have to stop and come back. The next time you use that pattern, use a different color high-lighter.

Makes it easy to keep track of what is cut.

I use clean unused pizza boxes to store my quilted blocks in when sewing them. They lay flat and wrinkle free and I also put the peices of fabric that been cut for the blocks in the box along with the instuctions and work sheet with tips and measurements that I might need to record. I also mark the front of the box so I know what is in there without opening it. I use both large and medium boxes, it all depends on what size blocks I am working on. My pizza place in town has no problem selling me these boxes.

I found that my most important tool as a beginner is my quilt pattern book.  I went to an office supply store and purchased a quad. ruled composition book.  I use this composition book when I make all of my quilts.  Each page is filled with hundreds of squares and I plot out each and every quilt I make.  I even put all the information about the quilt on the page with the full design of the quilt plotted.  I use colored pencils to represent each fabric I will be using, this way I will be able to better imagine the finished product.  I write how the size and name of the finished quilt on each page.  I also write how many block, triangles, circles, etc. I need to make of each stating how many I need for each block, each row, and for the whole quilt.  I also write how many blocks across and down the pattern is.  Every quilt I have ever made is in this book.  If I should ever want to make another quilt that is like one I have previously made, I only need to go to my quilt pattern book and all of my information is at my fingertips.  I no longer need to spend hours of hair-pulling time figuring out the information to make the quilt.  This has been a great time saver for me as I have designed about nine different quilts and have spent hours and hours designing them.