Hints & Tips

Mini Bolts

I have been finding myself buying fabric in 2 to 5 yd increments. But having no way to store them! So this might be a solution for those using shelves, bookshelves or cabinets to store them!

Find cardboard boxes (great way to recycle them!) Cut them into 9 x 12 inch pieces (please measure your own space and you can size your cardboard accordingly).

Now you are going to take your fabric and fold in half lengthwise. It will be about 11 inches wide after folding by however many yards long. Start wrapping around the cardboard. Make sure to keep tension on it while wrapping to keep it tight. Secure the ends with a straight pin. Stand up or lay the 'mini bolt' in your storage space.

I have not done with pieces longer than 5yds. But the longer the yardage the heavier of cardboard you will need. I would not suggest doing it with many more yards than this.

You can then organize by color sequence or in groups of matching fabrics... however you wish!

You can adjust the cardboard to fit your needs for storage.

Mini Mini Bolts

These work well for up to 1 yd to 1 1/4 yards. I precut my card board pieces to about 5x6. Then I folded the fabrics so they will easily fit on the card board and secured the ends with a straight pin. As you can see, I'm not quite finished yet. I still have one shelf I need to finish.

You can adjust the cardboard to fit your own needs!

Remnant Storage

A friend likes to buy the remnants at Joanns. She came up with this to store them in! She buys baskets at her local good will and then sorts her fabrics by type and color into each basket! Thank you Shannon for supplying the idea and pictures!

Basting Tip

I don't know about you but I hate picking out basting stitches! Even if they are bigger stitches! I have found away around this! Get a spool of Water Soluble thread. Use that thread in the top of your machine... and you can use whatever you want in the bobbin. When you are done.....Throw your finished piece in the wash and the top thread will disappear and you will only have to trim the longer bobbin thread away. I use Vanish Extra by Superior threads! One small spool will last a long time when using it for basting!

Always store your water soluble thread in a zip lock bag! Treat it the same way you would water soluble stabilizer.

Vilene (Water soluble stabilizer- fabric type) Tip and storage

I buy my vilene in 59 inch widths by 10 to 20 yards at a time! I cut these into 5 yd lengths and refold it, so I can easily take it to my cutting mat and rotary cutter. I then cut strips to fit my hoops. For example: a strip for the 5x7 hoop is 9 inches by 59 inches long. I do this for all my hoops and adjust the strips accordingly for each hoop size. All these strips can be stored in gallon size zip lock bags with the hoop size marked on the bag. Sometimes I really do not want to cut up all 10 to 20 yards I have purchased. The 5 yds pieces I cut are put in a gallon size zip lock bag to cut up at a later time. They stack nicely and are in air tight storage!

How do you use the strips? Hoop the strip. If possible using your machine software move your design up in the hoop if you want or need to. Stitch out your design. Un-hoop and cut a straight line up close to the bottom of your design. You have saved a couple inches of vilene. You will just keep re-hooping that strip.

What to do with those scraps of vilene? Get some water soluble thread, and sew the leftovers together. Just overlap the pieces slightly and use a straight stitch. I don't recommend using these for free standing lace. But they are great for doing appliqué work or if you are putting fabric directly on top the stabilizer... like a t-shirt or towel etc.

How to check if your hoop is slipping?

You can try this with any design, free standing lace or an in the hoop design. Hoop your stabilizer. Make it fit your hoop the exact way you wish. Now take a pencil and trace the inside of the hoop all the way around. Now continue with your design. Watch this pencil line with every color change or adding fabric or cutting away fabric. If that pencil line moves, you are having slippage in your hoop. Slipping in the hoop most often happens with the larger hoops.

To help prevent slippage, you can add the thin shelf liner to the long sides of your inner hoop. I found this to work fabulously well.

Putting in a zipper at the sewing machine

Sew up from the bottom of the garment, back stitch at the point were the bottom of the zipper will be, change the sewing length to baste and sew to the top. Iron the seam allowance open. Lay the zipper face down on the seam taping or using water soluble glue, glue it in place on the fabric part of the zipper. Allow to dry for a few minutes. sew the zipper down using a zipper foot and the guide on the zipper as the sewing line. Once the zipper is installed, remove the basting and iron the zipper flat. Thank you Mary for providing this tip.

Working with Organza

This is what I have found to work for me, so maybe it can also help you. I spray starch my organza and iron using the lowest setting on my iron. You might even want to use a pressing cloth. I find this gives you a more stable fabric to work with. When embroidering on organza, if possible spray your stabilizer with sticky spray such as 505.
Use a gentle hand when spraying, less is definitely more in this case. Then lay your organiza down. I've had good luck using a 65/9 ball point needle as well as a 75/11 regular needle. Also for some extra 'security' you can use a topping, such as solvy on top of the organza.

How to safely dispose of those used needles

Take an old medicine bottle, can be a prescription bottle or an over the counter medicine bottle. Drill a tiny hole in the lid. The hole should be just slightly larger than the needle. Drop your used needles in through the hole. If it gets knocked over they won't fly out. When full just dispose of the entire bottle and make a new one.

Tiny scraps of fabric

They can be saved for doing appliques! They also can be used to help stuff pillows. This also works with saving bits and pieces of battings! Another thought is to save your serger scraps- you know those messy long strands the serger cuts off as it sews... Why not use those to stuff pillows!

Embroidering down the legs of denim jeans

The absolute easiest way to do this is to split the less bulky seam on the legs of the jeans. Just get your seam ripper out and away you go. Now you are able to open the leg up and lay flat to embroider on. After the embroidery is done, If you have a serger you can breeze through sewing back up. If you don't have a serger, not to worry! It can be done on a sewing machine. Just takes and extra step or two. You can see where the straight seam is... sew over that with a straight stitch. Then to secure the seam you can use a zigzag stitch or an overcasting stitch and follow that straight stitch. Works like a charm!

Ways to use printed embroidery templates

You can print out templates of your designs and lay them out on quilt squares to see how and where to place each one in a manner that is pleasing to your eye! They are also great when figuring out placement on clothing. I also use them for alignment purposes. I cut out the template around the design itself. Lay it down and then do the next with the same piece. When I have them exactly where I want them I pin in place.

Assembly Box Instructions

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Got a hint or tip you would like to share? Please feel free to send it my way!