quicktip

Your project calls for a panel of fabric two or even three times wider than the fabric you bought at the store. No problem. You’re going to sew multiple widths together to get the bigger width you need. But you can’t just start cutting widths of your fabric. The pattern isn’t going to match up and/or your beautiful design motif is going to end up in the wrong place on your project. Instead of wasting expensive fabric through trial and error, you need to figure out your cuts based on the fabric’s design repeat.

‘Matchmaker, Matchmaker, make me a match,’ the girls sang in Fiddler On The Roof . They wanted husbands. But they could just as well have been singing about matching up both sides of a seam when goes through the middle of a design. Both kinds of matches can be tricky to pull off. And even worse, they’re obvious to everybody when not done correctly.

The bobbin on your sewing machine provides the lower thread supply, allowing your machine to form stitches. Needless to say, if your bobbin isn’t set up properly, your machine won’t work.

The ubiquitous lint roller. Like most people, I keep one in my closet to remove lint and pet fur from clothing, and one in the laundry room for those times I forget to take that Kleenex out of my pocket. Now, I’ve discovered the lint roller’s sticky magic works wonders in my sewing area.

Sewing over pins is faster than removing them, but it’s a gamble. Often, the machine needle misses the pin, but when it doesn’t it can break your needle, thread and worst of all, seriously damage your machine. It’s not unheard of for a piece of the broken pin or needle to end up embedded in your eye. So, NO, don’t sew over pins.