Proper Way to Fold your Fabric for Cutting

 Have you ever been cutting fabric strips for a project only to open them up after cutting and realize that they are slightly bent at the folds? These are called "fabric elbows". Nobody wants a fabric elbow. When you are cutting straight strips you really need them to be truly straight. 

So why does this happen? Well, it's all in how you folded the fabric before cutting it. You didn't fold it straight with the grain of the fabric before cutting. In this video I show you two methods for finding the straight grain of your fabric so that you don't get fabric elbows.

If the embedded video above does not play for you then click the following link to go to my YouTube channel and watch it there: Eliminating Fabric Elbows Demo Video

If you go to my YouTube channel to watch the video, please consider subscribing to my channel. And thank you if you do that or if you already subscribe to my channel. 

If you have watched any other recent videos I have done, would you let me know if the sound quality on this one is better or not? I have had complaints that even with the volume all the way up the sound is not loud enough. I realize that this is frustrating, but if you told me nine years ago when I opened my shop that I would need to learn how to make and edit videos I would have thought you were crazy. Yet here we are! I finally feel like I have a good camera set up - it takes three cameras to do most of my videos, but I'm still struggling with the sound quality and editing of the videos. 

Metro Rings :: A Completed Top

This will be the last time I subject you to this project until it comes time for quilting it. Like I said yesterday, it will be a while until I can quilt it since it will be going to Kathy's Fabric Trunk as a store/class sample for a while.

I absolutely love this quilt! The pattern is Metro Rings by Sew Kind of Wonderful. Look for it at your local shop or order online directly from Sew Kind of Wonderful. It is a Double Wedding Ring variation. If you have always loved the Double Wedding Ring pattern but never felt confident enough to make one, try this method.

The pattern requires the Quick Curve Ruler, which is available either from your local shop or Sew Kind of Wonderful. I'm not a big fan of specialty rulers in general, but this is one specialty ruler I'm really glad I own. I love most of the patterns Sew Kind of Wonderful puts out and have made quite a few of them.

I thought I would share with you this trick. If you have ever finished a top then set it aside for any length of time before quilting it, you may have noticed that the edge of your top may have frayed. Another issue is the seams along the edge may pull out if you don't backstitch as I don't. I noticed this with the very first quilt I made as a store sample. Store samples get handled a lot!

After that first unquilted store sample I started zig zagging around the edge of every completed top unless I planned to quilt it right away.

This helps tame any fraying that may occur and also helps to hold those outer seams in place for an extended period of time until I have the opportunity to quilt it. I've been doing this for a while with store samples and it has really helped them to hold up as unquilted tops. 

Maybe you don't make store samples, but I bet most of you don't quilt everything as soon as you finish it. If you are like me, you may move your unquilted tops many times before they finally get their turn to be quilted. Periodically I open them up to pick the next one I want to quilt and to refold them. Zig zagging around the outer edges of your tops will help protect the edges until they get quilted.

HST Trimming Trick

Click here for the giveaway which ends Monday June 23rd..

I learned a new-to-me shortcut for squaring up half square triangle units. I tried it out last week and was impressed with the results. It was much faster than the way I usually do it (like taking about half as much time) and was just as accurate after a little trial and error for how I need to line things up.

The tutorial I followed is by Little Miss Shabby. She calls it the Epic HST Technique. Click on the link to go to the tutorial.

I found that using a square ruler and my rotating cutting mat worked best for me.

The disadvantage of using a square ruler is that unless it is the exact size you need to cut, you will still have to rotate your unit and make two cuts. Using a rectangular ruler with a drawn on line like she shows in the tutorial you can cut both sides without having to move the ruler or the unit. The advantage to using a square ruler, as opposed to a rectangular ruler, is that you can cut the dog-ears off as you cut the sides.

I was shocked at how quickly I had them all trimmed. Lining up four HST units at a time on my rotating mat also helped speed things up.

I had everything trimmed and pressed in time to play around with them. Below are my three favorite layouts I tried.

The photos only show four blocks. I have enough HST made up to do 12 blocks. I may make more though so I can have more blocks.

Tip of the Day

I've used a lot of irons in my day. As you will see in the photos below, I'm still using this no-frills iron. I am still happy with the iron, but I must confess that I have left it on unintentionally a time or two. My previous long-term iron had an automatic shut-off, which drove me crazy at times. It turned off after 10 minutes and took a seemingly long time to heat up. So I like that this iron does not have an automatic shut-off, but this also has its drawbacks.

This tip is really from my mom. Since she doesn't have a blog I thought I'd pass it along to you on her behalf.

Use a bracelet as a reminder.

Bracelet on iron

If the bracelet is on the iron, it means the iron is off.

Bracelet on me

If the bracelet is on me, the iron is on. This way if I get called out of my sewing room I am wearing a reminder that I need to go back and turn off my iron.

I've been using this system for several weeks (after leaving my iron on all night) and so far it has worked wonderfully for me.

Pinwheels

I saw this video on another blog I read. It is from Bailey Girl Five's blog. The video shows you how to make four half square triangle blocks that you can turn into a pinwheel block without sewing on the diagonal. It is pretty cool and may be just the ticket for me to turn a charm pack I won into a pinwheel quilt.

Check it out.

Back from our trip and a tip

We are back from our trip to Durango. We had a great time reconnecting with (and meeting for the first time) one branch of Tony's family. They are a fun bunch.

On Friday night we ate at a restaurant called the Sow's Ear. We were staying up near the ski resort and most of the action and restaurants are located 20 miles down the mountain in Durango. We had been driving for hours and hours according to Parker (actually it was only 4 hours) through some pretty heavy rain and didn't feel like trekking back down to Durango for dinner. According to the information at the place we were staying, there are only four restaurants on the mountain. At least only four that are open in the summer. Based on the brief descriptions we picked the Sow's Ear. We opened the menu and I thought Tony was going to fall on the floor - it was expensive. But we had the best meal we have had in years! They make everything from scratch, even butcher their own cows. The food was outstanding! I don't think I have ever had a steak at a restaurant that I didn't feel I could have fixed as well or better myself, until Friday night. My ribeye was better than I can do. If you are ever in the Durango area and are in the market for a meal to remember, go to the Sow's Ear!

To top off our meal, as we were waiting for our check a bear came ambling out of the woods down into the parking lot toward the front door! And me without my camera. One of the waiters went running down to close the front door of the restaurant since the bear seemed to be headed our way. However, by the time we got out to the parking lot we couldn't see him anywhere - thank goodness, he was big. Our waitress said that he was probably only between 1 and 2 years old though and he would get much bigger. Yikes!

Now for my tip. My LQS, The Gray Goose, gave these out a few years ago as a little gifty for purchasing something. They called them bobbin bikinis. Actually, they are ponytail holders for little girls but they work great to put around a bobbin to keep it from unwinding in storage.

You can get 42 for a dollar or two at Wal-mart. Pretty good deal I think and they fit my bobbins perfectly.