Friday Favourite - Lint Tool

Okay, hands up. How many of you clean your sewing machine on a regular basis? And just what do you define as cleaning?

With the knees injured my machine was getting a bit of a rest. So I took it in for a little tune-up and deep clean. In the almost 4 years I've owned it there has been very little that has ever bothered me about it, other than the needle threader breaking. It may just be because it is a good machine, but I also think I take care of it rather well.

One of the things I do is clear the lint every single time I change a bobbin. Yup, every time. The bobbin case is out anyway, so I have a good clean view of all that lint! I used to use a Q-Tip with a dab of oil to do this. This was how I was taught to oil my machine. Then a swap partner sent me a handy little tool. With regular cleaning I've found that I only need to do a quick swab with oil once a month or so, depending on how often I've sewn.

Today's favourite is the handy little tool.  It can be yours for less than a dollar, or even free if you, like me, often have straws and pipe cleaners around. Ah, preschool crafts.

Take a roughly 2 inch piece of pipe cleaner and a thin straw. The little coffee straws work best for this.
Fold the pipe cleaner in half and pinch the ends together close. Insert into one end of the straw. Don't worry about glue or anything. A small straw will hold the pipe cleaner in place.

Open up your machine where the bobbin is. This is what mine looks like after a a bobbin's worth of sewing. You don't have to look too close to see the lint.

Drag the pipe cleaner/lint tool through the entire area, behind the bobbin housing, in the bobbin case, and underneath the throat plate. This is what came up for me.

Do this every time you change your bobbin and your machine will run quite smooth. Trust me, a clean machine saves you a lot of headaches and repair bills.

My Favourite Gadget

Do you know what this is? Hands down, it is my favourite tool for quilting. I'm not a gadget, multiple rulers, fancy papers kind of girl. But the day I discovered this was revolutionary.

To be fair, I think it was my sister or Hubby who actually discovered it for me. I remember getting it for Christmas one year. how I survived without it is beyond me. If you are a pin baster then you NEED this.  It's the best $20 you'll ever spend on quilting. The handy Kwik Klip saves your fingers and a heck of a lot of time when you are pin basting a quilt. It essentially lifts the bar of the pin to close it. Instead of you pinching it yourself. Finger saving, I tell ya!

I've seen these at every local quilt shop, but I've also found them on-line.

(If you do decide to search for them on line, be careful of your search terms.  If you only use Kwik Klip the internet seems to think you are looking for a specific gun accessory!)

Improv Sampler - Chopsticks

There really is more to improvisational quilting that wonky log cabins.  Of course, those are good too.  But this technique, which I call chopsticks, is the first step in some fun designs.

Start with a square that is roughly the size you want your finished block to be.  Or just start with a square in any size and see what happens.  Cut some strips of other fabrics, slightly longer than your square.

Slice your square on any angle - through the middle, close to the side, or even lop off a corner. Don't throw away either piece.  It is best to keep the pieces set-up as if you just cut them so you can remember how it all goes back together.

Pick up the piece on the left side and sew one of your strips to it, right sides together.  Open and press.

Pick up the remaining piece of your square and sew it to the edge of the strip, as if you were sewing the original square back together (but with the strip in between).  Open and press.

You can sew one strip or many.  The process is the same every time.  Start with the square, slice, re-sew, and press.  Your strips can be parallel, on an skewed angle, or even perpendicular, like this quilt.

Important tips for this technique:

- Don't start with a square that is exactly the finished size you want because you will lose bits as you re-sew.  Start larger and trim down.

- Try not to have strips less than 3/4 inch on the edges.

- Strongly contrasting fabrics work best, but you could get a subtle design with fabrics close in value or colour.

Thread Catcher

One of the annoying side effects of improvisational quilting is the constant starting and stopping when you sew.  Depending on your plan of attack it might be difficult to chain piece. That can leave a lot of cut threads, mess, and wasted time.  A good quilting friend of mine taught me this trick.

Take a scrap of fabric and double it up (or use two small pieces).  When you finish a seam, sew a a few stitches in to nothing, then sew in to your scrap.  You can then cut your piece from the scrap without a tangle of threads to deal with.  When you come back to your machine for the next seam just sew from the scrap piece, cutting it off when you go to press.

I usually keep two of these by the machine.  One for the start of my sewing and one when I finish the seam I'm working on.  That way you always have one handy to plug in to the end of your seam when you leave the machine to press.