Over the past few months (since I stopped spending 150% of my time on SeamedUP), I have picked up a few tips that are new to me that I thought I would share.

1. Stitching in the ditch is not just for a quilt design – I read a great article on how to ‘stitch in the ditch’ but it also elaborated on why.  Doing this before you do your filler or decorative quilting stabilizes the quilt and gives you better results in your decorative quilting.  Wish I knew this before my feathers on the hot ribbon quilt.
2. Pressing seams open is more than a fad – I also thought this came about because more garment sewists were moving in on quilting.  But I found that a lot of the modern quilters do this so their quilt has a flatter look.
3. Card stock paper works well as a template material - I didn’t want to bother with cutting out the plastic, paper is so much easier.  And it worked pretty good.
4. Put the curves of your applique pieces on the bias, it makes your curves and points easier to do.
5. Batiks work well for raw-edge applique.  They are tightly woven and don’t fray as significantly.
6. A Spiral Eye Needle is not just good for easy threading, but it helps when you need to bury the end of the thread into the quilt.
7. When cutting your fabric and if you have scraps – immediately cut them into the scrap size you are saving.  Mine is 1 1/2″ for a postage stamp quilt.  Going back and spending hours cutting these is a pain – doing it along the way is much easier.
8. When piecing, use different color threads in the top and bobbin – if the tension messes up, you can easily see what is caused the problem; the top or the bobbin.
9. When cutting multiple layers of fabric at once – press the layers together one at a time with steam.  They will kind of ‘cling’ together making cutting more precise.

I couldn’t come up with a #10, so can you help?  Leave a comment and share you tips.