5923 Stewart Road
Galveston, Texas 77551
Phone:
409.740.9296 Fax: 409.740.1123
Email: [email protected]
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5923 Stewart Road Galveston, Texas 77551 Phone:
409.740.9296 Fax: 409.740.1123
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Quilts
by the Bay Fax Number: 409.740.1123
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Weekly Quilting Tips November 23-November 29 Use a grapefruit spoon to close the pins when you pin baste a quilt with safety pins. This will save your fingers from becoming sore. November 17-November 23 If it is difficult to see the quilting design you have drawn on your dark fabrics, try drawing your quilting designs on tissue paper and pinning them on your quilt. You can quilt right through the tissue paper and remove the paper when you are finished. November 10-November 16 When pin basting your quilt, stretch your quilt taut on a table prior to pinning. This will prevent the backing from puckering. November 4-November 10 If you remove a section of quilting stitches and a line of holes remains in the fabric, try dampening a cotton swab with warm water and rubbing over the holes. October 29-November 4 To prevent your fabric from raveling, clip the corners of the fabric by the salvages when pre-washing the fabric. October 22-October 28 Does your ruler slip when using your rotary cutter? Put a rubber needle grabber ($0.95 for 2) under your ruler and it will not slip at all. October 15-October 21 Train yourself to trim all threads when they come out of the machine, when machine piecing. Thus will prevent little pieces of thread showing through the light-colored fabrics in your finished quilt. October 8-October 14 To prevent your fabric from being stretched when you steam the fabric, leave your piece on the ironing board for a few moments and let it dry completely before picking it up. October 1-October 7 When you mark seam lines on your fabric for hand piecing, keep your pencil perpendicular to the marking surface during marking. Should you hold your pencil at an angle, the seam line can be out of position and your finished work will be inaccurate. September 24-September 30 To prevent callouses on your fingers caused by hand quilting, try putting a small piece of masking tape on the tip of your finger. It is thin and allows you to still feel the needle as it comes through the fabric. September 17-September 23 You should never lift your rotary cutter from the fabric. Instead you should cut your fabric in one continuous motion by walking your non cutting hand along the surface of the ruler to hold your ruler securely in place on the fabric. September 10-September 16 To keep your rotary-cutting ruler from slipping, position your hand on top of the ruler so that your ring finger and thumb are just next to the outside edges. Your index finger and middle finger remain on top of the ruler. September 3-September 9 To ensure that you get the effect that you want in your quilt, lay your blocks out of your bed prior to sewing them together. August 27-September 2 Make the most of your precious time by always keeping a piece of your project close to your sewing machine and ready to sew. Keeping your machine out and something to sew close, you can turn a few minutes into productive time. August 20-August 26 To sew a hand-pieced seam more quickly, hold your needle in one hand and move the fabric onto the needle rather than moving the needle in and out of the fabric. August 13-August 19 Seams should be hand pieced in a manner that prevents tiny pleats and puckers. The thread should control the fabric so that it lies in a relaxed position, to achieve smooth seems. To do this, you should make sure that the needle pierces the exact drawn line consistently, and does not point above or below it. Don't tug one piece of fabric to fit another. Errors should be corrected before the patches of the quilt are sewn together. Your finished quilt will be precise if you seam lines are straight as an arrow. August 6-August 12 Keep your projects in a highly visible place in your home. You will be more likely to pick that project up when you have a spare moment if the project is in sight rather than out of mind. July 30-August 5 When you backstitch at the beginning and the end of a hand-pieced seam, you can give the seam more strength by slanting your backstitches so they fall into the seam allowance rather than lie on top of one another. You can still press these seams in any direction you like, and seams will lie more smoothly because there will be fewer threads coming together to create bulk at the juncture between two seams. July 23-July 29 To step up your stitching speed, hold your needle in one hand and move the fabric back and forth. You will be putting the fabric onto the needle rather than inserting the needle into and out of the fabric. February 12-February 18 When washing big yardages of fabrics, fold selvage to selvage 1/2 to 3/4 yards with quilter's safety pins. This will help tremendously in preventing fabric from twisting and knotting up. February 5-February 11 After threading your needles for handwork: you will end up with a short end on 1 side and a long end on the other side of the needle. Make sure the long side is the end of the thread you just cut off the spool. Otherwise your thread will be running the wrong direction and will knot up on you as you are sewing. January 30-February 4 When pr-washing your fabrics, clip the corners by the selvages. This will prevent them from raveling.
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Quilts by the Bay Top Picks
Brand New Thimbleberries
New Assortment of Quilted Bags
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Quilts By The
Bay 
