Modern Sewing Starts Here Edition 5

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TOP TIPS for organising your sewing space Sarah Ashford, obsessive quilter and fabric lover shares her top five tips to help you keep your sewing space organised and allow for maximum creativity! 1Keep your workspace clear I like to try to keep a space clear for my cutting mat, so that I can easily spread and cut out fabric. There’s nothing worse than having to clear a whole pile of stuff or try to cut fabric with lots of things in your way. This is often easier said than done, but if you are strict that your cutting mat is a ‘no clutter zone’ you will soon appreciate the ability to spread your projects out and cut quickly and effortlessly. 2Get your fabric organised I organise my fabrics by size, and then colour. For example, anything half a metre or more is wrapped around an acid free comic book board and stored in the bookcase. This makes me feel like I have my own personal shop! They are also roughly colour-coded, which makes it very easy to find what I’m looking for. Fat quarters are folded and stored in trays for quick, easy access. Fabric bundles that I want to keep all together I tie with ribbon and keep either on the shelf looking pretty or in a draw. Scraps live in a bucket, and I just tip them out when I want to use them. It’s messy but fun, and often I’ll put fabrics together that I may never have considered before. I always put them back afterwards though! 3Have a system for your WIPS As someone who has multiple projects on the go, it’s so important to keep in order, and not get things muddled up. I like to keep WIPs (work in progress) in project pouches so that when I want to work on a particular WIP I can just pull it off the shelf and it’s all in there ready to go. This also works really well if I’m travelling or going to a guild meeting – I can just pick up the project pouch that I need, get my sewing essentials together and off I go. 4 Keep notions close to you It’s always useful to have the notions that you use all the time in one place, and I really like If there’s one thing that helps me with productivity, it’s having a tidy and organised sewing space. I like to be able to find things quickly, keep my workspace tidy and have a system for my burgeoning fabric collection my Stash ‘n Store for this. I love that I can just easily grab my scissors or unpicker whenever I need it, and it’s so easy to return it once you’ve finished using it. No longer am I hunting high and low for those essential sewing items that I use all the time. 5 Pass it on It’s always a good idea to have a clear out from time to time. If you don’t want it or need it anymore, either sell it or pass it on. Often sewing groups or guilds have a ‘swap table’ where you can donate unwanted fabric, and then receive some ‘new’ fabric in return. It’s a win-win situation for everyone, and if you’ve had a tidy up of your sewing room at the same time – even better! So that’s how I organise my sewing space, and I find that it works for me. I hope that it encourages you to have a clear out, get sorted and create a happy, productive sewing space so that you can enjoy the process of making beautiful things!
FREE MOTION QUILTING Just the mention of free-motion quilting (FMQ) can bring the most rational person out in a cold sweat. Trudi Wood, patchwork and quilting tutor aims to take away some of the fears you have, starting with the fundamentals Threads Not all thread is created equal, and your machine may be a thread snob! Personally, I favour a good quality cotton thread that I know my machine likes. Yes, there is a popular brand of thread that none of my machines will play nicely with! The important thing to know is the type and size of the threads. Cotton or polyester – all threads come in different weights (wt), anything from 12wt to 100 wt. A Standard weight is 50wt or 40wt. All you need to know is the bigger the number the finer the thread. Needles Use a good quality needle. I use a Schmetz topstitch needle as it has a bigger elongated eye for the thread to pass through (and is easier to see). It also has a groove down the front of the shank to guide the thread through. This needle also has a sharper point than a universal needle. Needles come in different sizes, however, the bigger the numbers the bigger the needle. You should be matching your needle to your thread and changing it regularly. There’s excellent information on needletypes and sizes on the Schmetz website – www. schmetzneedles.com/needleguide. Wadding There are many waddings to choose from depending on your project, budget and personal preference. Choose the right one for the project you’re working on. Be aware that there’s a right way and a wrong way up for some wadding. The way to tell is using a machine needle, and carefully stab the wadding on both sides to find the path of least resistance – this will be the right way up. This helps for cotton and cotton rich waddings. It means your machine is not working so hard to push the needle through, and therefore it will feel smother as you quilt. Basting Layer up fabrics with backing face down, wadding then main fabric right side up. Whether you choose to pin baste using basing pins, safety pins or glue baste (Using a spray is your personal preference). If you are spray basting try pressing from fabric side and a cool/ medium iron setting to smooth out the wrinkles before moving onto the next layer. Only recommended for cotton rich wadding. Repeat this with the top. Not only will you have a much flatter smoother quilt sandwich, it activates the glue too. If pin basting – pins should be spread and hands width apart and bear in mind it will take a lot of pins for a bedside quilt. <strong>Sewing</strong> Machine Clean and oil your machine regularly (consult your manual on how to do this). It’s important that lint is removed from the machine’s workings regularly as the build up can affect tension and cause problems when stitching.
Page 1: Edition 5 - July 2019 Modern sewing
Page 4 and 5: Pick of the PATTERNS New sewing pat
Page 6 and 7: Scarf-like prints Brazilian-born se
Page 10 and 11: If you’re having problems, check
Page 12 and 13: Susanne Firmenich is a surface patt
Page 14 and 15: CLASSIC, FEMININE AND NATURAL…. T
Page 16 and 17: Slouchy BAG I love receiving fabric
Page 18 and 19: WHAT’S NEW We keep you posted on

Modern Sewing Starts Here Edition 5

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