Quick Tip

Posted on June 14, 2013 by Erica's Craft & Sewing Center

This is my pin bowl.

I love my green and orange glass head quilting pins. (80449) But do you spot the imposters?

I have four flower head pins in there! (A12672) Why?

When I’m sewing around something but need to leave an opening to turn the it right side out, like a pillow, I use the green one where I’ll start, and the red one to remind myself to stop!

With a quilt, I ignore their colors and use the flat heads to mark centers. For instance, in putting on borders, I use one to mark the center of the quilt, and one to mark the center of the border. I use my other pins the rest of the way. That way, when I go to put the border and quilt together, I know the flat heads are the centers and first place to match up.

I hope this is helpful! Until next time…

(To find an item on our web page after clicking on the highlighted words, hold down the “Ctrl” key and touch F. Enter the item number in the box, press enter, and you’ll be taken to that item. Some of the images on this post are also links!)

Remember, you can see What’s New at Erica’s almost every day! Any page of our website has a column on the left that tells you where to find things, and all you have to do is look for “New Items” in purple, and click to find out.)

Look at them Glow!

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Erica's Craft & Sewing Center

As careful as I might be when I’m cutting strips, especially the whole width of the fabric (about 21”), my ruler might slip! Well, I’ve been using the Quilter’s Slidelock rulers for a few months, and now I can hardly cut without them! (A20396-A20398)

What is different about these is that when you press down, little rubber feet come down and really hold your fabric securely! Sharon (the designer,) calls these the retractable cutting system. You can see Sharon demonstrate the magic of the Slidelocks here. Since I have been cutting with two rulers for a long time, I had no learning curve. (See my information sheet on cutting with two rulers here.)

There are two kinds and sizes: clear and lighted, in 14” and 24” lengths. I started off thinking I could manage with just the longer one. It wasn’t very long, until I got the 14” one. I just don’t want to cut without them! As for clear or lighted? I use the lighted ones because I don’t have too much light over my cutting table. The fluorescent green shows up against any color fabric and the edge really shows up. Here they are, sitting on my cutting table. (And of course, here’s Bernie, where he shouldn’t be! That bowl is the one we use to feed our smallest kitty, and we usually guard her bowl until she’s finished.)

These Slidelocks aren’t actually lighted by batteries, but it almost looks like it. I happened to notice after I turned my lights off in the studio, how they glow with just the reflected light from the bedroom. Look at them glow!

(To find an item or event on our web page after clicking on the highlighted words, hold down the “Ctrl” key and touch F. Enter the item number in the box, press enter, and you’ll be taken to that item.)

You can see What’s New at Erica’s almost every day! Any page of our website has a column on the left that tells you where to find things, and all you have to do is look for “New Items” in purple, and click to find out.

It’ll Do For Now!

Posted on March 29, 2013 by Erica's Craft & Sewing Center

A while back I made a Candace purse (50524), but put Margo’s (59135) pockets on the other side.

I just love it!

I’ve used it every day, every where I went. The other day I noticed it had worn on the corners.

Some day, I’ll make another the same way. But not right now! I have the newsletters to finish! So I got a bright idea!

I remembered using Liquid Stitch (57949) on thread tails in something I made, so why not use it on the corners?

So I put glue on each of the corners. It looked like this (above) when I first put it on.

This is what it looked like when it dried, with the fleece peeking out where it was worn. It has a slight rubbery feel.

After touch up

This is what it looked like when I touched it up a bit with a fabric marker.

So it’ll do for now. And I’m going to put Liquid Stitch (57949) on the corners right away when I make my next one! Hooray for Liquid Stitch!

(To find an item on our web page after clicking on the highlighted words, hold down the “Ctrl” key and touch F. Enter the item number in the box, press enter, and you’ll be taken to that item.)

They threw us this Curve!

Posted on February 18, 2013 by Erica's Craft & Sewing Center

The more I see of “modern” quilts, the more I like them. I also love new tools! So this week Lacy and I decided to try the new Quick Curve Ruler (A20118), and make the table runner pattern that comes with it.

Lacy She had the proper reverence for the project, as always.

Chain Piecing She also agrees with me that when chaining pieces, if you leave a slightly longer chain between them, it’s better than having them touch. That way, the beginning and end stitches don’t come out when you cut the connecting threads with your Gypsy Cutting Gizmo (47319). Table Runner

Table Runner Here it is, not quilted yet, but put together. It was a great project to learn the technique.

There are so many patterns from Sew Kind of Wonderful that use this cool tool, it’s hard to decide which to do next! I’m thinking about Urban Pods… Urban Pods Pattern

Until next time…

Erica

Get inn-spired

Posted on November 2, 2012 by Erica's Craft & Sewing Center

So THIS is what it’s all about!

I see the orders come through from our website, and so many included inn-spire. (A12785)

Then our Checker rep, Carolyn, (also the genius behind Far Flung Quilt patterns), showed me a fabric leaf packed in her sample bag, and told me to get an iron. The leaf was made using a pattern called Natural Inspiration Leaf Bowls. (A16973) The heat and steam of the iron allow you to shape your flat piece into a bowl!

So I wanted to try it, but decided to use one beautiful Bali fabric instead of doing the piecing shown in the instructions.

I used Steam-a-Seam 2 (93357), and followed the instructions to fuse the fabric to both sides of the inn-spire. Then, instead of tracing the leaf pattern, I used my ink jet printer and printed it out on Quilter’s Freezer Paper (36079) to give me the shape.

Since I only used one fabric, I didn’t have seams to cover. So I just drew the veins with my water soluble marker. I used Candlelight Yellow (38668) in the bobbin and Smoke MonoPoly on top. (88027) (I’ve found that I use Smoke much more than Clear now. It really disappears well!) Anyway, I reduced my tension, dropped my feed teeth, put on my free-motion foot, and stitched over the veins I drew. Then I turned the piece over and followed the Candlelight thread I’d stitched the first time. The MonoPoly thread didn’t show on either side, and my leaf was completely reversible. For the thread ends, I used Liquid Stitch. (57949). It’s an amazing fabric glue and you can’t see where my Candlelight thread tails, (which can unravel,) end.

I cut out the leaf shape with my 7 ½” Perfect Scissors (A11652) and used my chocolate Fabrico Pen (82782) to color the white edges. I doubled the Candlelight, and zigzagged it to the edges with Smoke MonoPoly in my bobbin and on top. (I first practiced on some of the scraps I’d cut off, to see how I needed to adjust the treads.)

To shape it, I used a small glass bowl, and followed the instructions. If you don’t like the way it looks, heat it and do it again! To store your bowl for the next fall season, just heat it and flatten! Finished Leaf Bowl

There’s another pattern, Pumpkin Party Bowls, A17433, by the same designer, Poor House Quilts. But use your imagination and you’ll find other uses. You could do a poinsettia bowl on your own, use inn-spire for Angel’s wings, anything you want to shape. We also have inn-spire plus that has the fusible on both sidesso you can skip a step. It comes in a 9” x 12” sheet. (A18711)

(To find an item or event on our web site after clicking on the highlighted words, hold down the “Ctrl” key and touch F. Enter the item number in the box, press enter, and you’ll be taken to that item.)

Erica puts rumor to rest …

Posted on October 11, 2012 by Erica's Craft & Sewing Center

Jennifer jumped the gun a bit when she said there was a rumor that I was working on a quilt from the Tula Pink book, Quilts from the House of Tula Pink (A18230).

At that time, I was working on the newsletters and getting ready to go to Viking Convention in Tucson. (It was a great convention, with great new products!) NOW I’m starting my Tula Pink quilt! Page 127 has Stacks, the quilt that intrigued me. Angela Walters quilted the quilts in Tula’s book. I love Angela’s Free-Motion Quilting (A17336).

I used her Tiles quilting design on my last “modern” quilt, Ring Toss (A12651).

So I chose this quilt based on more quilting ideas from Angela. I enjoy the quilting process so much, and that’s how I decide on what quilt to piece. Look at the beautiful Bali fat quarters I’m using, along with a gray background. (Of course, Lacy had to check out the fabric, too.)

Since Bali fabric tends to have extra dye, and they’ll be against a light background, I knew I should set them with Retayne (40287); 4 oz. (40287), 16 oz. (18659).

Several are dark, so I put them together in the Retayne. (There are instructions on the bottle for machine washing.) Before putting them in the washer, I clipped the corners. Have you ever pre-washed several pieces of fabric and taken them out of the washer and the threads that frayed had the fabrics all tied together? Clipping all the corners prevents that. The photo on the right (below) shows the fabrics as I took them out. Every one of them separate! So much easier this way!

Pre-washed fabrics Testing Fabrics If you want to check your fabric for extra dye or possible bleeding when washed, you can swish it in hot water in a white or clear bowl. If the water turns a color, the fabric needs Retayne. Follow the instructions on the bottle.

Before cutting, I press all my fabrics using Best Press. That way, if there is some fabric I haven’t preshrunk using the Retayne (the gray, for instance,) it shrinks as I’m pressing with Best Press.

Today I’m cutting my pieces, so I truly am working on the quilt from the Tula Pink book now!

Return of the Bengal Tiger

Posted on July 26, 2012 by Erica's Craft & Sewing Center

I’ve finally gotten back to the Bengal Tiger wallhanging that I started many months ago! (A13718). It’s from Rob Appell’s Endangered Species collection. I made his Giant Panda from the collection and blogged about it last winter.

I like to have several projects going at once, because then there’s always something I feel like working on. It’s really bad, though, when I have to leave something midstream for so long, because when I get back to it, it feels like I’ve never read the instructions before and they’re in a foreign language! Does that happen to you?

Well, I got everything laid out, only to find I was missing some pieces. Darn! I was sure I’d cut them. (I’ll bet one of my kitty sewing assistants has absconded with them and I’ll find them years from now!) So what’s to do but cut them again.

Lacy

When I got all the pieces arranged, I did a final pressing. (I used my press, but it can be done with an iron too.) I hung it on the wall, as I try to do with all my projects, so I can glance at it while I’m working at the computer, from about 15 feet away. Lacy thinks she enhances the tiger (actually she thinks she enhances everything).

Tiger Nose

I used Heat n Bond Feather Lite which is what Rob recommends now. I decided I didn’t like the piece that formed the top of the nose. You may not know that reheating a piece that’s been fused to fabric will sometimes allow it to come off cleanly. Be sure to try it with a swatch of the fabrics and fusible that you’re using before doing it with your actual project, but with Feather Light, it works beautifully! Because there was so much bias, and this piece was so long, it stretched quite a bit. So I decided to prepare another piece to replace it. You can see the difference after I re-positioned it. Lacy likes him better now, too.

Tiger Eye

I put it back on the wall and decided that I had one of the green pieces slanted too much. So I heated it and removed it. This piece was smaller, and came off without stretching. Sometimes there isn’t enough glue left on the piece when you remove it. To reuse the piece, you may need to put fusible on it again. The way I did that was to lay an applique pressing sheet on the ironing board, put the green piece right side down on it, then a new piece of fusible on top with the glue down and the paper up. I pressed it, let it cool, then took the paper off and removed the extra glue that remained on the outside of the green piece. That way I didn’t need to cut a new piece, but you could do that, too..

Here he is now, ready to put on my Handi Quilter frame!

Finished Bengal Tiger

If you’re in the Kokomo, IN, area, we’ll be there Friday and Saturday, July 27 and 28^th for the One Stop Quilt Shop Hop. There’s more information on our Facebook page.

Dec la Table!!

Posted on July 13, 2012 by Erica's Craft & Sewing Center

We finished my Dec la Table Holiday Tablerunner/Wallhanging class sample! I’m really pleased with it, and enjoyed both the bargello and the embellishing. (A16910 pattern, A16392 fabric pack)

Lacy enjoyed it too!

Join me in class if you’re in our area.

I used to struggle getting the paper backing off some of the fusibles. Then I got a tip when one of the embroidery stabilizers came out, and I use it all the time! In case you’ve had the same problem, I’d like to share it with you, using one of the ornaments. I scanned the applique pages from the pattern and ran copies of them on Print N Fuse through my inkjet printer. (I hate all that tracing so this is a great way to get out of it!) (24252, 24253, 24254)

This is what one of the ornaments looked like after I fused the piece to the fabric and cut it out.

Next, I scored the paper with a pin.

That makes it easy to remove the paper backing!

By the way, our Annual Sidewalk Sale is going on right now, both at the shop and online, so you can get some really good buys. You can find links to our sale items on our home page Check it out!

(To find an item on our web site after clicking on the highlighted words, hold down the “Ctrl” key and touch F. Enter the item number in the box, press enter, and you’ll be taken to that item.)
You can see What’s New at Erica’s almost every day! Any page of our website has a column on the left that tells you where to find things, and all you have to do is look for “New Items” in purple, and click to find out.

Quick Tip for Pressing a Quarter Inch

Posted on March 14, 2012 by Erica's Craft & Sewing Center

I was working on a project recently, and it called for a strip of interfaced fabric to have the two long edges pressed in 1/4″. From the beginning of my sewing experience (more years ago than I’ll admit), that phrase filled me with dread! That is, until I figured out an easy way to do it. I thought I’d share that with you today.

I lay the strip right side down and draw a line parallel to each long edge, in from the edge 1/2″. Then I simply press each edge in to meet that line! So much easier than before I thought of this. You may have thought of it, too, but if not, try it next time you need to “press edge in one quarter inch” and you’ll see the dread fade for you, too!

I turned around as I was writing this to see my Lacy, lying in a box top I keep on my desk to put papers for recycling in. Of course she’s way too big, but that doesn’t stop her. It’s her new favorite place to nap! I couldn’t wait to share the photo with my fellow feline fanatics! By the way, if you haven’t seen the Crafter Kitties in our newsletter, be sure to check the pages out here:
http://www.ericas.com/nl/page23-25.pdf
. I’m working on another newsletter for the end of the month, and there will be new photos.

If you have some to contribute, we love to get them. Include details about yourself and your Crafter Kitty.

Quilting Tips

Posted on July 21, 2009 by Erica's Craft & Sewing Center

As I started piecing one of my last projects, I happened to think that some of my newer students haven’t heard of using an “anchor cloth” for chain piecing. So I thought I’d share it here in case it’s new to others. In fact, one of my students (Carol, you know who you are…) told me later “I’d heard about it before but thought I didn’t really need to do that. You emphasized it in class, so I tried it, and now I can’t imagine piecing without using the anchor cloth!”

You need four little scraps of fabric around 1” x 1” . They are used double, so you put two of them under your presser foot to start. Since I do a lot of piecing, I always have an anchor cloth under my presser foot, even when I’m not using my machine. Then it’s ready for me to start again.
You stitch first on the anchor cloth and then move on to your first pieces of the quilt. Continue feeding in your pieces, and when you get to the end, put your second pair of scraps under your presser foot and stitch onto them. You clip off the chain behind your anchor cloth, and remove the first one from the beginning, and it’s ready to be used the next time you end a chain. This keeps you from getting little birds’ nests at the beginning of your work, and saves thread between chains. Try it, if you haven’t.

Another tool I like is the “Purple Thang” but not just because it’s purple! You know how sometimes the end of your piece tries to move out to the left? The Purple Thang can fit where your finger doesn’t, and hold it in place. Happy Quilting!

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