Quilting a Large Quilt on a Small Sewing Machine

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Lindsay Conner (Craftsy blog) wrote, "Many, many quilters regularly quilt large quilts (queen, king and larger) on a domestic machine.

But how does it all fit within the machine’s small neck? With a little practice and by following the tips on the blog post Nine Tips for Quilting a Large Quilt on a Small Sewing Machine, you should be able to get better results when quilting a bed-size quilt on your small machine."

Figuring Yardage Left in Skein

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Ashley Little (Craftsy blog) explores how to figure how many yards are left in a partial skein.

There is some math involved, but it’s easy!

How to Figure Out How Many Yards are Left in a Skein of Yarn walks you through the process. 

Selecting an Embroidery Hoop

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Both beginning and experienced embroiderers will find Pumora's information on selecting the correct size of hoop helpful. 

Hoop Talk: All About Size

Garter Tab Cast On

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Stockinette Stitch

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Knitting Types

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How do you knit? What are the basic methods of knitting? There are several standard ways of carrying the working yarn, and of course some knitters develop their own curious variations on those. Interweave shares an overview of the best positions for different needs; perhaps there’s something new you’d like to try tonight!

Eight Ways to Knit and Why You'd Want to Change

12 Yarn Ball Types

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Interweave's article, 12 Yarn Ball Types and How to Knit with Them will clarify the confusion of the various forms yarn is marketed and their use.

Choosing a Sweater Design

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Before committing to a sweater style, read the Interweave article: Six Armholes and How to Make them Work for Your Body

Tips for Preventing Quilting Injuries

Quilter Erin Russek and certified personal trainer Michael Engman walk through ways to set up your quilting space in order to be comfortable, efficient, and pain-free. Engman focuses on body positioning and posture and the importance of remembering these things while we are cutting, sewing, pressing, machine quilting, and hand sewing.

How to Trim Large Blocks

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Big block quilts can be quick, easy and fun to stitch together, but how do you properly trim the individual blocks if the tools you have on hand are not large enough?

Karen Walker explains how to trim a large block with a six-inch square ruler in a photo tutorial:

How to Trim Large Blocks for Big Block Quilts

Yarn Bowls

Some quick, easy, and inexpensive ideas to corral project yarn.

Using PDF Sewing Patterns

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Libby from Truly Myrtle shares tips on how to use and store PDF sewing patterns successfully.

Sewing Tutorials

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Looking for the best fast and easy sewing tutorials and inspiration? Rae Gun Ramblings provides projects that can be done in less than an hour and many of them are great for beginners.

Tatting with One Hand

Inspired by the book “Tatting With One Hand” by Helen A. Chesno, Marilee Rockley demonstrates the technique - a method of tatting for people who have the use of only one hand. She said it may also help others to understand the “flip” of shuttle tatting.  

Marilee published also published a post with still photos:  one-handed tatting a ring


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Crochet Crocodile Stitch

Threading Double Heddles

Improvise a Top-down Sweater

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On Ravelry, Karen Templer shares tips on how to improvise a Top-down Sweater -  a top-down tutorial in action. She explains the top-down method as she knits a simple raglan pullover to her own specifications, without a pattern, so you’ll know how to do it too.

How to improvise a top-down sweater:
— Part 1: Casting on and marking raglans
— Part 2: Raglans and neck shaping
— Part 3: Finishing the neck and yoke
— Part 4: Separating the sleeves and body
— Part 5: The art of sweater shaping
— Prologue: The possibilities are endless

Bonus: you can save this "pattern" in your Ravelry library for future reference

Picking Up Stitches Before Ripping Back

WEBS shares how to reduce the frustration of ripping a project back to fix a mistake.

In stockinette stitch, identify the row below the row you will want to start re-knitting. Insert your needle under the first strand of yarn in the V that makes up the first stitch of the row on the right side. Continue this down the row, picking up the first strand of yarn in the V and skipping the second leg of the V. You’ll be picking up every other strand of yarn without dropping any.

This week’s tip shows us how to pick up stitches before ripping back so your don’t have to worry about the live stitches unraveling.

In garter stitch, you’ll be doing the same thing. If you stretch your knitting a bit, you can see the same V’s under the bumps of the garter stitch. Insert your needle into the first leg of the V in the garter stitch as well.

Once you have your needle inserted all the way along the row, you can pull the working yarn to rip back the rows above the needle. The stitches will be sitting on your needle ready to go.

It’s best to use a needle smaller than your working needle to pick up your stitches, but remember to switch back to the original size needle when you start knitting again.

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Sewing Machine Needles

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It’s amazing how something as small as a needle can make such a huge impact on your sewing project! 

The right needle for your sewing project can create perfectly even and beautifully made stitches. The wrong needle (even a worn or damaged needle) can create all kinds of headaches—like skipped stitches, crooked stitches, frayed and broken threads, and holes or tears in your fabric. 

So how do you make sure you are choosing the right needle for the sewing project you’re making? And how would you know if the needle is worn or damaged? 

For the answers to those and other questions, read We All Sew's article on sewing machine needles. 

Be sure to download the free BERNINA PDF Needle Brochure as a handy reference.

Quilt Borders

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Bonnie Hunter shares tips, tricks, and hints on adding borders to a larger quilt. Here's how she measures the borders:

Lay out the quilt on the floor, smoothing as you go so it is straight and flat, but do not stretch...just let it lay flat. Now take your border strip and lay it down the CENTER of the quilt, top to bottom, just smoothing it out. DO NOT STRETCH, just smooth, smooth. Trim it off at the bottom of the end of the quilt. I lay my quilt out on carpet, so I also like to anchor the beginning end of the borders with a couple of long pins stuck into the carpet. It keeps that one border end from creeping as I smooth. Cut the second strip the same way.

It is really important to cut your border strips straight across, or you can compound the problem if that angle is off from 45 degrees. If the angle is too wide, your next border will flare up at the corners. If it is too narrow, it is going to pull the top/bottom border down and your side border will be too short. Keep those angles square when you trim!

If you are doing a square quilt with 4 cornerstones in the corners, you can cut all 4 pieces at the same time.
If you are doing a rectangular quilt with 4 cornerstones, also cut your top and bottom borders across the width of the quilt, measuring through the center before sewing on the side borders.

This has ALWAYS worked for me, because when you are dealing with measuring tapes, they dont drape and lay the way your fabric does....your border fabric is your 'measuring tape' and as you smooth it across the center of the quilt top it will lay the same way as the quilt center with no tension on it. (copied from Bonnie Hunter's Border Hints post)

Bonnie's other border tips and hints can be found here