Quilters are known for being resourceful and I have noticed many things designed for other uses being hijacked for use in quilting, and to prove it, I’ve decided to share six of my favorites with you.
Some are because they are just really great for the purpose, but some are because they are cheaper, and hey, we can all use more money to spend on fabric, can’t we?
1. Freezer Paper:
Originally used before plastic bags were invented for wrapping food to put in the freezer, or for layering between frozen goods to keep portions separate.
Now we find it the perfect paper for cutting shapes for needleturn appliqué, and for cutting parts of small, one-off pieced blocks (e.g. in a “Dear Jane” quilt).
The paper is waxy on one side so trace the designs onto the other side and cut out; place the waxy side against the fabric and iron it and it forms a temporary bond with the fabric. Fabric can then be cut out with a seam allowance added. Shapes can be peeled off and re-used several times.
In America it can be bought at supermarkets, but in Australia it is generally only available in patchwork shops.
2. Baking Paper:
We all know this is what stops the cookies sticking to the tray. But it also stops all those lovely fusible products from sticking to the iron.
When using fusible webbing (e.g. Vliesofix, Steam-a-seam etc) for appliqué, or an iron-on stabilizer (Vilene, Pellon, Parlan etc) you can put a piece of Baking Paper on your ironing board to stop it sticking to the board, and another piece on top before you iron, and your iron will stay clean as well.
You can also assemble an appliqué, ironing it onto the baking paper piece by piece, and then peel off the baking paper and iron the entire appliqué onto the background at once.
3. Bicycle Clips:
Quilting with a domestic sewing machine can sometimes be a challenge.
Quilters have discovered one way to control the large area of quilt is to roll it and slip a few bicycle clips (the sort cyclists used to use to keep their flappy trouser legs from getting caught in the chain) over the roll.
This will stop it unrolling, but it is still easy to slip the clip around and unroll it as you go.
4. Snap Hair Clips:
These are the ones little girls wear in their hair all the time, except they don’t need the little flowers and bows and other decorations on them.
They are great for holding down the binding around the edge of the quilt, first as you sew it on, and then as you fold it over and sew it down later. Less pin-pricks in the fingers, and no dropped pins to find later!
5. Gardening gloves:
Yes I know you can buy special quilting gloves with grippy bits on the fingers, but I have found I can buy almost the exact same thing in the gardening department at half the price!
My favorites are the ones which are made of lycra so they fit nice and tight and they “breathe”, but they look as though the whole palm of the hand and fingers have been dipped in latex, which gives a super grippy finish.
I can get them in my favorite color (Pink), there is much less strain on my wrists and fingers and I can quilt for longer!
6. Templates:
Our Grandmothers used cardboard, and we use template plastic, but have you thought of looking around for less expensive options?
Milk and juice often comes in straight-sided bottles which are transparent or semi-transparent, which are great for cutting small templates from.
Old X-Rays are also good for templates. And I’m sure we have all used bowls, lids and coffee cups for drawing circles!
I’m sure you could think of some other options too.
I would love to know what you use for quilting which was meant for something else.
Happy Quilting!
189 Responses
THanks for all the handy ideas from common objects around the house. I love that Reynolds Freezer Paper. I am going to contact Coles and ask them to get me some in. I bet they could find it somewhere.
Our pleasure, we love sharing our ideas! Let us know how you go with the Freezer Paper 🙂
I have a perfect little plastic tool that comes in so handy for turning a tiny bit of fabric under for applique. Don’t tell anybody but it’s a skewer that had fruit on it in a cocktail.
Haha love this post! I don’t do anything nearly as clever, but do use random objects as circular templates– dinner plates, and jar lids (I save all my jars so I have a wide variety of sizes) in particular.
Great ideas!!!
Your secret is safe with me (hee hee)
I use a toilet bowl brush to clean up thread on my carpet.
Those black paper clips work great for holding binding in place
Someone just told me one. Take your binding that you’re ready to machine sew on your quilt and wrap it around a empty toilet paper roll. Then put a piece a ribbon through the roll, the ribbon will go around your neck and the roll willhang in front of you as you as you sew. Tie the ribbon off. The roll keeps the ribbon off the floor.
If you use the sides of the milk jug for a pattern, keep the top for a funnel. Burn the edges with a lighter or a candle, those funnels last quite a while.
I use old cereal boxes for quick templates. To get a perfect, small circle for appliqueing. use quarters or dimes for the size. Make the circle of fabric a little larger than the coin and then run a stitch around the edge. Put the coin in the center and then pull the stitches close around the coin. Dab the fabric with liquid starch and then let it dry over night. After it’s dry remove the coin and you have a circle to applique that stays round as you sew.
What a great way to recycle all the used x-rays we have at my work place (with patient names removed first of course).
Also the disposable cutting boards that the dollar tree carries make good templates the same plastic sheets at jo anns are 5-6 dollars and dollar tree 2 for a dollar
Another common household item I use is the bamboo skewer as a stiletto … They come in packs from the grocery store … and cheap. Cut one in half and voila two stilettos! The rest of the skewers from the pack make a nice kabob dinner!
Pizza boxes–new ones–hold finished blocks until you have them all made.
When working on an appliqué block to keep from creasing your work, roll it around a cardboard tube. Use a tube from paper towels, bath tissue, waxed paper, foil, gift wrap etc.
Secure with a rubber band.
I use those stupid magazine subscription cards for EPP.
I use the foam toe separates for pedicures to hold my bobbins. Buy them at a dollar store and it’s even cheaper
I use freezer paper for stablizer when I use my embroidery machine. I iron it on to the back of my fabric then hoop it. It keeps the fabric stiff, and stable., and tears away nicely.
A wooden BBQ skewer… A great stiletto to control hems or binding or applique close to the needle and if it gets too close to the needle, not likely to break it . Also, chenille stems reenforced with a straw to clean the hard to get at places.
I made weights out of soft leather and sewed on all four sides leaving a small hole to fill with shot gun pellets sewed over the hole and wahla heavy weights to hold down my quilt from slipping off the sewing machine table
I use a soft paint brush to clean in and around bobbin area it seems to grab and keep the lint in the brush better then the small brushes that come with the machines
I use a nut pick that used to come with the nut cracking tool. It works as a stiletto and is also useful for picking out stitching.
I wrap my underneath quilting finger with a strip of Curad or Johnson & Johnson cloth bandage tape cut lengthwise, so I can feel the needle but not poke myself (at least not too often!). I’m always afraid they’ll stop making it! (I’m a hand-quilter.) I sometimes use a sliver of white soap for marking quilting patterns. Sharpen the edge with a potato peeler. Not so easy to find in this age of body wash gel! Circles of rubbery balloons or old rubber gloves are good for grasping the needle to pull through the fabric on tough spots. Wax the needle with the stub of a candle.
Great tips!! I use old x-ray films for templates (my husband is in the medical field). Also, I use the magnetic trays that you use for cars for my pins, and the telescoping magnet pens for picking up pins. if you get them at the hardware store, they are a quarter of the price as getting them in the quilt store.. not as “pretty” looking, but does the same job, and sometimes a bit better!!
I have a variety of small metal washers I got at a hardware store that I use for applique circles. I bought about 10 of each size from about 1/4 inch to 1 inch in diameter. I use a running stitch and starch like Carol explained, but I use an iron to dry them faster. I keep the washers in a small plastic container so they don’t get lost between uses.
Toothpicks! I use them for stilettos and for needle-turn appliqué. And for tiny drops of glue.
Instead of using safety pins to hold the quilt sandwich, get a 3/8″ leather hole punch and punch out little tubes from flip-flops. You can use a straight pin and stick the point into this little plug and save your fingers.
I use the plastic in the bacon package as template material.
Kebab sticks are great for safety and accuracy. Keep them near your sewing machine. Use them instead of your finger when working close to the needle.
Another useful device is a door viewer. When laying out a quilt, look through a door viewer to see it from a distance. It helps getting that overall view. Also of course, red cellophane to check value. Looking though it highlights the bits that stand out as too dark or too light
I keep a 12′ Craftsman tape measure in my sewing kit.
I also have an old grapefruit spoon I use when pin-basting quilts.
Oh, and a student who happened to be a nurse gave me a surgical clamp…very handy for pulling threads out of places they shouldn’t be.
I use the very small but thick hairbands around bobbins it keeps threads from undoing
I use chop sticks sharpened with a pencil sharpener for a stiletto. I love the length, it keeps my hands and fingers way back from the presser foot and I can guide the fabric under the needle and do not worry if the needle would stick the tip because it won’t cause damage like striking a metal stiletto would.
I use construction grade vapor barrier for templates and love using cookie cutters for quilting outlines and applique shapes.
Little girl’s pony tail holders are great to hold bobbin thread in place. You can get them in a package of 100 for $1.00.
I did not know about the baking paper. I use all the others.
Glad Press and Seal. Never use it for food. I use this product for quilting designs. Place the press and seal on the design from a book or magazine. Trace that design on the press and seal. once traced move the press and seal to the fabric where you want that design, press it to the fabric and sew over the traced design. when done tear the press and seal away. Great designs perfect.
Sometimes, I use Mr. Clean magic eraser as a pin cushion. New pins have a waxy coating on them which causes a lot of drag on the fabric. A couple of times in the eraser sponge cleans them right off.
I found some tiny little shavers meant to tame eyebrows. They are the best seam rippers ever. Especially great for serged seams. I found them at the Dollar Tree. I also use the ‘toe spreaders’ from pedicure sets to hold bobbins.
There are so many things I can add to this list. Most of the crockery in my cupboards, especially egg cups because I can use the top and the bottom as two different sizes of circles. Coins for feathers, Chop Sticks and Knitting Needles for stuffing, Micropore bandage for marking and not leaving ‘goo’ marks. Sellotape wound the wrong way against the hand for removing loose threads from quilt tops.
Grapefruit spoon for closing safety pins saves your fingers and I use fat hair elastics around my wound bobbins.
Suction cup handles they sell for showers to help infirm people to “get a grip” work well when cutting with a long ruler. It helps stabilize the ruler.
If you turn binoculars backwards you can get an over all view of your quilt.
I use paper plates a lot to organize quilt pieces the put them in the order in which they will be sewn i.e, a piece from plate 1 to the piece in plate 2 and so on down the line.
You can stack them and keep them nice and flat.
I use the fat rubber band that comes around broccoli bunches as a thimble for hand piecing and quilting. I put it over my finger and it protects me from poking the eye of the needle through. Then, when the needle is all loaded up, the rubber band makes a great gripper to pull the needle through. Win win!
Best thing I’ve found is Pilots FriXion Erasable pens. Used them for crossword for years but they are marvelous aids in quilting. Can draw quilting lines, seam lines, anything–sew over them and barely touch the drawn lines and with an iron and they are gone.
Thanks. I learned a lot
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