This post covers some FAQ's I get from beginning sewers and quilters as well as clarification on common misconceptions and not-so-great practices I know people have/do. I'll probably be adding to this as I think of more things or get questions.
General Must-Knows for Sewing and Quilting
Seams
Generally, seams for quilting are 1/4" and seams for pretty much everything else are 1/2". Patterns and tutorials will usually specify what size seams to use, but if yours doesn't, assume this rule.
Thread
Poor quality threads are pretty much a waste of your money. Do not be tempted by the 50 cent spools at Walmart! The only time you should be using cheap thread is if you're serging. Never use serger thread for regular sewing; it's not actually made to keep things together very well. The most common good-quality brands are Guetermann and Mettler for cotton and polyester. Wonderfil is less common, but still good as far as I can tell. Robinson-Anton and Sulky are the most common good-quality brands for machine embroidery (which I don't do, but I thought you still might like to know) but are not good for general-purpose sewing as they're decorative threads.
If you've acquired some thread from somewhere and you don't know what brand it is or what fiber content it has, don't use it, especially if it's old. If you're going to spend all that time making something yourself, you don't want the seams falling apart and the cost for a good spool of thread really is minimal.
The Selvage
I probably mention this in any of my tutorials, but it's very important not to include the selvage in your sewing, even in the seams. Not only does it look ugly, but it's actually made of a different fabric and will usually shrink at a significantly different rate. If you've included selvages in your seams, your seams will pucker and your project might not look good if you wash it.
Pins
Never sew over pins! If you do, you can throw off your machine's tension and break and dull your needles. If you do ever break a needle, be 100% sure that you have all the pieces before you throw it out and continue sewing. If a needle segment is unaccounted for, it may be in the hole you put your needle in (huge pain to get out sometimes) or in the lower section of your machine. This is especially troublesome if it's stuck in the bobbin and bobbin case area, which is often where it ends up. Countless times I've seen machines not working properly because a needle segment has gotten caught somewhere. If you can't find a needle segment or your machine isn't working right or is making sounds it wasn't before once you continue sewing, bring your machine in to be serviced ASAP. A piece of metal stuck in your machine can cause huge problems.
Machine Servicing/Care
You should consult your machine's user guide/owner's manual for information on machine care. It's a good idea to clean out the area around the bobbin case and any other areas of your machine which can be easily accessed every once in a while or after you've been using fleece, felt or batting or any other material that's fluffy and creates a lot of lint.
How often you take your machine in to be service by a mechanic depends on your machine and how often you sew, but generally, once a year is a good guideline. A mechanic can clean your machine much more thoroughly than you can because he/she possesses knowledge about machine and neato tolls you're unlikely to have. If you go long enough without getting your machine officially serviced, the oil and the fabric fibres/lint in your machine's gears will gradually turn to paste and eventually can completely jam up your machine or even break it or through off it's alignment.
Signs that your machine may need to be cleaned and/or serviced include:
-your machine being slower or louder than usual (this is often difficult to notice since it generally happens gradually)
-your tension (especially your bobbin tension) not behaving quite right
-your feed dogs not feeding your fabric through very well (make sure there isn't any lint in between the teeth)
-your machine jamming or skipping stitches
-your reverse function not working (particularly on older or mechanical machines)
-& numerous other minor or major problems
About half of the machines that get brought into our store just need basic servicing and cleaning despite the fact that the owners usually claim that it has to be more than that.
Look in your phone book and ask sewing friends and local fabric stores about where you can take your machine to get it serviced. Make sure to ask about pricing for servicing. If your machine only cost $100 to begin with, you might not want to spend $70 getting it serviced.
A common misconception about sewing machines is that if one hasn't been used much, then it doesn't need servicing. This is generally untrue. The only exception would be if the machine was never used and even then, it may need some oil. Just like a car, a sewing machine should be used somewhat regularly in order to stay in good working order. If a machine isn't used for a while, the oil won't have been kept warm or moved around at all and may have just drained out or combined with the lint in the gears to form more of a paste than a lubricant. If you're pulling out your mom's old sewing machine that hasn't been used a decade, it's a good idea to get it serviced before you start doing much sewing on it. Of course, you should check to make sure it works, but using a sewing machine that may not have any proper lubricant in it can be problematic fairly quickly.
Flannel and Flanelette
We're one of the few quilting stores I know that carries both flannelette and quilter's flannel, so obviously, we get asked about the difference a lot. Flanelette is significantly cheaper. It will shrink, pill, fade, wear out and stretch much more than quilter's flannel. Quilter's flannel also tends to have cuter prints and complete lines because all the good designers make the quilter's flannel. If you're making a quilt, unless it's a rag quilt, I would seriously suggest Quilter's flannel. Flanellette really is made for pyjamas pants and the sorts of things that you don't need to last more than a couple years.
A lot of cotton flannels/flannelettes will say something like "not intended for children's sleepwear" on the selvage, especially if they're from the U.S.. This is honestly the dumbest thing and it causes so many problems because flannelette is what you use to make pyjamas. The reason this is there is so that you can't sue the fabric company if your child catches on fire while they're wearing something made from this fabric. Cotton is perfectly safe to wear. Yes, it catches on fire if exposed to flame, but at least you can put fire out. If the pyjamas were made out of polyester, it would melt and then your child have molten polyester all over him/herself skin, which is much worse.
Scissors
Yes, there's a difference between fabric scissors and paper scissors. Fabric scissors are essentially just much nicer scissors. If you try to cut through fabric with paper scissors, you'll know what I mean. Get your scissors from a fabric store. I don't know about in the States (where everything seems to be half the cost) but generally, if you're not paying at least $20, they're not good scissors. I have a pair of Fiskars and I like them a lot. Ginger is, of course the most reputable brand. They're really good and if they ever get chinked or dull, they sharpen really well and I think they all have lifetime warranties. Naturally, they're quite expensive, though.
Bobbins and Other Machine Parts
Most machine parts need to be bought from the brand your machine is. The exception is needles, which fit any machine, unless you have an older Singer, then they might not. Most of the time light bulbs are also just standard sizes, but sometimes they're odd sizes and you might still need to order them in.
That means that bobbins and feet need to be the brand of your machine. When I got my machine second hand, half the bobbins were just generic ones and I had to throw them all out because the bobbins would rattle around in the bobbin case and sometimes jam my machine and chew up my fabric. Sometimes generic bobbins or bobbins from a different brand will happen to fit, but they'll never fit properly. The problems the wrong bobbins cause vary from skipped stitches to tension issues to the machine simply refusing to work or jamming.
Feet also need to be the same brand as your machine.
Must-Knows for Quilting
Fabric Width (WoF)
Unless otherwise specified, all fabric amounts and instructions assume a fabric width of 42”. This is the basic 45/44" wide fabric with the selvages taken away. If you're using a different width, you'll need to adjust your fabric requirements and such accordingly.
Binding
Unless otherwise specified, most quilt patterns and tutorials assume you're using 2 1/2" strips for binding. If you prefer a different size, you'll probably have to figure out how much fabric you need for binding instead of using the amount they give you. I intend to have a binding tutorial on here at some point.
Seams
Unless otherwise specified, any quilt tutorials on my blog and most quilt patterns use a 1/4” seam. The easiest way to get this size of seam is to attach a 1/4” foot. Some newer machines (like most higher-end Husqvarnas) have a 1/4” seam setting, which is super handy.
If you don't have a 1/4” seam setting and you're not willing to get a 1/4” foot yet. You can measure 1/4” away from where your needle goes down (put your needle in the down position and raise your foot for best measurement) and put a piece of tape there. Naturally, this isn't terrible accurate and if you plan on doing much quilting in the future, you should invest in a 1/4” foot, but if you're just beginning or on a budget, this will usually suffice. Most beginner quilts (ones that only have larger strips or blocks) will turn out fine even if your seams aren't exactly 1/4”. What matters in such quilts is that you're consistent.
Fabric
Always use good-quality 100% quilter's cotton fabric. Most quilting stores will only carry this sort of fabric, but some will have other kinds as well. If you're not sure, ask. After you've been around it for a while, quilter's cotton is generally very easy to distinguish from other fabric types and qualities.
Thread
If you're piecing your quilting (sewing the block together) I highly suggest 100% cotton thread. The reasons for this are that if the seams are put under strain for long periods of time, polyester can wear through the cotton. It can also stretch a little bit, which you don't want in quilting where accuracy and consistency are everything. You also can't have your iron on the cotton setting when you're using polyester; you instead need to have it on the much lower synthetic fiber setting, which will make it harder to really firmly press any seams and get out any wrinkles.
For the actual quilting or topstiching, you can use polyester or cotton. A lot of people say that you should use cotton, but as far as I can tell, it doesn't matter. I actually prefer using polyester because I do the majority of my quilting on a longarm quilting machine and polyester leaves way less lint and breaks less.
Batting
For batting, I generally suggest a 85% cotton/15% polyester mix, or something along those lines. This mix is what quilting stores generally carry and they will often be called cotton batting, since they are mostly cotton. A misconception many customers and even quilting store workers have is that quilts should use 100% cotton batting. This is completely untrue. The only time you should use 100% cotton batting is if you're making microwavable potato bags or some such thing. The reason you want a bit of polyester in there is that 100% cotton batting falls apart incredibly easily. If you used 100% cotton batting, you couldn't have any more than 2” square unquilted, which would a huge pain on most quilting projects.
As for brands, Warm and Natural is very popular and I like it. I usually use Hobbs though, because I like it just as much and it's usually cheaper. Warm and Natural is good for table runners and other small projects because it's thinner and will lie much flatter. Your local quilting stores will probably have their own brands. Just let the store worker know what you're doing and that you'd prefer a "cotton batting" or if you want to be specific, you can say 80/20 or 85/15 cotton/poly batting and they'll be able to help you. It really comes down to what you want. The only thing I really caution you against is using 100" polyester battings, simply because they don't breath as well and if it every catches on fire or heats up too much for whatever reason, it'll melt, which is way more dangerous than just catching on fire because it can get stuck to your skin.
Rotary Cutters
If you're quilting, the rotary cutter, cutting mat and ruler combo are a must-have. You can get away without rulers if you're just making large squares, but even then a cutter makes that so much easier. Instead of cutting one square at a time, you can cut ten much more quickly. If you're doing anything that requires any accuracy, I'd say triangle or small square and up, you absolutely require a rotary cutter or else your pieces just won't line up.
Because the whole combo is so expensive and a bit intimidating for beginner quilters, a lot of people who come in will only buy one piece of the ensemble, despite my warnings against it. If you don't have all three, you may as well not have any. Sometimes rulers are useful for tracing squares, but that's about it. A rotary cutter without a mat and a ruler is actually really dangerous. If you're not sure you want to commit to paying that much money up front, trying seeing if you can borrow some supplies from somebody or take a class that lets you use theirs. To be honest, I don't have my own set because I do most of my quilting at the fabric store I work at. There's way more room there and they like us to use the demo machines anyways so that we can sell them better.
I've heard the most ridiculous stories about rotary cutters. One woman came into the store and bought a ruler and told me that it was for her daughter who was in the hospital because she had tried to use a rotary cutter with just a regular school ruler. I didn't know the details,but it sounded pretty bad. Another woman came into the store upset that her rotary blade was bending around the edges and wouldn't cut anything anymore. Turns out she was using planks of wood instead of a mat. *face palm* We offered her a free blade if she bought a mat and she accepted the offer.
Anyways, don't try to get around it; it's not worth it. Just find a way to use the whole combo. You're life will be so much easier.
I also hear about people cutting themselves sometimes, but I've never cut myself. I think the difference is the rotary cutter. There are two types that I've seen and if you want to avoid cutting yourself, I would suggest the ones on which the blade automatically retracts if you're not squeezing the handle. I know Olfa has these, but I'm not sure who else does.
For quilting, it's really useful if your mat and ruler are at least 22" long so that you can cut the width of the fabric. My favourite ruler is the 8 1/2" x 22" because it cuts pretty much anything.
Olfa is a good brand; probably the most well known and generally the easiest to find replacements blades for.
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