Beginner Quilting

What is Backstitching on a Sewing Machine?

February 13, 2013 by Mary H Leave a Comment

Just like the meaning of the term “the right side of fabric” eluded me when I began sewing, I was also being unsure about backstitching on a sewing machine. And I’m guessing that if I didn’t know how to backstitch, there are probably a few other people that are trying to figure it out, too.

So, backstitching, as the name suggests, is really just sewing backwards. You backstitch to secure the seam you just sewed. If you don’t backstitch, then your seam will unravel.

Now, these pictures and directions are from my sewing machine, a Janome. Your machine may be (probably is) at least slightly different. However, I’m guessing that no matter what machine you use, you will use the same general process. Your backstitch button may look different or be in a different place, but it should be similar. (Although the backstitch symbol on my machine is an arrow pointing backwards, which I am thinking might be universal.)

Ok. So. Let’s assume you’re sewing curtains or something where you’re going to need to backstitch when you start and when you stop.

Step 1 First, go ahead and sew about 5-6 stitches normally. (When I was learning to sew, I would always slow my machine down when backstitching. I don’t need to anymore, but I did then. So you might want to slow down your speed on your machine.)

Step 2 After you’ve sewn about 5 stitches ( if you sewed 4 or 7 that’s fine, it doesn’t have to be exactly 5 or 6, that’s just what I normally do) push the backstitch button and hold it down for about 5 stitches. (Be aware that this feeds the fabric through backwards. Your fabric will back move up, away from you while you backstitch. It’s supposed to. This is the backstitching.)

**On my machine you hold the button down, I can’t say for certain that this is the case with all machines. I would think so, since you usually only backstitch a few stitches at a time, but there may be some machines that you don’t hold the button down, you might just push once to start and once stop. Just keep that in mind.**

This is the backstitch button on my machine.

As you backstitch, try to guide your thread directly over the stitches you just sewed. (If it’s not exact, who cares! Don’t stress.)

Step 3 After you’ve backstitched your 5 stitches, release the backstitch button and your machine will start sewing normally again.

Now, when you get to the very end of your fabric you’ll repeat the exact same process to secure the seam at that end.

So, sew all the way to the end of the fabric. However, instead of removing your fabric and cutting the thread, once you reach the end, you will:

(refer to Step 1) Press the backstitch button.

(refer to Step 2) Backstitch 5-6 stitches.

(refer to Step 3) Release the backstitch button and sew normally.

Now you’re done, with a nice secure seam.

One last picture, an example of what backstitching looks like.

Filed Under: Beginner Quilting, Beginner Sewing, Beginner Sewing Series, Sewing for Beginners Tagged With: back stitch, backstitching, backstitching on a sewing machine, Beginner Quilting, Beginner Sewing

Disappearing Nine Patch Quilt Pattern

February 8, 2013 by Mary H 5 Comments

I love it when you make something that looks complicated and like it took forever when in reality it was super simple. The disappearing nine patch quilt pattern is that way.

Wanna make one? Well, you came to the right place! Here we go…

First, make a plain ol’ nine patch block. (directions here!)

After you’ve made your nine patch, find the middle of the block and use your quilt ruler to help you cut a straight line down the middle.

Now cut down the “other” middle.

Now you should have 4 pieces that look like this. See? It looks like it took forever, doesn’t it?

You can arrange your blocks any way you want. Oh, the possibilities!

Here’s one option. All the white in the upper right of each block.

Another possibility. Kind of haphazard. Probably my least favorite.

And another. This one’s my favorite. I like all the white at the corners.

These were just three choices. Like I said earlier, there are many ways you can arrange these blocks. Another reason why I like it.

You may or may not need the next few steps. It’s just going into more detail about how to actually sew the block together. If you sewed the nine patch, you probably already know all this stuff. But just in case…….

You’ll sew block 1 to 2 and Block 3 to 4. (right sides together!)

Iron your seams.

Sew number 1 to number 2. (right sides together)

Iron your seams, square it up and you’re done!

Filed Under: Beginner Quilting, Quilt Block Tutorials, Quilt Blocks, Quilts for Beginners Tagged With: Beginner Quilting, disappearing nine patch quilt pattern, Nine Patch Quilt

Cutting Squares for My Next Quilt

December 3, 2012 by Mary H 4 Comments

Last week, I posted about how I found some fabric I love to make a quilt for my son’s twin bed. I spent the weekend cutting it into 5.5 inch squares….. 384 squares to be exact.

I don’t know what got into me, in the past it would have taken me a month to cut that many squares. I did it in a weekend! Whoo hoo! Improvement.

I’m about to start sewing my squares. (My favorite part!) I’m going to explain step by step what I’m doing, and I think this quilt will be a good one for a beginner, so check back soon!

Filed Under: Beginner Quilting, Quilts for Beginners Tagged With: Beginner Quilting, boys twin quilt, twin quilt

A Few Quilting Tips

September 1, 2012 by Mary H 1 Comment

I wrote this post planning on using it to go along with the pinwheel quilt tutorial I’ll be posting soon. But after I was done, I realized it applies to any quilt you might make.

This post might or might not seem like common sense. Either way, I’ve listed some things I do to speed up the quilting process a bit. It’s nothing earth-shattering, but when I started quilting, I didn’t do them. Now I do, and quilting is even better than it used to be!

First, I usually cut all my fabric at the same time.

I make stacks of cut fabric and stacks of blocks waiting to be sewn. There’s usually no reason to completely finish one block at a time. This is a stack of small blocks waiting to be sewn together.

Chain piece. It saves time and a little money.

This one specifically applies to my pinwheel block tutorial. Don’t just cut one block at a time. Cut as many as you can get under your quilt ruler.

Same thing when ironing. Take a whole stack and iron them all at once.

And there you have it. Told you it was nothing earth-shattering.

And like I said earlier, these steps can be applied to any quilt you make. There’s rarely a reason to just make on block at a time, unless you just like to work that way, and there’s certainly nothing wrong with that, it may just take a little longer.

Filed Under: Beginner Quilting, Quilts for Beginners Tagged With: Beginner Quilting, Quilt Blocks, quilting for beginners, quilting tips

How to Square Up a Quilt Block (Part of The Beginner Sewing Series)

August 5, 2012 by Mary H 7 Comments

Squaring up quilt blocks was a step that I used to skip altogether. But then I just I drove myself crazy trying to stretch, pull and creatively iron my squares to make them work and ended up with some really wonky quilts. (Which is really fine, after all, this is supposed to be a fun hobby!) But, the more I quilt, the more I want my quilts to look really good, so I’ve started squaring up my blocks most of the time.

Here’s how I square up my quilt blocks. As with most things quilty, there are probably 3000 different ways to do this, but this is the way that works for me. And, a little heads up, you’re probably going to want to rely on my pictures more than my writing! (This was much harder to explain than I anticipated.)

In this post, I used a 6.5″ square quilt ruler and 5.5″ quilt blocks. (You can use your quilt ruler to square up any quilt square that is smaller than your ruler.)

Place your quilt square under the ruler and line up the corner of the quilt square with the 5.5″ corner of the ruler. To find the 5.5″ corner of the ruler, find where the little lines meet to form a right angle. And if that is about as clear as mud, just look at the pictures below.

(It probably goes without saying, but if your quilt square is a different size from mine, then line it up accordingly.)

Here’s a view of the entire square. You’re also going to try to line up the sides of your quilt square with the 5.5″ line on the ruler. I say try because it’s almost impossible to get this exactly perfect (at least it is for me) but close to perfect is really good enough to let you make a nice, squared up quilt.

I also use the diagonal line to try to line up my corners.

After you’ve lined everything up, trim the sides to make them even.

Repeat on all 4 sides. I usually at least check all 4 sides and make sure everything lines up pretty well. I don’t always have to trim all 4 sides.

Sometimes you’ll find that you don’t really need to trim anything and that’s great! That means your quilt square is already square!

For more beginner sewing tips, check out my Beginner Sewing Series!

Filed Under: Beginner Quilting, Beginner Sewing, Beginner Sewing Series, Quilt Blocks Tagged With: Beginner Quilting, perfect quilt block, quilt block, Quilt Blocks, Quilting, square quilt block, square up quilt block

Chain Piecing Quilt Blocks: The Beginner Sewing Series

July 26, 2012 by Mary H 5 Comments

Chain piecing is a great way to speed up the quilting process and it saves a little thread, so it also saves money. (Granted, not a lot of money, but still.)

I quilted for several months before I even heard of chain piecing. And when I learned about it, I was scared to try it. I don’t know idea why. It’s very simple.

So, what is chain piecing?

Well, it’s kind of like an assembly line for quilt squares. Your chain is your thread and you’re connecting your quilt blocks with that thread.

Here’e how to do it.

First, sew a block exactly like you’d normally sew it.

When the block is sewn, do NOT clip the thread. Just pop your foot up just like you normally would.

Place the block between your thumb and finger and gently pull back.

And now start sewing your next block exactly the same way as you would if you weren’t chain piecing. I’m not sure exactly, but I guess I leave a little less than an inch of thread between blocks.

Another view.

You can do this as many times as want. I usually chain together about 25 or so, clip and start over. I don’t like them getting too piled up behind my machine.

To separate, just clip with scissors.

This really will save a lot of time because you’re not having to stop and clip your thread every few seconds.

And now you have another little sewing trick to use!

Filed Under: Beginner Quilting, Beginner Sewing, Beginner Sewing Series, Quilt Blocks, Quilts for Beginners Tagged With: Beginner Quilting, Chain Piece, Chain Piecing, Quilt Blocks, Quilts for Beginners

How to Make a Nine Patch Quilt Block

May 7, 2012 by Mary H 17 Comments

If you’re new to quilting and want to make a quilt block without using a pattern, a good one to start with is a nine patch. They’re very simple to make.

Here are some 9 patch quilt block instructions using just 2 fabrics. I chose 2 coordinating fabrics, one light and one darker.

Cut 5 squares of your lighter fabric and 4 squares of your darker fabric. (You can reverse this and cut 4 lighter squares and 5 dark ones, I just used more of my lighter fabric because I have more of it.)

I made mine 5 inches, but you can use any measurement you like.

Now arrange them.

Work in rows to sew them. I sewed from top to bottom. So, using the picture below, I sewed Square 1 to Square 2, then Square 2 to Square 3. I did the same thing for squares 4,5,6 and 7,8,9.

You’ll end up with 3 strips.

Press your seams. I pressed mine to towards the darker fabric.

Now pin your strips together. Using the photo below, pin Strip 1 to Strip 2 and sew. Then pin Strip 2 to Strip 3 and sew.

After sewing and ironing your seams, you should end up with something like this!

Try any fabric combination you want. Here’s another example, this time I used all different fabrics and 3 inch blocks.

You could make these just to practice or you could make a bunch of them, sew them together and make an entire 9 patch quilt!

And if you want to get really fancy, you could try a disappearing nine patch next!

Filed Under: Beginner Quilting, Quilt Blocks, Quilts for Beginners Tagged With: 9 Patch Quilt Block, Beginner Quilting, Making a Quilt, Nine Patch Quilt, Nine Patch Quilt Block, Quilt Blocks, Quilt Blocks for Beginners, Quilting, Quilts for Beginners

How To Attach a Walking Foot to a Sewing Machine

April 5, 2012 by Mary H 10 Comments

A walking foot is a sewing machine foot that helps feed multiple layers of fabric through a sewing machine more easily.

Quilting with a walking foot will make your quilting life much easier, trust me. The fabric will lay flatter, your quilting will look much better and it’s just so much easier.

It’s super easy to sew with one, the only trouble I’ve ever had, was attaching it to my machine, so I’m putting up this little tutorial in case anyone else has the same problem.

***Little disclaimer here. This is how you attach it to my machine. (I have a Janome.) I think the process is pretty much the same on most sewing machines, but some of these steps might vary a little depending on your machine.***

To Attach Your Walking Foot:

First, remove the current foot from your machine. On my machine, you push a little lever which releases the foot.

Now, please, save yourself some time and frustration and have a designated place to put what you take off your machine. Don’t just put it on your dining room table and assume it will there next time you need it….. not that I’ve ever done that. I just put mine in a plastic container that I keep next to my machine. Fancy, right?

After you’ve removed the foot, you have to remove the thing that holds the foot. I’m sorry, but I have no idea what it’s called. But this is what the part looks like with a foot attached.

And what it looks like without a foot attached.

To remove, you need to unscrew it. I use the little tool that came with my sewing machine to loosen it and then just use my fingers to finish unscrewing it.

Now your machine should look like this.

Now you can attach your walking foot. Slide the walking foot in from behind your needle.

You want to align the screw hole with the little space on the walking foot. I know those terms are vague, so hopefully the pictures will help.

Another view of the part of the walking foot you need to align withe the screw hole.

Now, this is the part that tripped me up when I was learning how to attach my walking foot. There is a part on the walking foot that moves up and down. Make sure you place this part above the thing that tightens and loosens your needle. Here’s a picture of what I’m talking about. Your walking foot will not work if you forget this step, but if you do forget, it will take you about .5 seconds to figure out something’s not right.

Now you just need to screw your walking foot on. This part was very awkward for me the first few times I did it. If you have someone to help you, it might make it easier if they can hold the walking foot while you insert the screw. You can do it by yourself, though…. it might just be a little awkward.

Now tighten the screw up and you’re done!

I always run a piece of scrap fabric through before starting to quilt just to make sure I attached it correctly.

Have fun! I hope this helped!

While I don’t really consider this a true beginner sewing thing, I’m going to link it to my Beginner Sewing Series.

Filed Under: Beginner Quilting, Beginner Sewing, Beginner Sewing Series, Tutorial Tagged With: Attach Walking Foot, Beginner Quilting, Beginning Sewing, Sewing for Beginners, Walking Foot

What is a Raw Edge in Sewing?

March 2, 2012 by Mary H 3 Comments

This post is part of my Beginner Sewing Series.

So, what is a raw edge?

A raw edge is, basically, the edge of the fabric that hasn’t had anything done to it and it will probably have at least a few little strings coming off if it.

Here’s a picture of a raw edge.

If you need to wash your fabric, it’s not a great idea to leave your edges raw like this when you throw them in the washing machine.

You can do a simple zigzag stitch to keep them from unraveling.

Here’s what a zigzag stitch looks like and here’s a tutorial about how to do it, if you need help.

And just in case you were wondering, here’s what the selvedge looks like.

Filed Under: Beginner Quilting, Beginner Sewing, Beginner Sewing Series, Sewing for Beginners Tagged With: Beginner Quilting, Beginning Sewing, Raw Edges, Sewing for Beginners

One Way to Back a Quilt: Pieced Quilt Backing

February 21, 2012 by Mary H 2 Comments

When I first started quilting, I would occasionally see the term, “pieced backing,” and have no idea what it was referring to. I eventually figured it out, and now I make pieced backings for most of my quilts.

I piece my backings mainly because I love the way it looks, but also because it saves me a little money.

When I sew a quilt top, I have scraps left over about 99% of the time, so instead of throwing them in my scrap pile, I just use them in the backing which means I have to buy less fabric for my backing.

For instance, here’s one of my quilts that has a pieced backing. (It’s basted and still waiting to be quilted.)

After completing my quilt top, I had five of these quilt squares left over.

I didn’t see any point in letting them go to waste, so I decided to use them in my backing and sewed them into a strip.

My quilt top is about 60 inches wide, and my strip ended up about 50 inches wide. I needed the strip to run the entire width of the quilt, so I added 5.5 inches of my backing fabric to each end of the strip to make it 60 inches wide. (I added .5 for seam allowances.)

My finished quilt top measures about 70 x 60 inches, so I made two big pieces of backing, each measuring 30.5 x 60. (I added .5 for seam allowances.)

I sewed one piece to to the top of the strip, and the other to the bottom of the strip.

So when you add the 3 pieces together, (30 + 10 + 30 = 70) I have a piece of backing the same size as my quilt top. (All three pieces were 60 inches wide.)

I saved myself from buying about half a yard of fabric and get a quilt whose back is a little more interesting than it would have otherwise been!

Filed Under: Beginner Quilting, Quilt Blocks, Quilts for Beginners Tagged With: Beginner Quilting, How to Back a Quilt, Pieced Quilt Backing, Pieced Quilt Backs, Quilting, Quilts