Sewing Tips

I just finished an article for a future newsletter on the website and as usual I had more tips than I had room. Here are a few “leftover” odds and end tips I thought some of you could use.

• Use knitting needle guards or a small cork to protect the end of small scissors, especially when you are traveling with them.
• Use a mesh bag (like potatoes or fruits come in) to put your yarn in when knitting.This is especially good when using more than one color because you can pull each color through a different hole in the bag.

• If you are hand appliquéing and use beeswax to keep your thread from tangling, run the thread over the beeswax then press it with your iron. This embeds the wax into the thread so it all doesn’t come off with the first stitch. This really isn’t that hard. It doesn’t take as much time as you would think and it works so well. It doesn’t hurt your iron, but it does help the iron glide more smoothly.
• When appliquéing, if you don’t have an appliqué sheetfor pressing several pieces together save the sheets you peel your computer labels from. Press your applique pieces to the shiny side.
• If you use a guard glove with your rotary cutter, store your cutter inside the glove. That way you will always know where it is. I also keep my cutter in an old fabric eye glass holder.
• I didn’t know for a long time when using a sewing “ham”the wool side is for pressing wool and silk and the duck side is for pressing cotton and linen. A sewing ham is an odd ham shaped thing which is used to press curved and usual angles especially in sewing clothes.
• One thing I learned years after I had been sewing was that there is a right and wrong side to a needle.If you have trouble threading a needle, turn the eye around and try the other side. It’s amazing how well this works.
• Holding a needle against a white background makes it easier to see and thread.

• Instead of licking your thread, lick the needle itself and be sure to bring the needle to the thread not poke the thread into the needle. Try these things to see if it helps in threading your needle next time.
• Use embroidery bobbins(those square white cards you wind embroidery thread on) to wrap regular thread on to carry for you projects. They are flat and take up very little space. I have used sewing machine bobbins for my portable sewing but I like these are even better.

These are a few ideas for now. I know many of your have some great ones, too. I do believe quilters, crafters and sewers have some of the coolest ideas. It always amazes the things they can come up with. : )

-Jill

photo by: andresrueda

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You have seen them everywhere– bags of those ugly old silk flowers and garlands. I even have a few in my garage. Well, believe it or not there is a use, even for those.

• I have spray painted things like faded silk geraniums red and tucked them into my flower boxes with my real flowers and people can’t tell they aren’t real.
• Try different colors. For example, if you like the shabby chic look then spray paint all of the silk flowers white and tuck them in different places.
• Silver or gold will look great with many different styles of decorating.
• Spray paint your old silk flowers black and use them to decorate for Halloween. The more worn the better.
• Don’t forget you can paint those ugly old vases, too. They work especially well for things like Halloween decorations.
• I just found a bunch of glass pop bottles. Instead of tossing them, I am going to spray paint them all white and line them along my kitchen window sill with a colorful flower in each one.

You can buy special silk flower paint, but I just use regular spray paint. I don’t stress about it if they don’t turn out or if the paint starts to peel after a bit. I was going to toss this stuff anyway, so I don’t have anything to loss and I might have a lot to gain.

      -Jill

Photo By: Brianna Lehman

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Here’s an excerpt about decluttering kids’ rooms from one of our Saving with Kids e-books.

De-cluttering Kids Rooms

I just did this for the boys yesterday. It’s funny– kids really do love a clean room!

BJ (13) asked David (7) “Would you please ask mom to help you clean up your stuff!” Not even two seconds later, David came out and said, “Mom can you please help me clean up my room”. After it was cleaned up, they both said “Thank you so much mom!”

Kids love neat and clean areas just as much we do. I know kids need to keep their own stuff picked up but there are times when the cavalry does need to come in and save the day. We’ll be running more posts on this subject over the next few days. Enjoy! Tawra

De-cluttering Toys

Make piles and label boxes according to these categories:

Trash (I bring in the kitchen trash can and just throw it straight in there.)

Sort and put away in room

Yard sale/Give away

Put in another room

Pack and store

Decide

BE RUTHLESS!

I can’t stress enough how important it is to be ruthless in getting rid of your children’s excess toys. As parents, we know we are supposed to protect our children physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Often we worry so much about others harming our children in these areas but, more often than not, we are the ones who do the greatest harm to them. One of the ways that we forget to protect our children emotionally is by allowing them to have so many toys and things that they become overwhelmed and frustrated.

I know this may seem like something trivial compared to what is going on in the world, but you have to realize your child’s room and toys are his world. Children really aren’t interested in anything else but their own spheres, and if that little world of theirs is piled with mounds of toys and other things, it can be overwhelming for them to deal with on a daily basis.

I can’t handle it if I have too many things to choose from, and I’m an adult. What did you feel like the last time you went to buy something new like shampoo or make-up? Were you overwhelmed with so many different kinds to choose from? There’s nothing wrong with any of them. It’s just that there are so many kinds. Put yourself in your child’s place. A child isn’t as emotionally mature as you are. Imagine how he feels.

I just watched an organizing show where the parents (at the advice of the organizer) spent several hundred dollars on shelving and storage containers to store the children’s toys. One container alone held 75 small cars. No child needs 75 or more of any type of toy at all. Do you know how much money could have been saved on shelving and containers if they had just gotten rid of more of those toys? Think of the headaches you have just trying to keep all those toys under control.

Don’t feel guilty or think you are depriving your children when you reduce excess toys. You are doing them a favor, and besides they probably won’t miss them. Have you noticed how children usually play with the same handful of toys over and over? In the same way, we keep 25 different colors of eye shadow, but only use 3-4 favorites over and over. If the rest of them were dumped, we wouldn’t even miss them, and our kids won’t miss the extra toys, either

Of course, this doesn’t mean to be cruel and get rid of their favorite bears or dolls, but I’m talking about all those things buried at the bottom of their toy boxes and closets that haven’t seen the light of day for years.

       -Jill

PS  Since I wrote this I saw a show where these 2 boys had mounds and mounds of toys. For fun they would throw their toys out their bedroom window to watch them break and shatter. The parents didn’t have a clue so they had someone come in to help and the first thing they did was take away all the toys but 10. The interesting thing was the boys took care of the toys better, put them up without a fuss and actually played with the toys. These facts might help some of you parents be more ruthless.

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Folding Fabric

I have struggled for years to figure out a way to keep the fabric on my shelves looking neat. I had big pieces and little pieces and they all looked messy no matter how careful I was. After 30 plus years I discovered something that changed my life. I was so excited that when I got it done I was bringing the neighbors in to see it.

Even better, I couldn’t believe how easy and fast it was to do it. Previously, I had 2 shelving units that had been packed and stuffed with material. Now, after about 2 hours, the material was folded and placed where I could not only see it to use it but where I could get to it easily without mounds of fabric falling on me.

In the first picture (above), the mess on the bottom shelf is what it used to look like every day. The shelf above the “every day” shelf shows what it looked like when I was having a sewing marathon.

You could use this same method for folding anything like linens (that are stored after the holidays).

I use a 24 x 6 inch ruler. For smaller pieces, you could use a smaller ruler. If you don’t have a ruler, just use a piece of cardboard or something similar to the ruler.

Lay your fabric on the table folded as it comes off of the bolt, with the 2 selvage sides together.

Lay your ruler on the fabric as shown.

Fold the end over the ruler.

Then just start flipping and rolling fabric and ruler over and over until you come to the end.

When you get to the end pull the ruler out and fold fabric in half.

This is what my fabric looks like now. I am going to get some plastic dividing shelves to divide the stacks up even more or adjust the shelving so the stacks won’t be quite so tall but this gives you an ideas of the start I have made. Have you ever seen such perfectly folded fabric? I love it!!! Be still my little beating organizing heart.

       -Jill

PS. If things are really a mess in your sewing room, don’t panic. This really takes less time than you would think. Pick one section and sort through it, tossing what you can and folding the pieces you want to keep as you come across them. It can actually be fun because we love handling and looking at our fabric.

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Fabric Storage

I love the fabric folding idea, however I have a larger problem. I have literally thousands of yards of fabric in bolt amounts. I have gotten cardboard bolts from the local Wal Mart fabric department, but they have since condensed ours to more of a craft store area and no longer have fabric. Any Ideas on where or what to use as fabric bolt storage?….I recently had to move from a home where I had an entire basement as a sewing/craft room to a house where I only have an 8 x 10 room. I have built ceiling to floor shelving on 3 walls but need to find a way to neatly organize everything……Help! – Dee

Dee, you can use this same folding technique with your bolts too and then lay them flat on the shelves you have. Also, if you have a closet you can fold and hang a lot on a sturdy hanger. Then you can hang it on a rod in the closet.

You could make your own cardboard centers. Get some scrap heavy cardboard. (Grocery stores and various other places have a ton. I am forever going in and seeing someone stocking and asking if I can have some of their boxes. They are always tickled to get rid of them.) Then cut the heavy cardboard scraps with a knife to the size that you need. If it helps, the ones that fabric bolts come on are about the same size as a 24×6 plastic ruler.

You don’t need to use that size for your fabric bolts if you don’t want to. If another size might fit better and you could use the shelf space better, then try another size.

Here is a video showing an interesting board they sell. I wouldn’t buy them myself but it gives the measurements on the video so I will probably make something like it out of cardboard. Keep your eyes peeled. After seeing this video, it reminded me of a stack of plastic shoe box lids I once saw at a garage sale for almost nothing and they or something similar would be perfect for this type of thing.

One thing about this board you see on the video: If you use it, you can place the fabric either on a shelf or in totes and store it in such a way that you can easily see everything.

Here’s the video of the fabric boards. You might also search fabric storage on YouTube and get even more ideas.

      -Jill

Photo By: Dyanna

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