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Invest in the Best from the Start – Aurifil Thread for Piecing
I have oodles of sewing threads. It seems my thread inventory has superseded the surplus of my overstocked cosmetics! As I stare into this crater of glorious cotton fiber, I hear a resounding choir singing, Invest in the best from the start.
The sewing industry has discovered the importance of using quality threads in the combination with needles and fabric. These three components must play together for the best professional outcome. Are you confused in knowing which thread to use for each sewing technique? You are not alone. There are a plethora of quality thread choices. The most abundant brand for piecing in my supply is: Aurifil Thread.
Over the years, I gravitated to this luxurious Mako-Cotton thread which comes from Milan, Italy – and worth every penny. By the way, my Italian-made shoes have never steered me wrong.
What is Mako Cotton?
• Very fine cotton spun from extra long staple Egyptian fiber
• The highest-grade cotton = Top Quality
Aurifil 50-wt/2ply is my favorite thread to use for piecing quilts. I love how Aurifil differentiates their various thread lines with a certain color on each cone. The Aurifil 50-wt/2ply thread is wrapped around the orange colored cones. I am joined with many quilters who quickly learn the reasons why Aurifil thread is the best piecing thread:
• The 50-wt/2ply thread is a perfect weight for melting the thread into the seams of our cotton fabrics
• Virtually no-lint factor – visible on cone and after machine use when cleaning under stitch plate
• Very smooth and strong (extra long staple cotton provides a longer, smoother twist)
• No nubs or lumps or slubs (a soft uneven section in yarn or thread) Merrium-Webster.com
• Over 200 solid color choices and over 30 variegated color choices
Aurifil is definitely one of the best sewing threads in the market and an excellent consumer choice. I enjoy sharing my sewing research, and learning the conclusions of my fellow sewing enthusiasts.
Let’s give a holler out there for the quilters who use Aurifil thread for piecing. Whoo-hoo!
Jennifer J. Boyd©2010, with use rights to Going Batty Quilt Shop
How To Cut Bias Binding The Easy Way
Grab a 1/2 yard of fabric and join me as I show you step-by-step, the easy way to cut bias binding strips. The strips will be pre-mitered so there will be no marking or trimming later! It’s like magic…
Remove the selvages from a ½ yard cut of fabric.
Unfold the fabric and lay it on a cutting mat with the wrong side facing up.
Take the bottom right hand corner of the fabric and bring it up to meet the top edge of the fabric forming a triangle. Make sure the top edges are even.
Take the top left hand corner and bring it down toward the middle of the fabric until…
… the edges meet in the middle.
Rotate the fabric until it lays horizontal on a mat line.
Using a Rotary Cutter and a 24 1/2″ long Creative Grids Ruler, cut off approximately 4 inches from the point to clean cut the fabric and remove the section that is too small to use for binding. (It does not have to be exactly four inches…just eyeball it and cut!)
Next, rotate your cutting mat or walk around to the other side of the table and cut a 2 ½” strip from where you just clean cut. Be sure to line up the ruler both on the edge of the fabric and along the fold at the top, as indicated by the pink lines, so the strips will be straight and accurate.
BONUS! The strip will already be mitered (cut on the 45 degree angle).
Cut 2 ½” strips from the remaining fabric all the way across the unusual folded shape of the fabric until…
… you have approximately 4 inches of fabric left. (It is too small to use for binding)
A few of the strips might look like “Daddy’s tie” and not have a perfect miter. (Usually 1-2 strips)
Fix the ends by lining up the diagonal line (45 degree line) on a 5 ½” Creative Grids square ruler with either the top or bottom edge of the strip and cut. The bias strips are now ready to be sewn together into binding.
NOTE: You may want to wait to fix “Daddy’s Tie” until you are joining strips together and know which way you need them to point….
I’m “Bias”-ed When It Comes To Binding!
Most instructions for binding a quilt tell you to use cross-grain instead of bias strips unless the edge is scalloped or curved. I disagree. I bind all of my quilts with a bias cut binding. Why, you ask? The bias cut direction of fabric has the most give and is therefore the most flexible. The edges of a quilt take the most beating as they are cuddled in, washed, and moved around. It makes sense to arm those outside edges with a flexible binding that can better handle all of the life it will experience.
Most people cringe when I mention the words “bias binding”. When asked why I most often hear that the techniques are complicated and use a lot of fabric. My favorite technique is simple and uses only 1/2 yard of fabric to bind a throw sized quilt!
Grab a 1/2 yard of fabric and make bias binding with me over the next blog posts. It will be easy… better yet grab the binding fabric for one of your quilts, cut a 1/2 yard piece from it and join me… you’ll be glad you did:)
This Foot Was Made For Walking!
A walking foot (Bernina #50) is a specialty foot that provides you with an extra set of feed dogs for the top of your project. Having feed dogs on the top and the bottom will help grip and keep a hold of hard to manage fabrics or bulky projects like quilts, without you having to wrestle the fabric through your sewing machine. The walking foot attaches to your sewing machine like a regular foot, but also has a finger which rests on/around your needle bar signaling the extra set of feed dogs to pull the top fabric at the same rate as the bottom fabric.
The Bernina Walking Foot #50 comes with two convenient soles..
• Basic Sewing Sole: to be used with slippery fabrics, stripes, etc. This sole has ¼” and 1/8” markings on the sole to accurately sew quarter or eighth of an inch seams.
• Quilting Sole: has an open-toe which leads to better visibility when stitching. This sole is also equipped with ¼” and 1/8” markings for your convenience and a specially designed back, that allows the bulky quilt which you are sewing to glide easily under the walking foot.
A Walking Foot is great for general sewing for uses such as joining plaids, stripes, silks, and other slippery fabrics. The fabric will feed through evenly so you can easily match stripe lines without having them slip during sewing.
The most commonly thought of use for a walking foot is generally straight line quilting. When stitching in the ditch with your walking foot, line up the center marking in the middle of the sole so it looks like this:
The needle should fall on the “low” side of the seam right next to the “high” side. Stitch until the end of the seam line in which you would like to “stitch in the ditch”.
You can also do some decorative diagonal style quilting lines in addition to the regular “stitch in the ditch” method. Just use a ruler and fabric pencil or water-soluble pen to mark from corner to corner and stitch on the line, lining up the center mark with the line. Diagonal stitching on your project will look like this:
It’s as easy as that!
Wondering What’s Up With Increasing Quilting Cotton Fabric Prices?
Prices on our favorite quilting cotton fabrics have gone up multiple times this past year and will go up again this spring we are told. Read the article below to find out why compared to a loaf of bread, pound of meat, or a new car, we are lucky!
Click Here to Read the Article “Understanding Cotton Prices”
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