25 Viewer Tips for Household Items to Use When Quilting

[Music] hi claudia here from create with claudia and i'm really excited to bring you this video today a little while ago i made a video on 50 things you can use from around the house while quilting and i got so many viewer tips and suggestions i really appreciated it so what i did is i decided to go ahead and assemble those together and make a second video so here are 25 household items you can use when quilting i have not used all of these items and there's some i don't i don't even have to be able to show you but i'll try to explain them to you there are some great tips in there i really appreciate it and i really appreciate everybody leaving those tips i'd love it if you hit the subscribe button so you can see every video i post i post or i try to post weekly i'm not always successful but usually i i can get one out every week you'll also find me on social media at createwithclaudia i'm on facebook instagram and twitter and i post daily uh pictures of projects i'm working on things i've worked on in the past that sort of thing so again thanks so much for watching and keep those tips coming i appreciate them and i hope you enjoy the video the first two tips are using the rubber placemats or the rubber shelving you can find in stores so my first viewer tip was on rubber shelfing and you can get this anywhere i actually picked this up at our local dollar store and it was great i had two different tips for this i had used it also i showed i had a rubber placemat and i put it under the machine so the machine wouldn't slip and that was in my first video but then i had some suggestions the first suggestion was putting pieces under your hands for hand quilting i think that's a great idea i haven't tried that yet but i like that idea the next one was cutting one small piece and putting it under your presser foot and i am definitely going to use this because my presser foot likes to travel across the room and i'm forever bending over and sliding it back or fidgeting with my foot to slide it back so there are two great ways to use that rubber shelving tip number three is using a heavy duty napkin holder and i'll show you how so tip number three is a great idea and i'm actually using it now in my quill room and it's a great way to store your rulers i have lots of rules i have more than this and they're floating all around they fly all around i can't ever find them so i have this heavy duty old napkin holder that i don't use anymore was sitting in our junk room i think it was in my yard sale pile and it's heavy enough you don't want you want to use a heavy duty one and you just slip your rulers in almost any size will do and that's what nice about the heavy duty is it won't tip over and there you have it now your rulers are nice they're organized you can find them easily great tip thank you so much for this one number four is using magnets around the quilt room and believe me they'll save your feet from a lot of pain okay here's tip number four and my husband thanks everyone who suggested this um i actually rated his toolbox for this this is a magnetic pole you can get it at a hardware store and it extends it's really nice it extends really long so i don't have to bend over every time i drop a pin or a safety pin it picks them right up i love this tip and i might actually just take this but don't tell my husband that and he will thank you because i'm always dropping pins and safety pins on the floor and i can't find them because our carpeting is in the in my studio is sort of gray so the the pins and the safety pins they all blend in so there you go cheap little device you can get at a hardware store it's a telescopic magnet pole picks up all everything you drop so that's another great tip thank you don't throw out those mint tins you'll need them for this next tip this is a great way to get rid of all those needles that are old maybe bent you don't use them anymore and rotary blade cutters that are dull you don't want to just throw those in the trash at least i don't because they can poke through the trash bag and you can somebody could get hurt with it also if you have little ones around the house it's a they are a hazard so putting them in a tin like this is great this is just a chewing gum plastic chewing gum container somebody also mentioned metal mint tins anything like that would work i mentioned prescription bottles in my last video but i love this idea too and these i always have sitting around the house and i hate to say it i always end up throwing away i like the shape of this one i might have to do a craft with this one but anyway mint tins are a great way to get rid of those old needles and old rotary cutters before you throw them in the trash you'll need a plastic bag for tip number six all right this one's going to be a little noisy so i'm not going to try to wrinkle it too much this is another great one and honestly sometimes the tips are so simple but it's something you just don't think about this is a plastic bag you know one of the ones you get at the grocery store that you either throw away or you use for a trash can liner or something i know that i have my sewing machine excuse me my trash can way over in the corner of my room i don't know why i have it there and i probably should move it closer but i don't so i end up throwing all my little threads next to my machine on my table wherever well somebody suggested putting one of these next to your machine well that's a perfect idea so i will always have one now and that way i don't have to sit there afterwards and vacuum and clean up everything that i toss all over the place because i'll admit it i'm a messy quilter i don't know about you but i know i am so thanks for that tip and it's a great use of that plastic bag put that hard top for your sewing machine to good use for the next tip so staying on the subject of keeping a good handle on your trash some people and i do not have one so i can't show you that they have hard covers for their sewing machines and what they do what this person suggested was taking it flipping it over putting it next to your machine and it's perfect you just toss your your scraps or um little threads any kind of trash just toss it in it and then take it over your trashcan when you're good to go so thank you for that tip other one for cleaning out your machine and this is one i never thought of and again a couple of viewers mentioned this actually somebody mentioned it on my blog as well is a makeup brush to help get away all that lint i probably never thought of this because i don't really wear makeup very much so i also have to thank my daughter for letting me use one of her makeup brushes for this demonstration this is perfect you got real soft bristles so you don't hurt anything it wipes up all that lint and that's a great solution to clean out that machine never lose your small sewing scissors with this next tip here's a great idea that i definitely plan on using i always have a little pair of scissors these little snippy scissors right next to my machine and again it's something that when you're moving fabric around or a big quilt or you're quilting it always gets thrown on the floor or hidden somewhere or under fabric and i can't find them and this person suggested taking a really long string tying it around the one end and then tying it around the sort of neck of your machine so it's out of the way and that way you never lose these scissors a brilliant idea and this will help me immensely because i spent a lot of time looking for these little scissors i love them they're nice they're easy you can just keep them next to your machine and snip and this way they don't get lost so so quickly so there you go piece of string your scissors and you won't lose them again so that's another great tip thank you so much for the next tip you're going to be reading your kitchen so get out that old recipe holder that you have that you never use and you'll use it in your quilting room this person says that they use one of those old recipe holders you know one of those things that holds the recipe upright it sort of lays a little bit at an angle so you can read the recipe i'm going to sort of show you with this i do not have a recipe holder so but what they do is they prop up their pattern next to their machine so it's easy to read another great idea i'm always flipping mine over i have to look um it gets covered by fabric or whatever so if you have an old recipe holder that you aren't using that's a great use for it just prop it up next to your machine and when you're working on a specific pattern prop up your pattern if you have old jar that you have sitting around that you never use this is the perfect tip for you this is a great tip especially if you do a lot of quilting and you use those really big spools of thread now pretend there aren't any buttons in here i don't have an empty jar and i didn't feel like emptying out all these buttons but this person said they put a big spool of thread in their jar poke a hole in the top of the jar and then feed it through and that's their machine a lot of machines especially smaller machines don't have those long spool holders so that's a great solution when you have those big spools of thread i have never tried this so i'm not sure how well it works but they said they used it so um i imagine it might so give it a try especially the next two tips are great for applique okay if you watch my videos you know i love doing some things on the cheap i love saving money i think most of us do and this was a tip from numerous viewers these are from a dollar store so they were a dollar for a pack of two these are flexible cutting mats perfect for templates so if you use a lot of templates this is perfect you can cut right into them draw your template on it cut it out great for people that do applique and it's a dollar for both of these i mean you can't beat it that's a great idea so again flexible cutting mats um i got mine at the dollar store another idea you can use for templates i do not have an example of it so i'm just going to use one of these this is one of those cutting mats but they also sell rolls of harder plastic shelf mats that works really well i did use those in our old house i didn't bring them with us because they were stained and dirty and old but i have seen that at local stores and it's another great way to make templates again plastic shelving the rolls of it that's a little bit stiffer so you can use it for templates if you're a machine quilter this next tip is sure to save you money and help with your machine quilting so in my last video i mentioned using rubber latex gloves for hand quilting excuse me not for hand quality for machine quilting and somebody mentioned they use gardening gloves and they pick up a pair again a great tip for doing it on the cheap is a pair from the dollar store they work perfectly put one on they have the nice rubberized inside they're perfect they look a little bit better than the latex gloves and i can keep these in my sewing room nobody else will use them great idea so there you go gardening gloves i would have used the ones i had on hand i had to go buy a new pair but they are so muddy and dirty that i decided to go buy this pretty purple pair just for quilting so thanks for that tip the next three tips are going to help you with your storage solutions so tip number 16 and number 17. i don't have examples of but i will go over them really quickly the first one is you know you get those big vinyl plastic bags uh when you buy a bedding set maybe king-sized sheets or something like that and they usually have a zip top they people a number of people mentioned that they use those for quilt storage or storage while they're working on a quilt great idea they're great they have little handles on them usually perfect idea and that way they don't those big plastic bags don't go to the landfill right away so that's number that's the first of the storage tips one of my viewers suggested those compressible vacuum bags those plastic bags you can suck the air out and they go real flat and then you have lots of space i think that's a great idea if you have them although i really can't speak to it especially if you're doing long-term storage for quilts and especially if you're using maybe an antique quilt or something i'm not sure how that would handle how the fabric could handle that so i would use care when using that tip i think it's a great idea if you short term use maybe you just need to pack a few quilts away or you're working on a larger quilt maybe you're you have a small apartment or something like that and you need the space and you're working on something you could put it in one of those compressible bags and then pull it out when you need it so thank you for that tip okay one more storage tip and this one this is a plastic food container i had a couple people mention that as well this is a strawberry container that i washed out i think this is great maybe you're working on a a quilt that has small blocks like half square triangles or something perfect label put a mark on the top what your project is for put your little blocks inside or the little pieces of fabric in it and you're good to go seal it up it's perfect so thank you for that tip tip number 19 is a great way to use up some of your old bed sheets so for all of you that do strip piecing and sew your strips onto foundation first this was a great idea i have used newspaper in the past but of course it got all over my fingers and all over the fabric and i won't do that again someone suggested using old bed sheets now this pillowcase is probably about 25 years old i'm kind of embarrassed to admit that this would be perfect i never threw it out it's all frayed that's perfect if i make another strip block so old bed sheets for the foundation for those strip piecing blocks don't throw out your clear red and green plastic plates you'll need those for this next tip so here's another one i don't have an example of it sorry about that i had mentioned in my last video using green or red clear glass to look through fabric to look at fab you look through it to look at fabrics to get the value you use the red for warm fabrics and the green for cooler fabrics and it gets you that color value if it's light or dark sort of gets out any color you just see the the value of the fabric well somebody suggested going heading to your dollar store and getting plastic clear plastic green and red plates perfect it's a lot cheaper than if you don't have the glass and you want to go out and buy a glass so there you go buy those plastic clear green and red plates especially if you have one left over from christmas it's the perfect solution for that and that'll help you get that value for your fabrics tip number 21 is a great way to use up some clothes pins tip number 21 it's another one i don't have an example of sorry about that i usually use to mark my rows i especially when i'm doing a more complicated quilt i like to mark my rows out like with numbers or letters and i use a pin and sometimes that damages the fabric or you get just a little bit of that little hole in the one corner well this person suggested using clothespins great idea wish i had some i might have to head to the dollar store and do that it's a great way especially if you have a thicker batch of fabrics maybe a big row of big heavy fabrics that's a lot easier than pinning through like 20 fabrics with one pin so clothespins great idea if you aren't sure what to use with those empty spools of thread here's a great way to use them okay so if you're like me you get a lot of empty spools of thread and i never know what to do with them i usually throw them away but there are some other things you can do with them and one is rolling up your binding your extra binding i one thing i have is a lot of binding i always make way too much i sort of think i do it on purpose just because i like to keep it and then i use all my extra excess binding from other projects if i'm doing a really scrappy quilt and just need some scrappy binding i love that look and it sort of reminds me of projects i've done in the past but anyway what i do is i roll them around this empty bot this empty spool of thread perfect and then i keep them organized and they look a little bit neater and i can put them on a shelf and then pull them out when i need them so there's a great use of an empty uh spool of thread tip number 23 is a great way to use up those elastic hair bands that you might have sitting around the house this is a tip i got from a lot of people and here's your bobbin of thread and it's loaded up it's ready to go but if you just put it in like this in your drawer that thread is going to unravel in no time so a couple people suggested to use these little hat elastic headbands these are little ones they even have little baby ones they wrap around you can buy fancy gadgets to to hold that thread in place but perfect it holds it just in place just fine and it's cheap it's easy and you can use the rest for somebody's hair so there you go using elastic to keep that bobbin thread in place this tip is going to help you when you're binding your quilt okay this next one is sort of a two for one tip and this is when you're basting i don't know about you but i based with safety pins and my fingers always get really sore by the end of a project especially if i'm basting a really big one one person mentioned using a crochet hook i'm not quite sure how that will work i haven't tried it yet but hey give it a try it might work really well the other one is and i don't have an example of it is using a grapefruit spoon grapefruit spoons have those like let's say this is the palm of the the cup of the spoon and most spoons have a smooth end grapefruit spoons have little divots in the end are little ridges and that is the way i have used that before when you're basting you can push down on the the safety pin and it works really well so that helps save your fingers a little bit of pain so that's my 24th tip is using a grapefruit spoon or you could try the crochet hook tip number 25 is a great tip that i've used in many of my videos and i'm going to show it to you now and it's perfect for those of you that do applique or use a lot of fusible webbing on your quilts okay so we're at our last tip and this tip i have to say it's just it's one of those tips when you hear it it's like oh man why haven't i done this all these years and i so i thank the viewer for giving me this tip a couple months ago was actually on one of my jewelry making videos i was making some fabric earrings and for years i use fusible webbing on the back for an applique shape it's that paper backed webbing and i sit there and i pick can i pick can i pick and it takes forever to get that fabric off excuse me that paper off of the back i don't know why i just can't i don't have long nails either so maybe that's part of it well the viewer suggested using this pin and scoring the back just lightly you don't want to do it too much you don't want to tear through the fabric i pull apart a little bit it comes off in absolutely no time and i just can't believe how many minutes i would have saved over the years when i if i had known that tip and i look back on the instructions i didn't see it on my packaging so i thank that viewer for that tip i've actually used the shown that tip in a number of my videos since then so um thank you thank you thank you for that tip i love that tip so there you have it there are my 25 tips from viewers thank you so much for all your comments and suggestions i really appreciate it and i've used quite a few of them so thanks again and don't forget to hit the subscribe button if you like this video that way you can see all my videos and lastly don't forget i'm on social media at createwithclaudia i'm on instagram facebook and twitter thanks so much for watching have a great day

Channel: Create with Claudia

Views: 66,327

Rating: 4.8812947 out of 5

Keywords: quilting tips

Id: hDm53-73gkE

Length: 18min 33sec (1113 seconds)

Published: Wed May 27 2020