Quilting 101: Supplies Part 1

everyone and welcome back to my channel this is Erika from confessions of a home score and since I've started quilting I have gotten a ton of questions on how to get started and people asking for tutorials and things like that so I thought I would go ahead and do a fun video series for you and we're gonna take it kind of break it up into hopefully um workable pieces for you so it's not too much information at one time so today we're gonna start out by covering just the essential supplies that you need for quilting so really you don't need a whole lot of supplies you basically kind of need the basics of a sewing machine thread fabrics and scissors but I am gonna just cover my favorite supplies and what we need for the most part to get started quilting so let's take a look alright so one of the first things that you're gonna need when you first start quilting is a nice self-healing mat and I have this one I'll try and do a better picture of it for you but this one is by American crafts and it's double sided and you can buy them I bought this one on Amazon and they ship flat which is really nice because they aren't warped or rolled up or anything like that when you get them you can also get them from your local hobby stores I've had Fiskars mats before and a few other brands and so I would just say go find one that you know is within your budget and go for it the nice one that the American crafts is that it's really thick it's probably twice as thick as the Fiskars once I've used however I have had I've used the other brands like I said before and been just fine with them so just get whatever fits your budget I would suggest getting one that is of somewhat decent size this particular one is looks like 17 by 23 inches and quite honestly I got this to replace my other one which was I think it was 18 by 24 maybe and that one was actually nice because a fat quarter is 18 by 22 so it was easy to trim a fat quarter on it this one is just an inch shy of trimming a fat quarter so I have to fold them in half so it's not a big deal I love this mat but it's just something to consider so you want to get one that's a big enough you know for your workspace that you can work on or if you're buying yardage those about you know fold it in half it's 22 inches long and so you need something that you can kind of cut at least that links on so that's just something to keep in mind the other thing that you'll need is a rotary trimmer and I like this one this is my favorite one I've tried lots of different ones this one is by Alfa and I'll try and like all this stuff below and I also have a blog post with all of these listed as well but this is just a 45 mil millimeter rotary blade and I just snaps open and close when you're going to use it so for safety and I have found that this gives really good cuts it's nice and sturdy I don't feel like the blade wobbles or anything so you're gonna want one of those um again there's other brands out there the other thing that you're going to want are some scissors and these are just some craft scissors I bought from a local craft store but they're nice and sharp and you're going to want to just put those to the side so that people aren't using them on paper or you know other things you want to kind of keep your fabric scissors just for your fabric because then it keeps them nice and sharp and if you use them on other things they get dull I also have a smaller little set of embroidery scissors and these are great for if you're just clipping threads off of the top of your quilt or something you don't really want to be using their big scissors because it's too easy to accidentally snip into your fabric and you really don't want to do that you want something that where you have a little bit more control and you can just kind of snip off threads I also have these which work really well and these are actually spring Brown Clippers and I don't know what exactly what they're called I'll try and linking for you but these are also really good cuz they're really sharp and you can and they're really pointing you can just kind of clip your fabric that way the other thing that you'll need are some rulers and I like to use these clear rulers these ones are from creative grids and this isn't a sponsored video or anything these are just my favorite ones because I feel like the lines and I'll do a close-up for you for these but you can really see really well the lines the lines are nice and skinny so you're not trying to figure out if you should be measuring on the outside or the inside of the line I've had rulers that have fatter lines and so you're getting a less less consistent cuts so these ones are really nice because I feel like really easy to read and they also have these little grip things on the back so they don't slide around on your fabric and slide on you when you're trying to rotary cut and I will do a video on how to properly cut your fabric in a separate video but my favorite size is for these like if I was gonna go and just buy one I would probably get a smaller one kind of like this this one is six inches by twelve and a half just because it's a little bit easier to handle if you're dealing with small pieces of fabric you can also even go this one is just 6x6 square they do have other more common sizes like a seven and a half inch eight and a half inch like you can kind of get these in almost any size I just like to have a smaller one for when I'm dealing with smaller pieces it's a lot easier than wielding around some big ruler that said if I were to just get one ruler I would probably go for this one which is 24 and a half by looks like six and a half and this one is nice and long and the reason that I suggest this one is because you can cut garbagemen since it is long enough to cut all the way up this piece of yardage and then you can kind of you know turn it around and and cut smaller pieces off it as well but at least you can cut a whole sheet of yardage with this without having to slide up and down a smaller role so if you're only gonna get one I would start off with this one and then potentially later down the road you can buy you know some other sizes this was probably the last one I bought this one is a 15 and a half by 15 and a half I love this ruler mainly because it's big enough to square up most of the size blocks that I create some of them are larger but still this gives you a nice good square to work with and it makes it really easy to square up your box when you're finished so this is kind of a nice 1/2 the one I would for sure get is the six and a half by 24 and a half and then I would also probably splurge on some kind of a smaller one just to deal with smaller fabrics so that's it for rulers the next thing that you're going to need is some thread and as you can see I have a nice kind of variety of colors here really right off the bat I would just suggest that you go and get a school of white white is gonna kind of match everything unless you're doing a really dark quilt like you say whatever background your quilt is gonna be if you're gonna do a black or navy or whatever whatever color you're kind of working with on your fabric that's probably the best one to get I tend to do a lot of white and white sort of goes with everything even if I'm quilting on top of stuff it's kind of nice to see white so I have a lot of white thread and then some of these other ones I've gotten as I've just kind of grown my collection and I mostly get the smaller ones mainly because I use those to attach my binding because a lot of times when I'm putting on binding I don't want the thread to show and so I just get whatever color kind of goes with my binding that way it's kind of hidden but I do all of my piecing and quilting with a white and this white is my favorite one is by aurifil and it's number twenty twenty-one and it's kind of a soft way it's not super super white I do have another one which is 20 24 and this is really really white this one is just a little bit more subtle it's not like off-white but it's just kind of more of a softer way so I like this one because it stands out a little bit less and it also seems to match pretty much everything and you aren't like seeing your threads so if you like to do quilting where you can see the thread and the thread is really kind of a centerpiece of your quilting then I would say go and get some fun colors but just when you're starting out I would just get whatever basic color you're kind of working with mostly in your fabric selection and just stick with that my daughter's even have found they they got a bunch of thread for Christmas to go with their sewing machines and they had all different colors and they really ended up going out and buying one of those huge schools of white they just got it from I think Walmart or wherever um and they just use that now because you know they the thread doesn't when you're piecing it's hidden behind it you don't really see it the only thread you're really going to see is if when you're quilting on top of your project at the end so that's my advice on thread one last note about the thread is that when you're quilting most likely you will be using quilting materials and so you're going to want to get a nice 100 percent cotton thread to go along with those the main reason is that you are going to be washing these together and cotton shrinks and so as well if you have cotton batting and cotton fabric you're also going to want cotton thread so that your shrinkage is similar and also it's nice and strong I really don't use polyester thread in my quilting unless for some reason I am using a polyester material which I don't normally do I really prefer the cotton but you're going to kind of want to match your thread with your fabric and just to make sure that you have the same amount of shrinkage and also that you have good quality thread because I have seen before people who have used really inexpensive thread and unfortunately when they put their quilts in the wash the threads can break apart and you you know your masterpiece can kind of get ruined and so you don't want to do that you do want to spend a little bit more on your thread and get a good quality thread alright the next thing that I have are pins and I don't use these as much anymore but pins are very important because when you're piecing a block together it's really helpful for you to pin the seam so that you have your corners lining up and that kind of thing and it can just keep it from shifting all over the place while you're trying to on piece your block so I would get a little set of pins these are the little house pins and they're super sharp they're they're tiny and so they don't make holes in the fabric so I really like these and I will try and link these for you below and then just as a side note this super cute magnetic pin Bowl is from a friend of mine on Instagram and I will link her shop as well she makes these for sale and they're great because they're magnetic and if you drop your pins you can just run this on the floor and pick them up and also you know as you're kind of throwing things around the table you don't have pins like going everywhere so I really like these the next thing that you'll for sure need is a seam ripper not very exciting but I don't know anyone yet who has done any kind of sewing and never ever messed up once so just this is the most inexpensive seam ripper I could find and honestly I like it probably one of the best ones that I like it's just easy for my hand to grip so just go find a fun seam and it doesn't really matter which kind but you'll be eating once alright the next thing and these are really kind of a nice to have are these little wonder clips and these are great if you're doing some kind of thicker work like if you're doing a rag quilt where you're having like kind of you know thick batting and and like maybe minky fabric or whatever where pins aren't holding it as well these are great these are also they're really kind of more used for binding clips so you can kind of hold your binding on while you're stitching it around but I use these for all kinds of things so that's kind of a nice 1/2 it's not like a requirement you have to go run out and buy these or anything like that but they are nice the other thing that I have are these fun little alphabet tiles and you could even make these these ones are from fat quarter shop and they're called alpha biddies and these are just again it's a nice to have they aren't like a requirement but a lot of the patterns nowadays have their pieces are labeled alphabetically and so you can keep track of what pieces as you've cut them out and where they go and then you know once you cut them all out they'll say alright so piece a to piece B and so these are just nice for labeling your pieces you can also do it on the sticky notes I've done that before as well but since I use these so much I did go ahead and purchase a little bundle of them and I believe they now come in when I bought them they only came in this kind of hot pink color I believe they also come in like a blue color now but these are just kind of fun again not you don't have to have these but they are nice alright the next thing that you're gonna want to grab is some machine Gers if you plan on doing your own quilting and we'll cover that in another video as well but these are just gloves you can get them I've seen them at Joanne's I bought these online these ones are called machine Gers they have some different some have different names but really all they are are gloves with kind of sticky like rubber on the ends of the feet on the fingers and that helps your fingers hold the fabric and slide it around as you're quilting and these are really helpful for putting on binding as well because you know your fingers are smooth and if you're pushing through a whole quilt it's hard to kind of get a grip on that and you don't want to be grabbing your quilt and pushing it because it's not good on your arms and all that kind of thing but also you're scrunching up your fabric and moving things around so these really nice and handy they just give you a little bit of extra control over your fabric so if you're gonna be doing your own quilting which I hope you are after this video series I highly suggest you get a pair of these they're only around like eight or nine dollars so again you don't have to have these but highly recommended now we're going to talk briefly about fabric and this is probably the favorite part of mine so that's why when you're spending money on all these other supplies I kind of just would say get the basics and then save your money for fabric because that's the really fun part so let's take a closer look at some of these pre cuts of course you can always buy a fabric in yardage but I like to work with pre cuts when I'm quilting for a couple of reasons one it's a good way to get all of the fabrics in a certain line you know they're already get a massive match up so you're not having to you know pick out colors and all that kind of thing and for me that can be really stressful trying to figure out what colors I'm going to use I can spend almost as much time trying to figure out what colors I'm gonna use on a quilt as I can't quilting is so free cuts work really well for me if you're the type of person who likes to mix and match things then by all means head to your local fabric store and just you know find a pattern that you like and grab the fabrics that are listed for that pattern now when you first start buying you're gonna be tempted to get a lot of fabric I would suggest that when you first start going for fabric that you find a pattern you like and go and just get the requirements for that sow that pattern what's gonna happen after that is that you're gonna have some scraps leftover and you're gonna be starting to build what's called your fabric stash and you can put those in a little bit and save them for use on another project and then I would when you're done with that project go get another pattern and again buy fabric for that once you start getting a feel for that and what you like and things that you use more than you can maybe go out and start getting more of the pre-cut bundles and and things like that but that's just my advice on getting started and trying to get some fabric going so let's talk about pre cuts the first one these are mostly by Mota because this one is called a jelly roll and this one is a two and a half inch strip of width of fabric so it's like usually four with the fabric is usually between 42 and 44 inches so they took and higher bolt the fabric and just cut a two and a half inch strip of it and then they put it in this nice little cute roll there are specific quilts that are meant for jelly rolls so you can buy a jelly roll are usually plus a coordinating background fabric and make an entire quilt out of one of these so this is kind of a fun way to get lots of colors in your quilt without going out and buying like a whole ton of fabric the next one I should have started with this one this is the smallest one this is called a candy charm I believe or a mini charm these are two and a half inch squares and my girls love these these are great for kids because they don't have to do any cutting they can simply take all of these little squares and sew them all together and have a nice little pillow or doll quilt or book cover I have a tutorial for a book cover using these and they're just really cute and they're also a great way to sample a line if you're not sure if you like a line of fabric you can order one of these and just see before you go and order more fabric so these are super cute these run around for let's see four to five dollars a piece I believe and the jelly rolls can be it depends some some stores have sales so you're gonna looking anywhere between twenty-five and maybe thirty-five dollars for one of these maybe more depending on the line in the store alright the next size up is called a charm square these are five inch squares and these are also great I use these for my kids a lot because again they don't have to cut and these are bigger so they can make like a patchwork kind of quote with these and they don't have to do any you know like again you get the whole line of fabric you don't have to do any cutting or anything like that so these are also a great alternative to buying yardage the next size up is the layer cake these are ten inch squares and again you get one of each of the fabrics in the line and these run anywhere I think the charm packs I'm sorry are about seven to ten dollars depending these can run anywhere they're about the same price as a jelly roll so anywhere from like 25 to say forty dollars for these one of the things you're going to want to keep an eye out for and this kind of goes for all the pre cuts is that different manufacturers and different lines have a different amount most of Mona's lines on what kind of depends but they have around 40 different 40 different pieces of fabric or 40 different you know chucks in one bundle so some of the other lines a lot of the riley blade Lions have more like 20 or so so that that's gonna change the price of it but it's also going to change how much you're getting so if you're doing something where you're following a pattern you're going to just want to make sure you have enough the next size up would be a fat eight bundle this is from Mota this one is called Little Miss Sunshine it's one of my favorite ones but again you get one fat eighth of each of the line and a fat eight that's basically a half of a fat quarter so fat quarter is 18 by 22 usually this one is 9 by 22 so you're still getting the length you're just not quite getting the width these are great for you can really get a whole fold out of one of these and still have some left over you just want to make sure that your pattern isn't calling for a cut that's 9 inches over 9 inches so you won't get that out of this so just be careful when you're buying these that they match your pattern the next size up is going to be your fat quarter bundle and these again I can mentioned are 18 inches by 22 inches you get one piece of one fat quarter for each piece in the line which is a nice variety this is certainly enough for a quilt I usually I'd like to get these because it gives me more options with my pattern and I always have almost half of it left over it really kind of depends on the pill but you can usually get a couple of coats out of these so these are a really good option and depending on the fabric line again these can run anywhere from maybe 80 to 100 maybe sometimes even over $100 and the fat eight bundles sorry I keep forgetting to tell you price but these are closer to fifty so it's just half what the fat quarter bundle is alright and then the last thing that you can purchase obviously is yardage now this if you've followed my Instagram feed at all you know that I use white and almost all of my quilts and so I do actually buy this by the bolt I just got this one from one of my favorite stores on Etsy store stitches and giggles and I'll link her below but this is the Mota Bella white and it's ninety nine hundred ninety seven and this is a nice white fabric but it's just slightly softer so it's not like a harsh bright white it's just kind of a nice soft white and I like this it goes with all of my stuff if you find that you're using a lot of a specific color for your backgrounds then it's sometimes cheaper to go out and buy a bowl however you can also purchase whatever you need in bolt format from your local craft store as well so there's that and then also the last thing you'll need is some batting now batting is it's super exciting but since I use all cotton materials and all cotton threads I also suggest using a 100% cotton batting keep in mind that if you use something like wool batting or polyester batting it's not going to shrink it the same rate as your fabrics if you're using cotton and so you could get some bunching and and that kind of thing now batting comes in different lofts and that just means the thickness I tend to use this one I actually buy this in the book by the bolt as well because I go through it so much this is just the natural white cotton batting 100% cotton batting and it's not very thick but I find that when I'm I've got my background plus the batting plus my top it's it's perfectly fine the quilts are nice and thick and warm and I don't like doing something that's super high loft batting or it's going to be really puffy and it kind of makes a little bit more difficult to call it that way too but you can use whatever you like if you want something that's warmer you're gonna want to get it a little bit heavier weight cotton batting this is just their kind of standard light weight batting so just use whatever works best for you but I do suggest that you keep your fabrics and your threads and your batting consistent amongst the material that you're using all right so that's pretty much it to get started quilting you need just basically your mat your trimmer some rulers some scissors your machine thread and fabric and you're good to go alright guys I have one more fun thing for you that quarter shop is sponsoring my how to get started quilting videos and so what that means that I fun prizes to give away that we'll be doing at the end of each of our videos so the first prize are the little house pins which I mentioned earlier in this video there are my favorite pins and fat quarter shop is going to give away a set of these in the cute little magnetic tin for one of you guys so just head over to my blog post I will link it below and you'll enter the Rafflecopter on that blog post and then a random winner will be selected from that so I hope this video helped you getting started with your supplies in my next video we're going to talk about certain features to look for in quilting sewing machines because I know that can be really hard and overwhelming knowing which but she needed picks so I hope you enjoyed this video and I will see you for the next one as always if you have any questions you're welcome to email me and I'll do my best to help answer you can also comment on this video and I'll do what I can to get back to you guys as soon as possible so thanks for watching and I will see you next time you

Channel: Erica Arndt

Views: 37,302

Rating: 4.9160838 out of 5

Keywords: Quilting, How To, Quilting 101, Sewing, Quilting Supplies

Id: yNVYaZdqdRI

Length: 21min 15sec (1275 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 07 2016