My Favorite Sewing Tools

My husband spends a lot of time in the garage restoring his antique car.  That garage is full of every tool imaginable.  Well, my sewing room is just the same.  I love tools and gadgets!  I comb through quilting catalogs and go to sewing groups at local stores where I learn all about the latest and greatest must have tools.  I'll talk about my favorites.

First and foremost is a rotary cutter and cutting mat.  I have had them for years but when I was making clothes they weren't really practical for cutting out patterns.  Once I got into quilting and smaller projects I started using them more and more.  I have 4 cutting mats of varying sizes and numerous cutters since it is usually easier for me to buy a new one than to sharpen the old one.  I guess I need to invest in a rotary blade sharpener.  Here is a picture of one of my smaller mats.  I have a really large one on my cutting counter.  I use them all.

 Next are my quilting gloves.  They are really stretchy and have rubberized fingertips.  I would never be able to "free motion quilt" without them.  When you sew the "feed dogs" under the machine and the pressure foot pull the fabric through the machine.  When you "free motion" you drop the feed dogs and use a pressure foot that doesn't actually touch the fabric.  I am the one moving the fabric while the needle remains in the same place.  The gloves help to push and pull the fabric creating the stitches.  It is now one of my favorite things to do once I took a class and got over being intimidated by the process.  I've only accidentally stitched the glove once!

Good scissors and a measuring device are a must.  Normally I would say that a really good pair of large fabric scissors would be a good investment.  For me I hardly ever use mine since I no longer sew clothes and use the rotary cutter.  If you are making clothes, yes they are important.  The duck bill scissors and nail scissors are great for applique.  When doing that you have to cut away excess material while not cutting the fabric underneath.  They are invaluable when doing applique work.  The pink ones have real sharp points and are spring loaded.  These are great for snipping thread ends real close to your work.  The slide measure is great for almost anything and this one is also an aid in drawing circles.

Miscellaneous accessories are very useful.  The metal measuring guage is really handy especially for 1/4 seams (commonly used in quilting).  The little red clips are great when doing binding around a quilt and much better than pins.  I buy a small package almost every time I am in a quilt store because one can never have too many of these.  The curved safety pins are used when stacking quilt layers together so they don't move prior to quilting.  I also like spray basting for stacking too.  I do make mistakes so a good seam ripper is essential.  This one happens to be handmade by the husband of a lady I know from a quilting club.  The sassy scissors are just plain fun but also very sharp.  And the sixth finger is one of my new favorite tools.  It is great when feeding something small under the pressure foot and you need something to push with so you don't sew your finger.

I have a ton of embroidery thread spools and got real tired of loose thread hanging all over the place.  These fun thread peels are great for taming all those loose ends.  And the bobbin holders are also quite useful.  I do try to keep it full of wound bobbins.  I love the colors!  The are sold by http://smartneedle.com/product/peels-spool-huggers/.  

Marking pens.  I always thought that it was considered cheating if you marked a design on your fabric prior to free motion quilting.  Not so according to the instructor I had.  So a good marking pen that disappears is a must.  This same instructor used Frixion pens and I fell in love with them!  They come in a variety of colors and write like a gel pen.  When you want to get rid of the marks you just have to hold a hot iron over the pen marks (without actually touching them) and you can literally watch them disappear.

My sewing table is chock full of all these tools but I use them every time I sew.  Hopefully you have learned something.

Cutting it Up

Last year I asked Rich for a Brother Scan and Cut for Christmas.  As he almost always does when I ask for something for Christmas he got it for me.  Such a good guy!  I really had no idea why I needed this but at the quilting store where I attend club meetings they talk about how great it is all the time.  I think the owner could sell ice to an Eskimo.  She certainly made me want one.  For those who don't know what this is here is a picture and description.

As I usually do with something new I read up and watch video tutorials.  I finally got up the nerve to actually take this thing out of the box and use it.  My first project involved cutting out fabric for an applique project I was making for a friend.  Prior to cutting fabric you must iron on a heat sensitive adhesive to stiffen the fabric.  I am not fond of heat adhesives and neither is my embroidery/sewing machine.  But I have learned to use a lite adhesive which is a little friendlier to my machine needles.  This project involved cutting a lot of pieces which it did very well.  I am still not sure I couldn't have done it with scissors just as fast if not faster but the pieces were cut out perfectly.  Here is that first project.  As you can see it involved a LOT of cutting.  I gave this to friends who had just retired and camp a lot.

My machine came with a rhinestone kit.  I LOVE bling so I knew this was something I really wanted to play with.  It involves cutting small holes in a thick felt-like fabric that form a pre-loaded design.  Once all the holes are cut you pour loose rhinestones or crystals on top and spread them around with a special brush.  They all fall into the holes right side up.  (Some of mine did need a little help with a pair of tweezers.)  A piece of special heat sensitive tape is put on top of all the rhinestones then placed on a shirt.  You then iron them on to the shirt.  My first project turned out great but my stones keep falling off.  I have since purchased a teflon ironing sheet which I think will help the next time I try this.

The next projects involved cutting out heat transfer vinyl for shirts.  My first attempts resulted in the total destruction of expensive glitter vinyl.  After going back to more tutorials I finally got the hang of it.  Some vinyls are cut face up and some face down.  Some patterns are cut with a normal image and some the image has to be reversed.  And vinyls differ in thickness so a lot of test cuts have to be made.  But if I just slow down and think about what I am doing this is now my favorite thing to do.  The intricate patterns take a lot of "weeding" out the pieces you don't want.  It's a little time consuming but worth it.  They are my favorite designs.  A friend from my sewing clubs turned me on to a shop in Dallas that sells the supplies really cheap and they have a great selection.  Thanks Phyllis!  Here are my latest creations.

I am always on the hunt for inexpensive but good t-shirts.  I have found my favorites come from Walmart believe it or not.  I can't wait to wear the pumpkin shirt as it is my favorite so far.  I have worn the others and they wash well.  I love the cruising themed ones too as we cruise at least once every year.  And I envision a few new shirts for Christmas.  Of course the machine is just the start of the hobby.  There are lots of tools involved it it too.  And of course sheets of glitter!

Happy cutting!

Hatch Chilies - Yes It's a Southern Thing

It it hatch chili time!  Being a Yankee I of course had no idea what a hatch chili was. Here is a quote from www.melissas.com.

It's no secret why everyone is obsessed with Hatch Chiles. Named after the original growing area in Hatch, New Mexico, authentic Hatch Chiles are truly a Southwestern favorite. No other chile is prized more than this variety which grows in the Hatch Valley, just north of Las Cruces. The valley, which stretches along the Rio Grande’s southern-most bend before crossing into Texas and Mexico, is covered with row after row of these green leafy chile plants for most of the summer. Chefs say that the intense sunlight and cool nights in this valley result in a uniquely flavored chile that's unrivaled by any other. Hatch Chiles have a meaty flesh and mild-medium heat making them ideal for use in Chile Con Queso, Chile Rellenos, and Chile Verde. But it doesn't just stop there. You can also try roasting and using them in salads, soups, stews, dips, and sandwiches. For even more great ideas on how to use this incredible chile, purchase a copy of Melissa's Hatch Chile Cookbook.

 After 25 years in Texas I finally succumbed to the excitement last year and discovered how good they really are.  Central Market, one of our gourmet grocery stores, has a yearly hatch chili festival.  They roll out large grills to their sidewalks and roast them there on the spot.  They come in hot and mild but I am still eating the mild ones.  Half the things in the store are made with hatch chilies.  It's quite the festival.

 

Last year a friend told me how to roast them on the grill then freeze them.  When ready to use you would just wash off the charred bits and chop them for recipes.  I did that and it worked great.  Except when I am in the middle of a recipe and want chilies I am usually too lazy to go through that process.  Plus they are really cold to work with when they are still frozen (I almost never plan ahead).  So this year I bought a container and used a few in a recipe (below) then peeled, removed the seeds and chopped the rest and froze them in ice cube trays.  I now have a bag in the freezer ready to add to a recipe with no fuss.  Yay me!

Now for that recipe.  I started making this soup recipe for pot-luck meals when we lived in New Jersey.  Of course then I used canned green chilies.  What did I know!  I just made a pot last week using fresh hatch chilies and it makes a huge amount.  We had one lunch and I was able to freeze 5 more lunch size containers.  I once calculated the calories and it came to about 770 a serving so it's not something to want to have often.  But it is a real treat when you do need some comfort.

This recipe is really good using the hatch chilies.