Quilting addiction Archives - Princess YellowBelly Designs

In the world of carpentry, a fixer-upper would be a house that needs fixing. However, in the world of fabric art, fixer-uppers are the things we use to make the fixes. When you need to undo a major mistake – also known as boo-boos – or get to places where a sewing machine cannot, these three little things are how to fix quilting mistakes.

I would strongly suggest that you have these things in your sewing kits, as a true fabric artist cannot do without them.

These three little helpers can turn a so-so project into a WOW project and a, “how did they do that?” project, because they make mistakes either inconsequential or completely invisible.

Curling leaves, missed stitches, and contrasting colors are all potential mistakes – but you can’t see any of them here

#1 How to Fix Quilting Mistakes Using Fabric Glue

This stuff is absolutely invaluable and completely necessary in fabric art, because not only are you not infallible, neither is your sewing machine.

Accidents happen; accept this, stop beating yourself up over them, and learn how to fix quilting mistakes.

Fabric glue is your #1 fixer-upper. I’ve noticed that some fabrics have a much higher fray rate than others, and if you stitch them too close to the edge, or if your stitch length is just a tiny bit too loose for that particular fabric, it will fray right through the seam.

The heck of it is that it doesn’t happen right away. It waits until you’ve sewn down all around it and it’s almost impossible to get that exact spot back under your machine.

Now what?

There are dozens of different accessories that need to be held fast with fabric glue.

I had a ton of this type of trouble with my dragon quilt. I was sashing with black Kona fabric and even though I checked every seam as I finished it and everything, every time I turned around, there was another place that had let go.

I was using a few creative curses by the time I finished! But fabric glue was my salvation here.

What Fabric Glue to Use – and How

I use either Aleene’s Fabric Fusion or Aleene’s Okay to Wash It glue. Both work equally well, dry invisibly, and hold through endless washings.

This is tedious work, so Leiajoy does most of my gluing for me, and she likes to use a toothpick to maneuver the drops of glue around until she has it exactly where she wants it.

This fabric glue takes approximately 24 hours to dry and then it’s fixed.

I also use the glue as an extra hold for buttons, beads, etc. that I have sewn onto my creations because it is extra insurance that these items will never come loose. On the backs of projects I use a drop on the thread knots from sewing down these same buttons and beads to insure no coming loose.

I also use it on the back if I have gone too fast during some of my free-motion quilting and the bobbin thread got too loose and isn’t holding tight enough..

Rather than ripping it out and trying to maneuver the entire project back under my machine I just glue it and was-la! It will never come loose!

My advice is to get some of this amazing stuff and use it!

#2 How to Fix Quilting Mistakes Using Permanent Fabric Markers

This is not a specialty quilt store pen – these are those packs of bright Sharpie markers that you see every year in kids’ back-to-school supplies.

Cow jumps over the moon and dumps over the bucket into the Milky Way

These babies can become your best friends if you’ll let them.

They are the perfect solution for creating realistic illusions, finishing off things too tiny to sew, and marking out mistakes.

You can get these anywhere – I bought a 24 color set from Walmart. I also got a few gold and silver sparkly ones as well because I use so much bling.

However, for fixing quilting mistakes it’s the darker colors I use the most though, like black, navy, and brown. I use these in a number of different places.

First of all, if you sew your regular seams with beige, every now and then that beige will show through in the front of your project. Just use a matching marker and color over the beige and its gone – like magic! Very useful!

This trick is also very useful on your backings.

If your backing is a dark fabric – like black but you are using a light thread to quilt it from the top, sometimes that top thread will show through on the back. Once again, just use a matching fabric marker and color over the lighter thread and it vanishes!

**Stopping Mistakes Before They Are Mistakes**

I especially like these fabric markers for finishing off places on my custom appliques that are too small to sew.

For instance, the silhouettes of the smaller dragons on my dragon quilt had scales and claws on their necks, tails and feet that were just too small to both cut out and sew and yet they were essential to getting the right look.

This was a potential disaster, but I didn’t panic, because I know how to fix quilting “mistakes” like this.

I simply cut out the dragons without these accoutrements and appliqued the dragons. When that was done, I went back with a black marker and using the original picture as a guide just drew in the elements that were missing.

Ta-da!!

I did the same thing on my ‘Running Wild’ panel with the horses’ mane, because all those little wisps of hair were just too much to both cut and sew.

Other than the Dark Colors

This is easiest with black silhouettes, but you can really accomplish it with any color.

Depending on the fabric you use, you might have to color in once, wait an hour or so and then re-do it, as some fabric absorbs the color more than others, but it is certainly well worth the time.

Finally, I also use fabric markers on the backs of my projects if I have sewn something down by hand and the thread color I used doesn’t match the backing fabric. Sometimes, it’s more important to match your thread to the front than the back, and when this is the case, a magic marker makes all the difference.

I used this trick on my ‘Ocean Maidens’ quilt when I sewed the silver buckle onto the front.

I had to use silver thread so it would disappear on the front, but of course, the silver thread was glaringly obvious on the back – so a lilac colored marker came into play – and Bob was my uncle!

#3 How to Fix Quilting Mistakes Using Hand Sewing

Christmas Delivery - Christmas small wall hanging, what a completed project of a fabric panel for quilting looks like - close-up of an added fairy and a metallic ribbon border

As much as we would prefer to do everything with our machines because they are both faster and neater, there are times when the only way to get something done is by hand. There’s a lot of detail to hand-sewing, way too much to cover here, so I’ve given it its very own blog ‘Hand Sewing; How and When’. It’s coming soon, and I’ll update you in the newsletter when it shows up.

Until then, remember to keep some hand-sewing needles in your pincushion, and a small pair of scissors around for clipping loose ends.

So those are my three favorite fixer-upper tools when I need to figure out how to fix quilting mistakes. I always have these products around, and roughly seven times out of ten I can fix a potentially major boo-boo without little or no trouble.

Living & Quilting Dangerously

Last week I went to a Tattoo & Piercing Parlor.

It wasn’t the first time I’d been there but I sincerely hope it will be the last…and I wasn’t there to get a tattoo either. I’m a good girl, I am!

I went to the piercing parlor to get a Daith piercing in my ear to try to help my migraines. I confess to yelling when he pushed that needle through my cartilage – that sucker hurt.

However, as I sat there quietly bleeding, it occurred to me. I do this to myself all the time – when I sew – and I bet you do too.

Sewing is a physically risky business because essentially we’re working with knives. Of course, we like to give them euphemisms like scissors, pins & needles, and rotary cutters, but any seamstress can tell you…they’re really knives.

Personally, I’d be amazed to hear that there is one seamstress out there that hasn’t had a too close encounter with the sharp end of one of these supplies. They are necessary to our work, but they can be very painful.

**Addiction – And How Not to Treat It**

Here again is where the whole idea of addiction can raise its head.

When I was sewing my Peacock Panel, I had to pin every flower in place before I could sew – no handy Wonder Under here.

I used long, sharp quilting pins to secure those slippery leaves to the thick background. Those very helpful pins found no problem scraping along my forearms and jabbing into my chest as I sewed.

I’m pretty sure I yelled more than once, and when I was done, I did look like an addict with needle tracks all along the insides of both forearms. Talk about quilting dangerously.

But it was worth it.

Michael thinks I’m nuts sometimes, but even he has to admit the end result was beautiful.

That’s the gritty truth of an artist’s addiction to his/her craft. No matter the ill immediate consequences that we suffer personally, nothing will deter us from achieving our goal of adding a bit of beauty to this old world.

Maybe we shouldn’t even want to. Without a bit of pain no one would have ever painted the Mona Lisa, or built the Parthenon, or invented quilting in the first place.

Those Who Love Us

Speaking of my darling Michael, have any of you ever read or heard Hank the Cowdog books? They are positively hilarious – especially the audio book versions – but when you read about Slim Chance, just substitute Michael’s name instead.

This man of mine never moves fast, leans as soon as he stops and takes forever to think things through.

To his credit, his thinking is vastly different from mine and he often comes up with a solution that would never occur to me. He’s awesome, but I digress.

The point is that I’ve only seen him move fast 3 times:

When Suzanna decided an anthill was a perfect place to play
When the kids were playing in the ocean surf and a long dark shape showed itself in an oncoming wave
And when I sewed through my thumbnail

Yellow-headed pin going through a quilt into someone's finger!

The needle had pulled out of the machine and was sticking out the fleshy side of my thumb through my thumb nail. That was not fun. Michael really jumped that time – I’m pretty sure that I screamed loudly. Being Michael, he promptly got his needle nose pliers and pulled.

Amazingly, while it was the first time I’d sewed through my thumb nail, it wasn’t the first time I’d sewn through the side of my thumb.

Last year, I was having vision problems in my left eye. But I live on the edge and do quilting dangerously, so instead of stopping, I kept leaning closer and closer to see what I was sewing and actually scraped the end of my nose with the needle. Now, that would have hurt!

Consequences of Quilting Dangerously

I have a special set of quilting pins that are about 3” long and sharp as lances, consequently many times I’ve had to wash out spots of blood from being stabbed. On my dangerous quilting journey I also:

Been burned with hot glue
Shoved hand sewing needles under my fingernail
And glued various body parts together

But it’s all worth it to me – because like any true addict I like the results. I read about one quilter who had actually glued her bottom to the floor. I found that hilarious but not surprising.

So there I am getting pierced and looking at the piercing guy. He’s tattooed from neck to ankles and I started thinking about how many needle punctures THAT took – and he did it on purpose! Now that’s addiction – of a different kind, but addiction nonetheless.

So maybe we’re not as insane as we may seem – when we keep on quilting despite the hazards – and we have something to show for it at the end of the day. And, at least our needle marks aren’t permanent.

Fixer – Uppers – How to Fix Quilting Mistakes