Greetings Aurifil family – as Master Educator and Aurifilosophy Program Coordinator, I’m excited to host my friend Wendy Sheppard of @ivory_spring for the December Thread Matters. Wendy is an extraordinary pattern designer, (look for her adorable creations at your favorite quilt shop, in most major publications, and on her Etsy site), an Aurifil Designer, author, educator, Aurifilosopher, and a dear friend of the entire Aurifil family. Today Wendy shares lessons learned for accurate piecing – including using Aurifil 50wt thread! Join Wendy as she walks you through proven steps for achieving accurate seams.
Is your shop, group or guild looking for insightful, inspiring and educational information on thread? Consider booking a virtual or in-person program with one of our skilled Aurifilosophers. Learn more about Aurifilosophy and find your favorite Aurifilosopher here.
Happy Stitching!
Karen L. Miller ~ Redbird Quilt Co.
Hello Aurifil world, my name is Wendy Sheppard! I am happy to be able to drop by to visit a little with you. In the past I have shared on Auribuzz about needlework and domestic machine quilting. I am tickled I get to share with you something a little different – piecing tips and tricks that I have learned over the years.
Disclaimer: Different quilters do things differently. So, I always encourage my quilting friends to experiment to see what works for them!
Here are my top 10 tricks that you might find helpful:
#1. Use a fine but strong thread when piecing. Fine so that you don’t lose much of any seam allowance when you press your seam. Strong so that your pieces will hold together and not fall apart. My thread of choice for piecing is Aurifil 50wt – it fits both of my criteria perfectly.
#2. I actually don’t match my threads to the fabrics. I have found that as long as I am not using unusually loud colors, the 50wt threads would just meld into the fabric nicely. I don’t keep too many unused spools of thread. Since many of the threads I use are in lighter shades, I use them for piecing my quilts. That said, my favorite color is 2310. It’s always a nice treat when that color is available in my stash.
#3. I like to pin when I piece. I pin toward the raw edge of fabrics.
You know how they tell you not to sew over pins? By pinning my pieces this way, it’s almost as if I can sew over pins without actually sewing over pins! To this end, I use as fine of pins as I can find.
#4. I also press my seams open when it comes to making HST units. I find that the subsequent blocks end up being more accurate with the bulk being evenly distributed in my HST units. An example is pinwheel units. I wrote about it HERE and HERE.
#5. I cut my pieces as accurately as possible. I find that makes a difference when sewing up accurate units to go into a block.
#6. I like to cut my pieces as I go. For one thing, I am always afraid I might accidentally make a mistake in cutting or forget the size I am supposed to cut at the cutting table. So I generally cut enough to make a few blocks before cutting again. It makes me get up and move about too, and not glued to my chair.
#7. I sew relatively slowly on my machine, especially when sewing together small pieces. I find that sewing slowly helps me with achieving accuracy.
#8. I always check my seams before pressing to set the seams. Sometimes, fabric pieces shift during the sewing process and become wonky. If the seams end up wonky, I would take out my stitches and re-sew.
#9. This is one I love to share with quilters — do not be intimidated by small pieces. Small pieces are like large pieces. I always tell quilters: cut accurately, sew slowly, and more importantly, use a hot iron with no steam.
#10a. I like to read through the entire quilt pattern (even the ones written by me) when I make a quilt so that I get a mental idea of the process. There are times I would make the units a little out of order because my thought process might be different from a designer’s. That doesn’t make the pattern incorrect, it’s just that we all think differently.
#10b. I always make a test block to familiarize myself with the ins and outs of a block. Just as thought processes are different for different quilters, sometimes I discover ways to construct a block that work better for me.
I don’t ever have to steam my blocks to size when I follow these steps. I hope these steps will help you achieve happy piecing and happy quilting.
Useful Resources
1. New Book “Christmas Quilting with Wendy Sheppard”: https://shrsl.com/445ar
2. Blog: ivoryspring.wordpress.com
3. Instagram: ivory_spring
4. Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/ivoryspring
ABOUT WENDY
Originally from Southeast Asia, Wendy came to the US for her tertiary education. After her degrees in Chemical Engineering, she worked in research in a wind tunnel for a spell. Nowadays, she is a stay/work-at-home Mom to a 12 year old. Wendy’s designs have been featured in major quilting publications, both home and abroad. She is also a published author, as well as an online quilting instructor. She is passionate about encouraging quilters to enjoy their quilting journey. During her free time, she loves to read history, and indulges in hand needlework.
Is the pattern for the adorable sheep quilt available?