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If you are looking for ways to be more organised with your quilting projects, you are in for a treat. In this post, I’ll share with you 10 tips to organise your quilting projects.
 
Drop down a comment down below too if you love any of these tips!
 
Let’s get straight to it.
 
Get organising. Do you quilt? learn 10 ways to be more organised when quilting
 

#1 Ziplock bags – do all the cutting in one session 

Oh gosh, I love this organizing system! I first learned this from a pattern by Elizabeth Hartman. She is one organised quilter! A very productive one too. You check out her amazing patterns here>>. I personally love the latest one! Check that one out HERE>

I made the Aviatrix Medallion previously blogged HERE> and went ahead starting the quilt by cutting every single pieces required for the quilt! It was kind of scary to do so, but I did it anyway.

As per pattern instruction, I kept all the pieces organised in zip lock bags!!! Which was super great cause I can simply store them easily and only took out the one required ones when I need to sew them.  

You can check out this set of ziplock bags with various sizes – perfect for organizing all shapes and sized patchwork pieces.

 

 
 
 
 
 
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So its done. The cutting at least. #aviatrixmedallion #carolynfriendlander #botanicsfabric

A post shared by Amira Ameruddin – Quilter (@amira_littlemushroomcap) on


 

It was a big deal for me to have kept all those in one nice organised place. Since the middle part of the quilt was quite intimidating, I didn’t start sewing until a year later, but since they were all so organised it was easy to pick it back up and just continue to the sewing stage.

 

#2 Organise WIP in project boxes 

Here is one way you can keep all of your project in one place and stack them up nicely. Label them for easy to find what you want to work on too. 

I like this size box, perfect to keep 9-12″ blocks flat and some other pieces flat enough to be working back on it.

I also keep my scraps in these boxes. You can read more about the way I organise my fabric scraps HERE>

organise quilting projects

Get 6 boxes on Amazon. They usually have great deals on these. Sometimes close to half priced off!


 

#3 Use Alphabities

Label your cut pieces!

I love the Alphabities. Especially when following a pattern. They kept me sane for having to know which one measure what without having to remeasure all the time. 

#4 Portable Design board 

This has saved me so much time and has gotten me so organised with all the pieces. It is easy to be moving the pieces all at once form the cutting table to the sewing machine. 

 


 

You can also test out the layout of your pieces on the design board. It is then just a matter of putting it next to your sewing machine while you sew the pieces together.

 

 
 
 
 
 
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A post shared by Amira Ameruddin – Quilter (@amira_littlemushroomcap) on


You can make your own portable design board following the video below or buy ready-made ones HERE>


 

#5 Chain piecing

O yes to chain piecing. Chain piecing can keep all your pieces organised in one strand. It would be so much easier to piece similar shape in batches. 

Quilting projects becomes easier with batch working and chain piecing is definitely one of the way to do so.

#6 Organise on a Design wall & take photo 

Place your blocks on design wall and take photo of the layout so that you can refer to when you piece it together.

You can simply wrap a mounting board with batting or you can get this instant design wall.

I made mine using this corrugated board, wrapping it with batting and placing it on the wall using these strips. Works perfectly! And I can make lots of them around the sewing space.

#7 Block Keeper book 

I made a block keeper a while ago (blogged HERE) and I love that I can keep blocks in there flat and easy to find. 

You can also keep little pieces together as you would want to piece them later safely in the keeper.

 

#8 Use Coloring page 

A lot of the patterns these days have coloring pages included and you can easily color it first to see how it would look like when pieced together. You can do this with color pencils or felt tip pens (I am currently loving this set).

Another option to that is to digitally color it. If you want to learn how to create your own coloring pages, learn basic digital art drawing if you are interested to do so. I always opt for classes in Skillshare for such new skills. 

If you don’t know what Skillshare is – it’s a platform to learn all sorts of thing. You can try it for FREE here>>

#9 Project tracker 

Project tracker is great to make sure you are in the know of where are you at 

You can get a project tracker in the TLMC FREE Resources Library. Sign up here if you haven’t got the access.

 

#10 Schedule your sewing time! 

Be more organised with your time and block sewing time so you can get your project moving.

I personally love my EC Planner and use it every week to block time for sewing for that week. It is easy to be caught in day to day chores. So if you find that sewing  is a relaxing therapy and something that you would love to do more of, make sure you block off some time doing so. 

Well that is it for 10 ways to get more organise when quilting! You will be more calm and more productive when you are organised!

Enjoy quilting!

Have other tips to share? Drop a comment below!

Love this post? Don’t forget to share it. 

[Related Posts: 5 Surefire ways to boost your productivity]

how to organise sewing room quilting projects

Here is a little progress I made this week, and it is on a scrappy quilt. My favourite kind of quilt.

I didn’t have much time to sew this week, and I crave for some sewing time by the end of the week.

This morning, I pulled out my long left out leaders and enders project from the top drawer of my sewing table and I brought them out from my sewing room (where my little boy is still asleep when I have free time to sew) to my living room where I have another machine set up (this sewing cabinet closes into a small buffet table, this one is Australian made – you can find similar table HERE if you are in the US)

 

Originally I planned to work on these in between other projects. Hence it was going be my leaders and enders project. And that is the reason it was on my top drawer under my sewing machine.

But let’s be honest here, I never got to it. 

I still need to learn this art of leaders and enders

 

Well, at least I tried right? 

Anyway, this week I only had 5 minutes here and there, and I got 4 more blocks done.

2 of each, the A set and the B set. 

It is all in making time for it. Even little time adds up!

The thread mess on the yoga pant is always a sign of a good sewing time.

 

The pattern of this quilt is SCRAP VOMIT by Katy at “I’m a Ginger monkey”, but the website is now closed and I can’t redirect you to the pattern.

But they are basically a 7×7 of 2.5″ patches. The A block is all scrappy, whereas a diamond shape pattern is arranged for block B.

 

Hmmmm, let me tell you a little secret : I started the first block in 2012! That is about 7 years in the making. 

That’s okay, there’s love in every quilt made no matter how long they’ve been stashed away before it finally got done right?

 

[related post: Scrappy Trip Quilt I and Scrappy Trip Quilt II]

 

I pulled out the stashed pressed blocks and rearranged it and I so want to call it done. 

 

Pressing seams open for a Scrappy quilt. Is it worth the time?

I usually don’t press open but scrappy quilts like this makes me cringe when I think about all the seams to match!

It is crazy work I must say to press it all open. In the end, I didn’t think it was worth it.

Besides, I feel like seams press to side is much stronger. And pressing open actually made it harder to match seams between blocks because they glide over so easily as there’s no nesting. 

Hm, maybe I rather have bulky seams than having to deal with all this. How about you?

 

So, I think I am ready to put this together into a quilt top and get it quilted. 

Initially my plan was to make it a large queen size quilt, but I figured a finish would be great too. Besides, I was running out of the yellow little blocks for the centre of the B blocks. 

There are plenty of pieced rows still, and maybe I’ll make another one next time, similar but different. 

I rarely make smaller size quilt, as we don’t really need to cuddle under them in Malaysia’s hot weather, but I love the idea of having just small little quilts that is easy for me to gift away. 

I think I have enough of king/queen size quilts for now. 

How about you? What size quilt do you like to make? Do you love scrappy quilt too?Leave a comment down below. 

 

Another finished quilt of the year! Yeay, this one came together so quickly, part of the reason why I love accountability and due dates!

This is a part of the quilt-along that is hosted by one of favourite shop, the Fat Quarter Shop

If you are up to play around with a gorgeous block – come and join us!

Fat Quarter Shop Rocket Star Quilt Along

There are affiliate links within the post for your convenience. Please find the full disclosure here. 

 

Rocket Star Quilt Along (3rd May) prep:

  • Rocket Star Quilt Pattern
  • Starburst Ruler – highly recommend this, there’ll be a template in the pattern, but I sliced through my homemade template twice! 
  • Stripology Ruler – I am recommending this as I used mine for all those sashing. So, so useful. 
  • Rocket Star Quilt Kit (Exclude backing) featuring a new line by Basic Grey – NOVA. I love Basic Grey, and this one is no exception! Just gorgeous!
  • You can also check out NOVA by Basic Grey HERE. Tell me what do you think of the line? I love florals and geometric – so I am definitely in love with it!

The finish of The Scrappy Trip Quilt 2.

Scrappy Trip Quilt 2, because my first one was completed long ago HERE>.

First quilt of the year 2019 to complete. I guess this quilt should have been the last one in year 2018, but procrastination wins over and when I had just a tad bit more to quilt, we decided to rearrange the sewing room to fit in the kid’s bed.

Since we currently only have two bedroom, the sewing room now is shared with the kids, and though it sounds weird and possibly dangerous, the kids are settling well in the room and I had to give up my wee early morning sewing as my kids are still asleep when I usually do so.

There’ll be a sewing room one day but that is for another story.

Today I’ll share with you the finish of this quilt which I previously talked about HERE>

How to know when to buy yards and yards of fabrics for backing?

Do you stash fabrics that are specifically for backing a quilt?

They need to be a large piece for sure and buying large pieces of fabrics is risky.

In the end, it may seems that all of your quilt doesn’t match the backing fabric you have in stash. Have you been in this situation before?

And if there are any fabrics, the fabric is not enough to back a quilt. Ughhh.

That’s me. Cause I rarely ever buy more than 3 yards of the same fabric. Not even on when they’re on sale.

I think 3 yards is the max.

Unless it’s a white solid. I buy those on bolts.

In today’s post, I’ll let you know how I get around with that and share with you some of the ways to work mix matching fabrics to make a quilt back large enough for your quilt.

Whether that is just to quilt by stitching in the ditch, to stitch straight lines or even free motion quilting it. Or hand quilting it (which I believe will take even longer).

In the end, it will depend mostly on two factors.

One, the final outcome.

Whether you want it densely quilted, the overall fluffiness of the quilt, the look you are targetting for etc.

Two, the time it will take to complete the quilting.

Time will vary for different people depending on their capabilities. However, I do believe that with enough practice and motivation, one can master all type of design motif easily.

Though, they’ll still have to think about the time for some quilting designs are denser and requires a longer time to get it done.

There is always room for improvement.

And that has always been my motto for life. And I am always trying to simply improve little by little. Including my sewing skill.

In this post, I am going to be sharing with you 6 tips to improve accuracy for patchwork quilt making, so that you can be happily sewing blocks together into rows, and have those blocks all the same exact size.

Let me know if you have more tips to share. The comment box is always open for new input.

Are you starting to notice how much you’re spending on your quilting hobby? Or are you currently trying to learn how to quilt but have a limited budget?

Do you know that quilting doesn’t have to be so expensive?

Well, at least there are options I would say.

Of course, you can go all out and buy all the best things out there for your quilting craft, but you’ll soon find out that it can be quite addictive and costly to keep this hobby.

In this post, I’ll share 8 ways to make quilting work on a budget.

I started quilting when I was a graduate student, and I have tried lots of ways to keep the spending to a minimum. Which involves lots of thrifting and yard-sale hunting and just winging it with whatever I have in hand.

If you have been wanting to learn how to free-motion quilt with a regular home sewing machine, these tips may be helpful for you!

Today I’d like to share a video on how to set up your space for free motion quilting using a domestic machine and some of my favourite free-motion quilting tips in video format.

Previously, I have shared some of these tips on my blog (which you can find in the following top posts):

but for visual learners, a video might be much more helpful for you. So hopefully, this video will benefit you, and encourage you to start quilting your own quilt with your sewing machine!

If you are a beginner free motion quilter or haven’t yet got the hang of free motion quilting, I would like to invite you to join my FREE E-course on FREE MOTION QUILTING FOR BEGINNER HERE >> free motion quilting tutorial