A Tufting Tutorial
Tufting are those depressions made at regular intervals in a cushion by passing a thread through and pulling it taut. Simple, right? It can be. Start with the right tools and make sure you measure and mark with precision.
Resources
Thermal Fabrics to Keep Hot Hot and Cold Cold
Thermal fabrics are the added layer in projects designed to keep hot stuff hot and cold stuff cold, such as oven mitts, lunch bags, shopping totes, etc. We take a look at options for thermal batting, fabric, and interfacing.
Choosing the Right Sewing Machine Needle
New project – new needle! It’s an important part of the process because a good needle in your sewing room is like a good knife in your kitchen. Learn the basics about sizes, styles, types, even the anatomy of a needle.
How to Make Bow Tie Bows
Ribbons and bows… is there anything happier?! Our friends at The Ribbon Retreat put together this fun Guest Tutorial showing you how to make bright and colorful bow tie bows in several styles, layers, and colors.
Sewn Paper + Fabric Greeting Card
Using your sewing machine to join paper and fabric is surprisingly easy. If you’ve never tried it yourself, this is a great first project: not too complicated, yet still a very pretty way to send a special Valentine greeting.
Sewing with Plush Fabric
It gives a fabulous softness to a wide variety of projects, from toys to pillows to blankets and more. Although not difficult to sew with, to create the very best results, it helps to have a few tips and tricks under your belt.
In-The-Hoop Embroidered Coasters
The technique is just as the name implies: the vast majority of the project, both sewing and embroidery, is done within an embroidery hoop. The elegant result is similar in rich color and complexity to a fine Jacquard ribbon.
Quilting Basics – A Five-Part Series for Beginners
We explain the fundamentals of quilting, including the tools you’ll need, cutting techniques, how to create blocks from basic shapes, piecing tips and techniques, and stitching. Enter at your own risk; quilting can be addictive.
Select the Right Thread for the Job
We worked with our friends at Coats to put together a handy overview that can help you understand not only the standard thread choices, but some of the specialty options as well. It’s part science and part art.
Fabric Grain: What It Is + How To Fix It If It’s Off
How fabric is woven is important; fabric that is off-grain when you’re cutting can cause the completed project to stretch out of shape. Get a better understanding of how to identify fabric grain and tips on how to straighten it.
Top Interfacing Solutions for Bags & Totes
So many choices! This article helps you sort out the most common interfacing options for bags and totes. You’ll like the printable chart we developed. Post one copy in your sewing room and use another when you shop.
Janome Free Motion Couching Foot Set
There are entire accessory systems to achieve this unique embellishment technique, often referred to as “yarn embroidery.” YOU can do it with a simple change of your Janome presser foot. It’s like drawing with yarn.
Preshrinking aka Pre-washing
A big part of sewing is knowing your fabric. A big part of knowing fabric is understanding how to care for it. Protect your project and fabric investment. Learn when to preshrink fabrics, what products to use, and more.
Straight Line Quilting Tips + Techniques
We love the quilting art of superstar, Heather Jones. A while back, she was kind enough to give us her favorite tips on straight line quilting. It provides a clean, modern feeling to a design, and is especially cool when densely stitched.
Janome Beading Presser Foot Set
Beads add dimension, texture, and color in one fell swoop. Hand sewing is an option, if you have a few spare days. Machine sewing CAN be like trying to ride your bike over a field of BBs… unless you have this clever presser foot set.
How to Make a Buttonhole on Your Sewing Machine
Buttonholes. For many of us, beads of sweat start to form at the mention of the word. “Am I about to ruin everything by botching the buttonholes?” Nope! They’re really not hard once you break it down into individual steps.
How to Clean + Care for Outdoor Fabrics
We worked with Waverly to test their Sun ’n’ Shade outdoor fabrics. Our step-by-step fabric care tutorial shows how flexible these outdoor fabrics can really be. And, you’ll also get to learn a bit about this interesting company.
Tulip Garden Machine Embroidery Designs
How about some lovely custom tulip designs to bring the fun and freshness of Spring to your next machine embroidery project? Free Downloads, plus we show steps for creating our pretty Tulip Garden pillow.
