Tag: Quilting

What kind of sewing machine should I buy?

December 21, 2025

That’s a loaded question! There are many variables that play into your decision. I’ll approach the following discussion from someone with experience looking to upgrade from their “beginner” machine and someone looking to buy a second/travel machine.

Here’s a good place to start for honest reviews. It’s arranged by price point. I agree with most of his recommendations, except the Baby Lock Jubilant/Brother NS80E when it comes to using it primarily for quilting. For me, it’s too finicky when it comes to sewing over thick seams.

If I could only have one machine, I’d look at a Janome Skyline S3 or the Baby Lock Brilliant. They both offer 8″ wide throat space, adjustable foot pressure, straight stitch needle plate capability and a scissors function. Cost new would be $1000-$1200. These machines are candidates to take to a retreat or class; however they are wider and heavier than a typical travel machine. Compared to my Elnita EC30, these two machines are 10 pounds heavier and 5-7 inches wider. If table space is tight (say 3 feet), you’ll definitely want to consider taking a standard size sewing machine (about 16″ wide).

If adding a “travel” machine, how do you plan to use the machine? Do you need a smaller version of your primary machine – complete with all the bells and whistles? Do you need something that will fit underneath the airplane seat in front of you, yet still offer essential creature comforts? Your budget and machine feature wish list will definitely impact your choices.

Most of the time, I see variations of the Janome 3160, Brother CS6000i, Brother Pacesetter 300 and Singer Patchwork 7285 at classes and retreats. There’s usually a sprinkling of Featherweights and a handful of smaller Berninas (325/335/475) represented, as well. Occasionally, you’ll see a 3/4 size Janome Jem 720/760 or it’s cousin – the ElnaSTAR edition.

I’ll admit, I’m a Janome girl. My current primary machine is a Janome 8900 QCP. The airline friendly version for me is an Elnita EC30, which I already use in CraftLAB. If I get a wild hair to get rid of the Jubilant that is also used in CraftLAB, I’ll replace it with the Janome 780DC (has every feature I use on my 8900 and nothing more).

Elnita EC30 packed for the airplane in my Travelpro underseat rolling tote.

Let’s talk scrap management

November 29, 2025

Meet my scrap bin. It’s a medium plastic decorative storage basket found at stores like Target and Hobby Lobby. Nothing fancy. Most of what you’ll find in my scrap bin are bits smaller than 5″ square and random jelly roll leftovers.

I realize there are quilters who have elaborate stash management systems and cut all leftover fabrics to pre-determined sizes. Some even write books about their stash management systems. Me? I prefer a much simpler approach.

At the end of a quilting project, I “process” any leftover fabric. Random, full-size precuts are stored with my 2-1/2″ strips, 5″ squares and 10″ squares. Any larger pieces are returned to color-coded bins.

My quilting bee group makes several scrappy quilts a year for charity, so I sort the remaining bits for future charity projects, the scrap bin or the wastebasket. When the scrap bin gets full, it’s time to add a project to the rotation to use up some of the scraps.

Here’s my current project:

Foundation pieced scrappy half-square triangles

The FPP paper pad yields fifty 6-1/2″ blocks. I have enough of this white-on-white print to make about 12 scrappy HSTs. I’ll grab another white fabric hunk when it’s time to make block #13. Said blocks will be made into items to donate to my guild’s community service (placemats or a baby/toddler quilt).

Once a scrap become smaller than 2-1/2″ square, I toss it. If it’s been a busy, active quilting season and I’ve accumulated way too many scraps, I’ll pass them along to a friend or donate them to Scraplanta.

As a former librarian, I culled different sections of our book collection on a regular basis. It’s a key part of collection management. Applying those same principals to my fabric stash, including scraps, keeps things manageable. It’s great to save the scraps, but you also need a plan to use the scraps and/or divest of the scraps.

Rethinking the need for my die-cutting system

November 25, 2025

Yesterday, I spent time cutting out all of the blocks for an upcoming quilt retreat. We’re making a variation of Pecan Blossoms from Fig Tree Quilts. The perfect opportunity to pull out my die-cut machine, strip and small square dies, right?

Not exactly. The pattern calls for strips and squares in less commonly used sizes. I own most sizes of strip dies and their corresponding square dies – just not in two of the sizes needed. AccuQuilt offers those sizes; however, I’m not spending $300.00 for two strip dies I doubt I’ll use again.

I thought about pulling everything out and cutting what parts I could with my die cutting system and then just rotary cutting the rest as usual. Nah. Instead, I reached for my trusty June Tailor Shape Cut ruler and handy conversion chart. I had all my fabric choices finalized, starched and pieces cut to size in an afternoon.

There’s no doubt a die-cutting system is much faster at cutting out fabric versus a traditional rotary cutter and ruler. This assumes you have all of the dies required, the room to store everything and/or you have the means to buy whatever might be missing.

Over the past three months, I’ve used my slit cut ruler (June Tailor Shape Cut) to cut strips, then subcut them into squares and rectangles rather than haul out the die-cutting machine. It’s more convenient. Any applique shapes have been cut using my Cricut Maker or traced/cut by hand. The nature of how I craft, quilt and sew has changed. This time last year, I used the die cut machine to make several cut-outs for Christmas craft activities while I was still teaching literacy enrichment classes.

Perhaps I should add a Stripology XL ruler from Creative Grids to my Christmas Wish List? And make a note to re-evaluate the need to keep my Sizzix Big Shot Plus and assorted dies.