Craft Tips

Welcome to Craft Tips by E Craft Classses. Our goal is to teach our visitors as much about crafting as possible. Therefore, we're opening up an interactive page for our visitors. If you have a craft tip you'd like to share please leave a comment anywhere on this blog and we'll include it on this unique page. We'll also include one website link for you. The website must be craft related. The remaining rules and other information can be found below the tips.

CRAFT TIPS

General Craft Tips
1. When beginning a new type of craft, start with a small project. This way you don't feel overwhelmed about learning new techniques and you get the satisfaction of completing a project quickly. http://www.ecraftclasses.com/

Quilt Tips
1. Whether hand quilting or machine quilting, I find that it's best to begin quilting in the center of the quilt and work towards the outer edges. This allows the quilt to lay flat with fewer puckers or creases.
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Rag Quilt Tips
1. The snip-as-you-go-method means simply to snip each row of  squares as you create each row. And again as you sew each row to each other. This elimates fatiqued hands and unsnipped seams which are both common if you snip the entire quilt after completely piecing the quilt.
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General Sewing Tips
1. The foot that I use on my sewing machine doesn't have the 1/4 inch edge so I  drew a 1/4 inch mark on top (see picture below). This has been very helpful in keeping that critical seam allowance especially when my seam is no longer beside the 1/4 inch mark on the front of the machine - because the mark is very short and my fabric is being pulled toward the back of the machine. I don't find the mark behind the foot to be helpful at all.

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2. Many people suggest that you pin your pieces as shown in the first photo below for uninterrupted sewing. I do this only on rare occasions myself and that is to hold occasional butted edges of my quilts together. The reason being, if there's one in a bazillion chance that my needle will hit that pin and break I'll decrease those chances by avoiding it as often as possible. The rest of the time I will pin far enough below the sewing edge for continuous sewing. You can see in picture three that my foot easily misses the needle for uninterrupted sewing.

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3. The zigzag stitch rather than a straight stitch is a great way to sew together pieces that shift (i.e. trying to sew a ruffle onto an item). Zigzag stitches also reduce fraying of rough unfinished edges.
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HOW TO GET YOUR CRAFT TIPS ADDED TO THIS PAGE
1. Copy and paste the link below and add it to your blog or website.  A clickable banner linked to this page will appear. It will look exactly like the banner to the right.

<a href="http://ecraftclasses.blogspot.com/p/craft-tips.html" target="_blank"><img alt="Craft Tips on http://www.ecraftclasses.com/" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr7dgzfEuCrKmGC4FL-Q5RJ6GUW6kauSyoS2ZH8mla7lV10gcxFudm4y2sel-14DgCPbLOVzufzMiV7qJT7U0Cx6eQExlOVAs8n3DEYuMUybsvgTN_zfVBzOGuGzSRX1ddihInOixPnySO/" /></a>
 
2. Leave a comment anywhere on the blog telling us where to find the banner on your website along with your craft tip(s) and the website link that you wish to use. Rather than posting the comment, we'll post your tips on this page. You may also use our Contact Us form on our website if that's easier for you.

3. You may send more than one tip at any given time. Please use only your original ideas.

4. You will not receive confirmation when your tips are added. You will just need to check for those. We will do our best to get them added within 48 hours.