Good Tutorials I’ve Found

The internet teems with quilt related tutorials, both in writing and on YouTube.  The quality varies wildly.  Some have clean production values while others look like the sewer’s 3 year old was wielding the camera.  Here’s some I’ve found especially helpful.  Many concern binding a quilt, which seems to be a bugaboo of show judges.

Binding

Perfect binding tutorial (words and video) – Lots of pix and guidance.

And here’s how to figure out how much binding you need from Lily’s Quilts.

Hidden binding for art quilts (facings)– from Terry Aske.

The easiest way I’ve found to face quilts from the Silly Boodilly.

Sewn down mitered binding corners. Ricky Tims’ method is featured in a video.

Sharon Schamber binding video – Sharon has won best of show at big national shows, so I think she knows what she’s talking about. Her method involves Elmer’s school glue and lots of ironing.

Another explanation of Sharon’s binding method – This one is by Deb Karasik who swears by it.

Sewing the binding ends together – here’s an explanation of the method I use. Only one measurement is involved.

Techniques

The Modern Quilt Guild did a series on 100 days of modern quilting well worth checking out.  My personal fave is the tutorial for piecing circles based on the 6 minute circle technique.

Making and sewing on a hanging sleeve, the last (and often overlooked by me) step in making a quilt, is well described here by Jenny, the Quilt Skipper.

Yeah, quilters hate math, but luckily some kind folks such as Melanie at Catbird Quilt Studio have done the work so you don’t have to.  Here’s her economy block tutorial which includes a handy table for different block sizes.  She also has a section on medallion quilt lessons.

Blocking for perfectly flat quilts by Ellen Lindner.  If your quilt you hope is ribbon worthy has waves, try this method to flatten it out.  I’ve successfully used the basics of this method for a 48 inch square quilt.

Here’s part one and two of a tutorial on sewing hexagons together, the non English paper piecing way.

Here’s a tutorial on scrappy tiling by Lily’s Quilts.  I mentioned this in a fall 2012 blog post.

If you want to try a Lone Star quilt, here’s a chart to help you resize the star from Better Off Thread.  And here’s the tutorial for the Lone Star itself.

Here’s a tutorial I wrote on how to do freezer paper piecing, which is also known as ripless paper piecing.

Fusing

Fusing with Wonder under from Frieda Anderson’s blog. This method works best for small decorative quilts that won’t be washed. Note she says you should pre-wash your fabric so the fusible will stick, and you should remove the paper backing of Wonder Under before cutting your shapes so the edges aren’t frayed.

And more fusing tips.

Here’s Frieda’s fused binding method. No mitered corners!

Sue Bleiweiss also fuses rather than piece. Here’s a video of her method using Mistyfuse. She even fuses her bindings, as the second video shows.

Jenny Lyon is another Mistyfuse adherent. She uses it to baste her quilt sandwiches.

Surface Design

A first – a fabric dyeing tutorial by Vicki Welsh.  This one’s for snow dyeing, which I could have used today where I live.

Thermofax screens give you a more detailed printing option than stencils. This tutorial from PG Fiber2Art will get you started.

Quilting

Oooh, a tutorial on quilting the orange peel pattern with a walking foot from Pippin Sequim.  I plan to try this soon.

I haven’t tried it, so I can just pass along this tutorial for quilting as you go. There’s also a video that shows the process.

Finishing Touches

Small art quilts often look lost when they’re just bound. Give them presence by mounting them on canvas. Here’s one method.

Susan Carlson covers several quilt hanging methods in this post. She includes framing under glass.

Crafts

I have dreaded making pillows with zippers, but I’ve finally found an easy way to sew zippers into the back of a pillow. Sotak Handmade’s method requires no zipper foot.