Sometimes it's the simplest things, isn't it? I've been storing projects in pizza boxes for years. Recently, somebody saw them and thought it was the best thing since sliced.... well..... sliced pizza! I guess I never thought it was much of a tip, but she surely did so I thought I'd share it here. I get clean, new pizza boxes from a nice pizza shop owner. Sometimes they give them to you for free and sometimes they ask you to pay for them, which is never much. I line the bottom of the box with batting (I like warm and natural for this rather than polyester batting) or with flannel. No need to get fancy- just lay it in there. When it's lined, your pieces don't slide all over the place. when cutting, pile up your block pieces in the pizza box the way they will be assembled. Take 2 piles and sew and iron them- them put them back where they belong in the "puzzle". Keep going this way and keep putting them back in the box the way they belong in the block. It keeps me organized, they travel well, store well, and I make less mistakes with complicated blocks. Be sure to go big with the boxes. Even if you're doing 8 or 10 inch blocks, it's good to have a 16 inch box. If there are a lot of pieces in the block, it takes a lot of space to lay them out before they are stitched.
Showing posts with label Tips. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tips. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
April Tip- Pizza Box Block Organizers
Sometimes it's the simplest things, isn't it? I've been storing projects in pizza boxes for years. Recently, somebody saw them and thought it was the best thing since sliced.... well..... sliced pizza! I guess I never thought it was much of a tip, but she surely did so I thought I'd share it here. I get clean, new pizza boxes from a nice pizza shop owner. Sometimes they give them to you for free and sometimes they ask you to pay for them, which is never much. I line the bottom of the box with batting (I like warm and natural for this rather than polyester batting) or with flannel. No need to get fancy- just lay it in there. When it's lined, your pieces don't slide all over the place. when cutting, pile up your block pieces in the pizza box the way they will be assembled. Take 2 piles and sew and iron them- them put them back where they belong in the "puzzle". Keep going this way and keep putting them back in the box the way they belong in the block. It keeps me organized, they travel well, store well, and I make less mistakes with complicated blocks. Be sure to go big with the boxes. Even if you're doing 8 or 10 inch blocks, it's good to have a 16 inch box. If there are a lot of pieces in the block, it takes a lot of space to lay them out before they are stitched.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
February Tip- Tomato Needle Holder
I made a needle holder out of one of these little tomatoes about 30 years ago. I was going to put a picture of it on here but it looked so old and beat up that I thought I should make a new one for the blog picture. So here's my brand new tomato!
I change my machine needles regularly, and I try to use the size that's right for the fabric I'm sewing. When changing to different sizes of needles, the used needle isn't always very old, so I want to save it for another use. But I don't like to put the slightly used needles back in the packages because I'm afraid they'll get mixed up with the brand new ones. To keep them straight, I poke them in my tomato. I use a Sharpie marker to label the sections. It's handy and cute!
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