The right tool for the right job

[Marianne G.]

I don't want to sound grumpy - OK I am grumpy - but am I the only one who is ever so slightly fed up with gadgets overload and peddling of notions, potions and lotions in everything patchwork and quilt related today?
I went to my local quilt group last night and chatted to a young lady, new to sewing. I brought my 30+ year old sewing machine along and set it up for piecing, eye-balling where to put my stack of post-it notes, sewed 2 squares together, measured and then got on to piecing a block. The lady was big-eyed and asked why I did not use a seam allowance tool and a magnetic seam guide like she had been sold at a recent class for IMHO a lot of money - 3 m of fabrics worth to be more precise. My 15+ year old rulers with sand paper dots underneath was not up to scratch either - no I needed a new non-slip ruler (I didn't enlighten her that I had to buy a die cutter recently because I can no longer use ruler and cutter) with its accompanying cutter and doing HST I needed either paper on a roll or a ruler for squaring them up so they were just right or my blocks would be miserably mis-sized, mis-aligned and generally not worthy of being used. I asked her what she had been making at this class and her reply was Friendship Star blocks only she had not done any really except for one block to try the technique because she had not had enough money to buy the right fabric by the time she had got all the rest of the paraphernalia and the fabric she had brought with her had been deemed unsuitable for the project being some fabric she had won at one of our recent group meetings door price.
How on earth did they manage to make quilts before the 1/4" foot was invented?
Sorry to waste your time I just needed to vent my frustration :evil:
Marianne

[Margo C.]

I hear ya, Marianne! It also bothers me that beginners are not taught the basics of piecing...starting with drafting their own patterns, making templates to mark intersections, drawing seam lines and sewing it all together with a needle and thread!!
Alex has said on several occasions that "Quilting is not an inexpensive sport", but at the very foundation of it....it can be!

On the other hand...for those who have the where-with-all to buy gadgets, I say have fun! There are lots of cool tools out there, and I certainly have my share, but I also know that I could be on a desert island with needle, thread, fabric and a thimble, and I could make a quilt!

[E.M. T.]

That's a thumbs up from here !

[Nancy R.]

While I agree that teachers should stress teaching how to do things without all of the extra, unnecessary tools, I'm happy that there are all of those gadgets out there that could possibly make my quilting easier or faster. My time is my most valuable asset. And I'm grateful to teachers who show me gadgets that I might not have heard of anywhere else. That is, as long as I'm also shown how to do without them if I don't want them. Of course, there are some classes that are designed around a tool so the tool is necessary. For example, I took a class at Houston from Gyleen Fitzgerald that was a pattern designed for one of her rulers and that was okay because the ruler was included in the up-front cost of the class. So I'll continue to try new gadgets that appeal to me and recommend different gadgets to my friends. But I will also be happy on the desert island with just my needle, thread and fabric. Just my two cents...

Nancy

[Marianne G.]

I hear ya, Marianne! It also bothers me that beginners are not taught the basics of piecing...starting with drafting their own patterns, making templates to mark intersections, drawing seam lines and sewing it all together with a needle and thread!!
Alex has said on several occasions that "Quilting is not an inexpensive sport", but at the very foundation of it....it can be!

On the other hand...for those who have the where-with-all to buy gadgets, I say have fun! There are lots of cool tools out there, and I certainly have my share, but I also know that I could be on a desert island with needle, thread, fabric and a thimble, and I could make a quilt!

Oh, I like gadgets too - don't get me wrong and I have some that have not seen much use - but they don't always make things easier or make you happier with the finished top/quilt.

I think the thing that most upset me last night was the thought that this young lady with 2 small children would have had a much better day off at class if the teacher had done a demo of how to cut using an ordinary cutter and ruler and then provided a pre-cut kit for 2 blocks to be made into a mug rug or pot holders; demonstrated how to sew accurately and then helped the them measure along the way and achieve the best each individual student could manage. That way she would have come home with something and I'm sure she would have gone back to the shop again.

I know shops offer classes to make money but so many fail to go back to basics. Such a pity. I have been dappling in patchworks for years, taken loads of classes but only got the basics by watching Sally Collins' video here at TQS and by joining Laura Nownes classroom last year.

Thanks for taking time to read my rant, Margo - we can't change the world (or the quilt shop) but we can mention The Quilt Show to budding quilters

Marianne

[Marianne G.]

While I agree that teachers should stress teaching how to do things without all of the extra, unnecessary tools, I'm happy that there are all of those gadgets out there that could possibly make my quilting easier or faster. My time is my most valuable asset. And I'm grateful to teachers who show me gadgets that I might not have heard of anywhere else. That is, as long as I'm also shown how to do without them if I don't want them. Of course, there are some classes that are designed around a tool so the tool is necessary. For example, I took a class at Houston from Gyleen Fitzgerald that was a pattern designed for one of her rulers and that was okay because the ruler was included in the up-front cost of the class. So I'll continue to try new gadgets that appeal to me and recommend different gadgets to my friends. But I will also be happy on the desert island with just my needle, thread and fabric. Just my two cents...

Nancy

Sure time is precious and as Ricky says we only have "so" much. I really like the idea behind up front cost of a class includes the tool for that class and you know exactly what you are getting yourself into.
I think you put it beautifully when you say: That is, as long as I'm also shown how to do without them if I don't want them.
That's where I feel the teacher went off the track. The young lady I spoke to obviously didn't feel she had a choice if she wanted to do patchwork!
I'm just extremely old-fashioned and don't want to spend money on something before I'm sure I will use it and it does a good job of what it's for and spend time on researching tools before I buy. I'm very lucky to have the time to do so.
Thanks for taking time to enter this discussion.
Marianne

[Lotti D.]

I'm so totally with you...
Being addicted to gadgets I have far more than my share... But these have accumulated over the years, and when I started we were tought the use of cutting mat, rotary cutterand ruler. The quarter inch was marked on the machine using tape...
The quilt shop where I did my first steps was happy to sell me fabric and later on whatever gadgets i wanted, but she stressed the important bits which was fabric and how to use the basics and the importance on measuring and being careful of even seams.
Got me going, got me hooked, and many a shop has made money off me in the ensuing years

[Susan B.]

I admit to being a hopeless gadget junky, and most of them get used at one time or the other. Someone is going to inherit one helluva lot of neat sewing stuff. I'm finally, in retirement, able to stay away from lots of what I hear about. Oops, I lied :lol: :lol: :lol: , my latest "gadget" is spiral-eyed needles. I'm on my 2nd batch, I destroyed 2 learning how to use them without catching them in a quilt sandwich.

However, I agree with Marianne about the marketing in sewing machine dealer/fabric stores. It can be overboard, but they are, after all, in the business to make money. Where would we be without them? I have to stay away unless I have something specific to get.

So, just what are your favorite gadgets? My favorites include a Collins Ruler with holes in it, a tool which enabled me to finally get a decent 1/4" seam allowance no matter what sewing machine I'm working on; and my bent angle stainless steel super sharp tweezers from Pakistan, originally seen I believe on TQS, sold by BackPorch Designs. I've since found them other places.

I enjoy having the right tool for the right job, a lesson I learned from my ex-husband who, as a mechanic, loved his Snap-on Tool truck.

[Susan B.]

I too am a fan of gadgets, and and have had my fair share of them. But I have also had the blessings of mentors to show the basics of quilting including hand quitting and machine quilting. I migrate to machine and the quickest way to assemble the blocks. That being said, I have had times when I thought something would work better and faster, only to realize tried and true old Fasion was the way to go. I had just made a double wedding ring using a string piecing method. All the time I was thinking the old way with templates would be better. I do have to say the quilt did win a blue ribbon. :-) very excited with the effort put into it.

[Rita C.]

Marianne, I hear you loud and clear here too! The quilting industry is a $3billion business so there are lots of companies competing for our attention either with the latest fabrics or the latest gadgets. But you know I have learned everything back to front and I have a fair crop of gadgets yet I wouldn't swop all the experience I have had learning how to use them for anything. Even gadgets that turned out to be annoying or wasteful (I put the Twister ruler top of the list) I have found a use for. I may not use some of them very often but I do use them occasionally. We have all experienced the crappy teacher along the way - my worst was going specifically for a class on machine applique but was taught free-motion quilting instead - not the end of the world except that the following lesson was to be on free-motion quilting. :roll: :lol: The young lady is just experiencing what we all did and she too will learn to tell the difference between a good tool and a nonsense one; a good teacher and a rubbish one, eventually. When I first tried to make a quilt - back in the 80s, we didn't have cutting mats, rotary cutters and special rulers - I guess that's why I was so bad at it and didn't pursue it until I discovered those new-fangled gadgets. Boy, what would we do without our rotary cutters, rulers and cutting mats? I know, I know, on that desert island we would tear our fabric thus illiminating the need for the mat, ruler and cutter - but who would really be without those lovely neat edges nowadays? :lol:

[Rita C.]

I bought the gadgets too--when I first started quilting. Then I learned the skills needed to do the things the gadgets do and I am sorry to say--I don't know how to use many of the gadgets I bought. So I am there with you too. I teach quilting and I teach like they know nothing at all about how to use any tools. I then teach the correct ways to use rulers and rotary cutters(including showing the picture of Diane's cut finger to remind them not to play with the rotary cutter). After they learn the basics, I might show them other ways to do things and other tools to use but I don't make them think they have to have all this stuff to be able to quilt. Of course, this is easy to do since I am usually teaching a kid how to quilt.

[Diane F.]

My first quilting class was an expensive exercise in frustration. The shop assured me that the class was "beginner level." I later learned that there are a group of people who continually take classes as a social event. There are quilt shops that accommodate that market.

I had to go to a different quilt shop to get the basics that I needed. The gem of a shop will teach a BEGINNING series of classes and really teach the basics. Not all of us have sewing backgrounds and some shops forget that fact.

Diane Frank

[Diane F.]

Diane--you are soooo right. A friend of mine wanted to learn to quilt and she and her mom went to a local shop and found the same thing. They used words they didn't understand; told them to use tools they had never been taught...you get the idea. When adults ask me to teach them to quilt I tell them that I will but I am going to teach them like they don't know anything. That I am going to tell them how to do something and why I think it is important to do it that way and then I tell them after they learn the easy way to do things, I will tell them other ways they can do it. Or, if they don't understand something, I will show them a different way until they are successful. Now you all have me wanting to teach someone new how to quilt

[Marianne G.]

Thank you very much to everybody who has posted comments to my Tuesday rant!

Lotti, I too was lucky enough to have had my first sniff of patchwork at an early age (70ties) so have progressed from there once every decade. Every time I have come back so much have happened over the 10 years while I have been doing other things. I'm grateful not to be new to quilting these days just an eternal beginner because its a tool jungle out there

I wish you were closer to me Ritzy as I think our quilt group would greatly benefit from a “back to basics” class – I know I could. I have over the years attended several beginners classes and have come away with more questions than answers.

Rita, you touched a nerve with me because you are so right when you point out that some tools are really good and very helpful and others are just not up to the job they are advertised for. Funny you should mention tearing fabric, now I can't use rotary cutter and ruler very often I have taken to tear the fabric before cranking it through my die cutter (that is one tool I'm incredible thankful for – without it I would be back to template and scissors).

Cheryl, congratulations on winning with your Wedding Ring quilt, one I could only dream of tackling. I would have to splash out on a laser cut kit – oooh another gadget that has reared its head over the last few years :lol:

I am very focused when I go to a quilt shop these days, Susan, dangerous territory :!: and will set myself a budget for a show and go with a shopping list. Luckily I'm easily overwhelmed when I see a lot of fabric, thread or gadgets so often walk away not buying. You mention something else, somebody is going to inherit a lot of stuff one day. One of the ladies in my quilt group passed away recently and her husband had asked another group member to sell off her patchwork and quilting supplies to raise money for her funeral and other expenses. The tables set out for the sale certainly made us all very aware of how much we have at home and how many tools we have never even unpacked. The member being in charge of selling had made the rounds of several quilt groups in a wide area and the number of items and fabric/thread still left when she did another sale at ours at half price was heart breaking. Maybe that was part of why I got so hot under the collar Monday night.

As Lotti mentioned too, Diane, I think a shop that teach you the absolute basics like Ritzy does, are truly gems and if we've got one in our vicinity they are keepers and I'm happy to support one like that.

Susan asked what is our favourite gadget and I find that very easy, as you have probably guessed already: my die cutting machine – great gadget, would replace it if it broke.

Thanks again for all your comments. I've been away from the forum for over 4 months and it is great to dive back in again. Sorry it started out with a vent of frustration. I will pull up my bobby socks and move on to happier subjects :lol:

Marianne

[Marianne G.]

Whereas I am right peeved because my favourite 6"x18" ruler is now no longer true for cutting with . I was making some blocks for a swap and they were all coming up way too small to be acceptable for posting (but they might well end up in mug rugs :wink: ) The main gripe I have is that the company (June Tailor) no longer makes rulers with this particular set of markings on (heavy black lines for the inch, light black lines for the half inch, blue lines for the quarter inch and dotted red lines for the eighth - I really like having the eighths marked) because it is absolutely my favourite set of markings to work with, out of the various rulers I have.