The Quilting Tools I’d Buy Again Without Complaining (Much)

It starts innocently enough.  You walk into your local quilt shop because you “just need one thing”.

an hour and a half later, you walk out with 10 fat quarters that you have zero plans for (because they were on sale if you bought 10), a notion you’ve never seen before, and a ruler someone swore would ensure the straightest cuts and sharpest points.

Welcome to Quilting.

If you’ve been sewing for more than five minutes, you’ve already figured out that the quilt or pillow or clothing you make is only half of the hobby.  The other half is convincing yourself that you absolutely, positively need one more gadget

Sometimes, you do!

Sometimes… you absolutely do not.

Since I’ve already spent my money making some discoveries, I figured I’d save you a little trial and error.

**Full Disclosure (Because transparency)

Some of the links below are affiliate links.  That means that if you buy something using one of them, I may earn enough money to fund 1/3 of my next spool of thread. Will I be offended  if you purchase the EXACT SAME THING somewhere else? Nope.  You do you boo. 

Every opinion below is my own.  Nobody paid me to say nice things about these products.  And everything I promote on my blog was paid for with real American dollars earned at my very glamourous day-job.  Someday maybe companies will send me free quilting goodies, but today is not that day. **

The Stuff I use Every Time I Sew

Thread Matters

Beore I started quilting, I honestly thought thread was thread. 

Cute, right?

Turns out there are threads that sew like butter and threads that shed like Sadie in the Texas heat.

I also have exactly zero interest in changing thread colors every time I switch fabrics while piecing.  Those seams are hidden.

Aurifil 2600 Dove Grey and I have an understanding.

If that offends you….

Feel free to explain yourself in the comments.

The BEST Ruler – For me

Quilting rulers have their own market.  They come in all shapes, sizes, and even colors.  When I started my quilting journey, I bought several sizes of rulers from my local big box store.  They did the job, measured fabric and helped me cut straight.  But over time, I started investing in more high end rulers.  Here’s the thing – everyone can have their own favorite.  For my experience, here are the brands I tried and what I found:

• Omnigrid/Omnigrip 

These were my starter rulers.  Kind of like your first apartment.

Did it get the job done? Sure.

Would I ever go back?

Probably not.

• Quilter’s Select

People LOVE these.

I WANTED to love these.

I coveted them for months.

I finally caved and bought one…. and was left more disappointed than when I realized I’d sewn the whole row with an empty bobbin.

If these rulers were any grippier, they’d ask you to define the relationship.

• Creative Grids

This is it.

My ride-or-die.

If my sewing room caught fire, (once the dogs were safely outside, cause Hubby is a grown man who can fend for himself) this ruler would be on the short list of things I’d grab.

I own two.

Not because one wore out.

Because I refuse to waste time wondering where I left it.

Even though they make a jillion sizes, I reach only for the 6 1/2 x 12 1/2 rectangle. 

You DO have to be careful when purchasing these because there are a number of knock-offs and you definitely want the real deal.  Be sure you look for the Creative Grids branding, or buy from their official store.

To Pin or Not to Pin

I know I know… you’re supposed to pin.  Sometimes I do! (Gold star for me) Sometimes I prefer to choose chaos.  But when I do pin, these Hiroshima Pins are worth every penny.

They glide through the fabric with ease and have never gotten caught on the weave.  They are thin and pointy and long enough that I can ease them away from my needle without completely losing the alignment of that pesky seam… which was the ENTIRE purpose of pinning in the first place.

The Magic of Clips

When I just need to hold things together, pins may not be the answer.  Enter Magic Clips. Basically tiny clips for people with trust issues.

Again, many brands and designs out there, but these Magic Clips – the Taylor Seville Originals are utter perfection. 

Diagon-ally

Most machines come with markings for where your center is and even have a ruler in place to show you the inches and 1/4 inches from center… cool cool cool.  I’m of a certain age where those markings frustrate me but this Diagonal Seam Tape is fabulous for lining up your blocks without having to measure again. 

This stuff literally falls in the “Where have you been all my life” category.

It’s basically painter’s tape with a purpose and somehow that purpose has made my flying geese and half-square triangles significantly less…. abstract.

The Stuff that Makes Life Easier

Clean Your Machine

Every Expert says you should clean your machine every time you change your bobbin. 

And I fully support that advice…

… in theory.

Reality usually looks more like ” huh… I wonder why my machine sounds like chewing gravel and my thread cutter isn’t working right.”

You NEVER use canned air on a sewing machine because it can blow all of those little particles back into the machine and really mess things up.  A fluffy makeup brush works wonders to grab lint you can see, but I found these little Micro Brushes are perfect for getting into the nooks and crannies of the feed dogs or under the bobbin carriage to grab all the lint.

So what if they were designed for lash application?  They work perfectly.

I’m on a Roll

Apparently I have two hobbies.

1. Making Quilts
2. Dramatically overestimating how much binding I’ll need. 

Even with the online calculators.  Math is hard y’all.

I don’t want to just toss the left overs into my scrap bin, because I ALREADY MADE BINDING, but I found these spools to keep my spare binding neat and organized.  Next time I make a truly scrappy quilt, I can just combine them all into a scrappy binding! 

Now, if you get these, you will likely see that they are frequently returned.  However for MY needs?  They have been perfect.  I’m not using these ON my machine, so the center hole doesn’t need to fit my spindle.  Other reasons for returns are that the size is smaller/larger than expected and they are cheaply made – but I also got them for a super cheap price so I’m not at all disappointed.

Keeping everything in reach

You’re sitting down to sew and have already pinned everything… but you never sew OVER your pins, so what do you do with them?  Especially if you have pets/children and a stray pin could cause harm to little (or big) feet… they DO make magnetic bowls, and you could use a pin cushion, but I found this magnetic knife strip that was the perfect size for my machine and not only do I throw my pins on it, it also holds my thread snips right where I need it.

Yes, someone on the internet will tell you magnets will destroy your sewing machine.

Mine has survived JUST fine thankyouverymuch.

Use your own judgement. 

I’m just over here always knowing where my snips are.

But what about fabric?

Fabric is a whole ‘nother rabbit hole. 

(Ask me how I walked into Joann’s (RIP – you are still sorely missed) for thread and somehow left with 6 yards of fabric I definitely didn’t need but absolutely deserved and someday might actually use.)

That’s a story for another day.

🧵 If I Had to Start Over…

If my sewing room disappeared tomorrow and I had to start over, these are the first things I’d buy again.

Well… After replacing the fabric.

Priorities.

Now tell me… What’s the one tool you bought thinking,

“This is probably a gimmick…”

…that you now can’t imagine quilting without?