Please join me in welcoming today’s guest blogger, Melissa Stramel of Lilac Lane. She’s sharing some sewing and quilting tips with us. Be sure to also check out her basics of quilting series; it’s fantastic. Readers can also save 30% off Melissa’s patterns using the coupon code below.

Hi everyone! Thanks so much to Michele for inviting me to share with you all today.

Over at Lilac Lane, we’ve been spending the last couple of months learning the VERY BASICS of quilting. If you’d like to check that out, it’s there for all time, or until Blogger breaks down. haha Anyway, it goes through step-by-step everything you need to know to quilt. Everything from supplies to choosing colors and patterns and sewing.

As a pattern designer, I want everyone to learn how to sew! But not just so you can buy my patterns. I think there is such a sense of accomplishment when you create something yourself.

I thought today I would give you some tips that will help beginning sewists, but might also be new to more advanced seamstresses.

Irons

The iron is your very best friend in sewing. Until I figured that out, my projects were pretty cruddy. If you think about it, the iron flattens wrinkled fabric, turns back seam allowances, sets seams and does a myriad of other things.

Tips:

• Never iron with your iron. No, we want to press, a simple up and down motion. Ironing — moving the iron from side to side — can stretch your fabric.
• Use a lot of steam. Some will disagree, but I LOVE steam. It’s the easiest way to get rid of wrinkles. I love how it sets seams.
• Sewing is full of gunky adhesives, fusible interfacings, wonder under, etc. All of these things can really gunk up your iron. And that stuff can get transferred to your fabric. Take a dryer sheet and rub it on the plate of your iron while the iron is hot (I use an oven mitt) to remove all that gunk. It works like a charm. Just make sure to remove the greasy stuff before using it on your fabric again. I rub the iron on a scrap of fabric and then you’re ready to go!

Knits

I love knits. To me, they are the easiest fabric to make garments from. After all, you can usually skip the buttons, zipper and finishing seams. But there are a few tips to keep in mind.

Tips:

• Prewash! Knits shrink A LOT the first time you wash them. Wash exactly as you intend to wash the finished garment.
• Use a ball-point needle. They’re available everywhere and won’t snag your knits.
• I sew with a long, thin zigzag. Just enough so that you can barely tell it’s a zigzag. This allows the knits to stretch.
• While we’re talking about stretch, don’t forget to use polyester thread!

Cutting

Rotary cutters and rulers are such time savers for a quilter and for a garment maker. We’d be lost without them. If you’re new to quilting, you can get by with a good 6″ x 24″ ruler.

Tips:

• Keep your blade sharp. The duller the blade, the harder you have to push, which can lead to nasty accidents.
• Line your body up with your cutting table. It helps to put your cutting mat on a corner. Then you can always cut “straight on”.
• Keep firm pressure on the ruler with your left (right if you’re left-handed) hand. Try to focus the pressure downward so the ruler won’t slip.
• While we’re talking about slipping, always cover the fabric piece you are cutting with the ruler. If you do slip, you won’t ruin your good piece, just a bit of the extra — and it will be fixable!

My Number One Tip for Quilters:

Invest in a quarter inch foot with a guide along the side! These are usually fairly inexpensive and will make a world of difference in your quilting. After all, in quilting, size does matter. Of the seams that is!

And if you made it this far, I’m happy to offer Quilting Gallery readers a coupon for 30% off my patterns with the code QUILTINGGALLERY. Just visit my store at melissastramel.com. Coupon is valid for one month (until Feb. 19th 2012).

Love,

xoxo

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Please join me in welcoming today’s guest blogger, Linzee Kull McCray, as she shares with us some tips on writing for publication and also many gorgeous photos that she’s had published.

Linzee Kull McCray, writer & editor

Hi! I’m Linzee Kull McCray and I’m so pleased to have a chance to visit with you. Like you, I love fabric (and yarn, and textiles of all kinds). And perhaps like you, I thought that the opportunity to write about those topics would be a dream come true.

Writing has brought me joy since I was a young, when I loved to pen fanciful stories (my mom still has one I wrote when I was seven called "Stan the Man"). I also loved to read, and so I studied English in college. But while fiction was my reading material of choice, I found that I most enjoyed writing about the people I encountered in everyday life, particularly those who are passionate about what they do.

Quilt with 561 squares/134 different prints for Etsy and Quilt Country

As it does, life kept me busy—I worked at numerous jobs including childbirth educator, gardener, bookstore clerk, child life specialist, and more, and with my husband raised two daughters. But the urge to write was strong. By the time I returned to graduate school to study writing formally, I was the same age as most of my professors and old enough to be the mother of many of my classmates.

Crochet & tatting story for Etsy

After graduation, I landed a job as the editor of the faculty and staff newspaper at the University of Iowa. I loved that it connected me to fascinating people who were obsessed with their work—my favorite kind of folks. Along the way a colleague taught me to quilt—I’d sewn for years, but never attempted a quilt—and I was hooked. That’s when the idea of writing for a quilt magazine took hold. I was fortunate to have a contact in the publishing world and sent her a query. As luck would have it, she was looking for a freelancer and sent me my first assignment: a profile of Amy Butler for the Summer 2006 Quilts and More magazine.

Melanie McFarland at retreat for Quilt Country column

Over the years, my business grew and I’m now a fulltime freelance writer and editor. I am a regular contributor to Etsy’s blog, Moda’s catalogs and blog The Cutting Table, and have a bi-monthly column in the French quilting magazine Quilt Country. I write regularly for Stitch magazine, Quilt Sampler, the French publication Magic Patch, and have written dozens of articles for American Patchwork and Quilting and Quilts and More. I’ve beefed up my skills as a photographer and take photos to accompany many of my stories. And I’ve taught magazine writing to journalism students at the University of Iowa.

Mary Lou Weidman retreat for Quilt Country column

If you’re interested in writing for publication, here are a few tips to help you get started.

1. Read! While you may not be striving to write for The New Yorker or the Los Angeles Times, you can learn a lot about putting together words effectively by reading top-quality writing. When you come across something profound (or funny or moving) in a novel, an essay, or even on a blog, stop and consider what the writer does that grabs your attention. Exposing yourself to good writing helps you shape your own.


Crocheted doily for Etsy story

2. Practice! Writing is sometimes compared to a muscle, and it’s true that the more you do it, the stronger you become. If you find yourself freezing up at the keyboard (or with pen and paper in hand), start small. Write a description of what’s on your desk or what the person across the room at a coffee shop is wearing. Write a bit every day—set a timer and write for 15 minutes or write 400 words—the topic doesn’t matter. Don’t overwhelm yourself by deciding to write the Great American Novel (or even a piece that you’re sure will be published) your first time out—it’s a sure road to discouragement. Even blogging once or twice a week provides writing practice (and you might even get comments from readers, which will inspire you to keep writing).


Younger women quilting story for Quilt Country column

3. Volunteer! While many writers say you should never write for free because it denigrates the value of paid writing, I think it’s a perfect way for a new writer to get what journalists call "clips". Clips are published articles that you can show to an editor you want to hire you, as evidence of your writing prowess. If you’re interested in writing about quilts, volunteer to write member profiles or book reviews for your guild newsletter. Write stories for your community paper about an upcoming quilt show. Blogging can show an editor you’ve got stick-to-itiveness—write a series of posts on your favorite quilt blocks or fabric designers.


Thimble holder for Etsy crochet & tatting story

4. Be yourself! This is one of the hardest lessons to learn. It took me a long time, but I’ve learned that if something interests me, there’s a pretty good chance someone else will be interested in it too. Trust your instincts when it comes to the topics you choose to write about for your blog. And this brings me to what I think is as important as good writing.


Sock creatures from my friend Todd's collection for Etsy story

5. Be curious! Ideas are a writer’s currency. Once you’ve worked for an editor, he or she will call you with stories they want you to cover. But until then, you need to snag them with fantastic ideas. Those many jobs I had before settling into my journalism career supplied me with lots of story ideas. So does staying abreast of current events, traveling, and simply taking an interest in people around me. Have a neighbor who is making a quilt in the shape of every state of the Union? Know some young women creating new quilts from recycled fabrics? Have a work colleague who teaches women in a shelter to crochet? When formulating ideas for stories, take advantage of the world and people you encounter everyday.

Michael Zahs with feed sack quilt for Etsy and Quilt Country stories

Writing can be a satisfying way to explore a favorite topic more deeply, as well as to share that fascination with others. If you’re just starting out, don’t give up your day job—I freelanced on the side for five years before I felt I had enough regular clients to give it a shot fulltime. But I haven’t been sorry. My only real complaint? I spend so much time writing about textiles and crafts that I rarely have time to sew myself!

Memory quilt (detail) by Janann Schiele for Quilt Country story

For more from Linzee on writing, sewing, and more, visit her blog.

Do you have an interest in writing about quilting? What kinds of quilting- and sewing-related stories do you like to read?