Monday, April 18, 2011

New Favorite Things

As I play with learning my new long arm machine, I find there are new problems and new solutions... no surprise.
CLEANING VELCRO
First is... How do you get that fuzz and thread etc off the velcro strips on the machine table. This tip came from Ron Paul, an exceptional long arm maintenance teacher. Off to the Pet Store for this one.... a dog grooming slicker brush ( contains wire brush combs extending a short distance from the handles base) cleans the velcro in a flash.

Thanks Ron
OUT WITH THE WRINKLES!!!
Another great tip came from Kelly Gallegher-Abbott on 'spraying" the wrinkles out of quilt backs ( or fronts) as opposed to ironing them. On a long arm, the backing gets pretty well stretched between rollers thus minimizing back wrinkles anyway, but Downy's wrinkle releaser is a great substitute for ironing out stubborn wrinkles. I generally lay the quilt backing etc over the rollers the day before I am going to quilt. This allows things to 'relax a little" so this is a great time to spray on a bit of Downy's wrinkle releaser wherever stubborn wrinkles are present. Rather than using it full strength, Kelly mixes about 1 TBSP of Downy wrinkle release liquid with water in a mid sized spray bottle. Sounds good to me.
If you look at the top half of the quilt top in the photo, you can see a soft remnant of a fold after spraying and the bottom half was not sprayed at all so you can see a stronger wrinkle. Hey, we can use all the help we can get, eh?

1 comment:

Kristi Willard said...

I love the dog brush tip! My velcro is so messy after 11 years, you can't tell what it is. I'm excited for all the fun you'll have with your machine. I hope to come to your retreat in Temecula someday (and stay with my mum down the street). Your work is beautiful!