Quilting Tool Set Essentials and Care

 

As you spend more time quilting, building your confidence and gaining a better understanding of your workspace and how you operate, you can invest in other tools, such as smaller and larger rotary cutters, speciality rulers, rotating cutting mats and many more. But for the meantime, here are the essential quilting tools you’ll need to get started, why and a few care tips:

1. Rotary cutter: designed to accurately and quickly cut and trim multiple (sometimes 100s of) pieces of fabric for a quilting project. Rotary cutters come in various sizes, but the gold standard size is 45mm. This is the perfect size to make all of your basic quilting cuts and trims.

In the photo below are three different rotary cutter sizes. From top to bottom is 65mm, 45mm and 28mm.

 

2. Spare rotary cutter blades: keeping your rotary cutter sharp is important. You don’t want a dull rotary cutter blade to slow down the cutting and trimming process. And you will know when your rotary cutter blade is due for a replacement when you run the rotary cutter at the same place, more than once to make a clean cut. Imagine having to run your rotary cutter more than once, on the same part of the fabric… That’s comparable to cutting fabrics for at least two quilts! Think about all that time, energy and effort.

A good rule of thumb is to replace the blade every two to three projects. With a sharp blade, you should be able to cut through six to eight layers of quilting cotton fabric at once.

Care tip: When discarding your old rotary cutter blades, wrap it up in some paper or place it in a container or bag and safely discard, and keep any spare blades in its packaging if not in use.

 

3. Fabric scissors: In addition to the rotary cutter, owning a pair of scissors are convenient for making quick snips without compromising the crisp, fresh cuts you’ve made with your rotary cutter. They’re also convenient to have at your side if you need to trim any loose threads.

Care tip: Ensure that at least one pair of scissors are assigned for fabric and thread only. By introducing it to paper or other types of materials the fabric scissors it would become blunt over time. It’s probably worthwhile investing in a pair of scissors with handles that look different or stand out in comparison to the other scissors in your collection to quickly and easily identify which pair is for fabric and threads and other materials.

 

 4. Quilting rulers: Quilting rulers have many purposes throughout the quilting process such as measuring, cutting, marking guidelines on fabrics and many more. And with that, comes with several sizes and types for accuracy and efficiency. But when you’re starting off, I suggest investing in the following sizes:

• 6in x 24in: With this ruler length, you can cut strips that are as long as the width of the fabric (folded), prepare and trim larger pieces, and square up your quilt sandwiches. If you can only invest in one ruler, this is the one I highly recommend.
• 12½in x 12½in: Cutting squares and rectangles is a common occurrence in quilting, so it just makes sense to invest in a large ruler for all squares and rectangles, big and small.
• 6½in x 6½in: A smaller ruler is perfect for cutting and trimming smaller pieces. The smaller surface area of the ruler allows you to apply more pressure and have control and accuracy over your cuts, in particular cuts that require smaller measurements because you’re not held down by the weight and bulk of larger rulers, i.e., 6in x 24in ruler.
   
  
  

By the end of the day, different ruler sizes come down to personal preferences. As you develop your skills, explore new techniques, you may consider other specialty rulers or notions to help speed up and/or increase accuracy of the cutting and trimming process. For example, you may consider investing in a ruler connector to extend your cutting ability by bridging and holding together two quilting rulers for longer and accurate cuts; or a fabric circle cutter to help you cut clean, consistent rounded edges.

Care tip: Store rulers at a safe place to prevent it from warping, snapping or chipping. For example, slide it in a magazine rack or holder, hang it on a pegboard. Damage to the ruler can lead to inaccurate cutting, which means inaccurate piecing.
 

 

 5. Measuring tape or tape measure: This comes in handy to take measurements that are beyond the size of your quilting ruler such as the length of your quilt project. 

Care tip: Keep measuring tape or tape measure rolled up when not in use to ensure the tape doesn’t get damaged or tangled up.

 

6. Cutting mat: A cutting mat offers protection against ruining your work surface and prevents your fabric and ruler from slipping and sliding when cutting and trimming.

Just like quilting rulers, cutting mats come in various sizes. If you are looking at purchasing your first cutting mat for quilting, be sure to invest in one where there is enough overhang to cover the width of the fabric. The standard width of quilting fabrics is 42in, and it generally comes folded in half. Therefore, you’ll need a cutting mat where at least one of the edges are 21in in length, i.e. 24in x 36in.  

Care tip: Always store your cutting mat flat and away from direct sunlight and heat to prevent warping. Personally, I have damaged and replaced a couple of cutting mats by pressing my seams on top of it with a wool pressing mat and iron. Oops!  

 Avoid consistently cutting on the same place on your mat. This may create grooves and dents in the mat that may leave to less accurate cutting and dulling your rotary cutter blade.

Finally, try keep the mat clean and restrict its use strictly for fabrics. You don’t want your other craft projects to get stuck on your quilting project! To remove any fabric fibres, fuzz and lint on the cutting mat, use a light detergent and a soft, damp cloth, and move it in a circular motion until its clean.

 

 7. Pins: Used to temporarily position fabrics in place and stop it from shifting when you put them through the sewing machine. Use good-quality fine pins for quilting. Big, bulky pins can puncture and damage your project and make it more difficult to align your seams, compromising accurate piecing.

 

8. Seam ripper: We’re all not perfect, and sometimes we make accidents or our seams just don’t seem to align. A seam ripper makes the perfect companion to make those corrections. 

Care tip: Keep the cap on the seam ripper when not in use to prevent the metal head from bending or getting damaged, and just for your own safety.

 

9. Sewing machine needles: Dull sewing needle on the machine can damage our fabric and cause bad tension, puckering and skipped stitches. It’s also not great for the health of your machine long-term, as it would need to work twice as hard. The extra needles are also going to come in handy if the one on your machine happens to bend or snap while you’re sewing.

Care tip: Ideally, you would like to change the needle with every new project and carefully dispose of the old or damaged needle by wrapping it in some paper or putting it in a container or bag.

 

10. Thread: It’s what will hold your projects together for the years to come. Therefore, choosing highly quality thread is important. You can’t go wrong with 50-weight cotton thread from the start to finish of a quilt project. For piecing, you can use a finer thread weight as low as 80-weight. This yields visibly flatter seams and makes it easier to match your seams.

Care tip: Storing through tangle threads can be a nightmare. There are many creative and aesthetic ways in keeping them organised and detangled such as thread racks, storage cases and boxes, glass jars and many more. I keep mine in a drawer organiser by colour.

 

11. Iron and ironing board: An iron along with the ironing board is key to smoothing out any creases in the fabric before cutting, sewing or quilting, and to press your seams to achieve accurate and precise piecing.

Care tip: After use, unplug the iron, empty out any water in the iron, set it in a safe place for it to cool and store in an upright position. If you need to remove any fabric fibres, lint or dirt from the soleplate, use a light detergent and a soft, damp cloth.

 

 12. Fabric markers: These are available in various forms such as, pens, chalk and pencils, as well as colour. It is always a good idea to test your fabric markers on a scrap piece of fabric from the project you’re working on to see how visible the marks appear and if they easily come off. You may want to invest in different coloured markers depending on the colour of the materials you’re working on.

 

13. Hera marker or dull knife: A useful tool to have in the quilter’s essential tool box. A hera marker is a piece of hard plastic with a thin edge and rounded top. It is designed to create creased guidelines without leaving any permanent marks or residue like a marking pen could.

Alternatively, you could use a dull knife but make sure that they do not have a serrated edge, like a butter knife. The jagged edges of the knife can puncture or damage your project.

Whether you are about to embark your journey, new to quilting or a seasoned quilter, I hope this blog post brings you confidence and answers any questions when it comes to building your quilting tool kit and caring for their longevity.

 

This blog post is written by a Fiskars brand ambassador and sponsored by Fiskars. This post contains affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, if you use these links to buy something, I may receive a commission.