Can't Live Without it- part 9

So, it has been a few days. Life simply gets busy and fun. Wait until you see my next project post. I finally got pictures of a project that I worked on for a couple years. I am just waiting for one more picture to be emailed to me and I can post it :)

So this is going to be a quick post. I have posted this toy before, but I thought that I would post it again in this series. Seriously I could not live without it. When making binding I really like to have it pressed like the double fold binding you can buy at the store. Ironing each side of the fabric takes forever, esp. when you are making small binding for children's clothes or doll clothes. So I bought these to help:

They are called bias tape makers. All you do is put the fabric through the tool and iron. As you iron you pull the fabric through. It sometimes get a little stuck at the seams of your binding, but it takes like maybe 3 minutes to iron a binding for a large quilt. Here is what it looks like when it is done.I have done everything from thick canvas home decor fabric to levi's to thin cotton fabric in this tool. While the heavier fabrics take slightly more time they work just fine. If you are going to be making your own binding this is the greatest way to go: it is cheaper than buying it, it takes very little time and the tool is very cheap for a onetime cost. Here is a link to search of the bias tape makers on JoAnn's website. I waited and bought mine on a notions sale when everything was 30% off. I use a clover bias tape maker, but I know that their are several brands online to choose from.

So give it a try the next time that you need a binding. Just follow the instructions included in the packaging for cutting widths for the heaviness of your fabrics and off you go.

Hope that you enjoyed.

Can't live without it- part 8

So anyone that sews will tell you that the following item is a necessity in a sewing room.

Yep, I love my iron. When i first got married I was using my husbands extremely small iron that I had to fill up with water like every half hour. It smelled and it never turned off without being unplugged. I can't tell you the number of times that I went home to unplug it when I left the house. On top of that, I had my parents old ironing board that didn't stand up straight. How annoying. So, at a sale at Bed, Bath and Beyond one day I bought a small travel ironing board for $2. I am all about nice but as cheap as I can find and that was the perfect price. I thought that maybe I could just use a small table top ironing board for a while and it would work and I wouldn't have to replace my ironing board.

Oh, I was soooooooooooo wrong. It is just toooooo small. It is great when I am piecing something small and just don't want to get up to iron. However, for my big quilts, it sucks. So one day I just broke down and went to Walmart to buy a new iron and ironing board.

I decided that if I was spending money on an iron that I would buy something reasonable but with the features I wanted. I wanted something that I could press the steam button to get some extra steam, a good sprayer so I didn't need a spray bottle with me anymore, an iron that had the safety feature of turning itself off, and a retractable cord. So this is what I chose. I don't remember spending more than $30 for it, but I don't remember the exact price. Everyone just needs a good iron that can either steam or iron dry...and if you are going to take it anywhere with you, a retractable cord is soooooo nice.

I now take my iron everywhere with me. I really can't handle using a basic regular iron anymore without my extra steam press. And seriously why would you own an iron without an automatic shut off. So much safer, you don't have to remember to turn off the iron everytime you run out of the room and it doesn't sit there completely hot the entire time that you are sewing.

Now I have to quickly tell you why I no longer have a large ironing board and am waiting to buy a new one. The day I bought my iron I bought an awesome ironing board and then posted about it. I was sooooo excited to have one that didn't rock everytime i touched it. Well, somewhere in our last move the latch that helps it collapse fell out! Russ who is very handy with fixing things, could not get it to go down again. So, much to my mother's frustration it is sitting out on our patio holding all my wood for my wood crafts. I really can't wait until I can reasonably afford a new one. I am going to buy a nice cover for this one too, one that can withstand really high temperatures so it doesn't warp the board when I am ironing for a while, or burn. The cover on my table top board smell each time that I iron. I hate that.
Well, hope that you enjoyed my ramblings.
Amalie