First off what are curved safety pins. Curved pins are like regular safety pins but they’re curved for easier use and they’re a valuable addition to your sewing supplies. You use curved pins when you are basting quilts. The steel pins hold the quilt sandwich together so you can finish the quilt on your sewing machine or by hand, just make sure to remove the pins as you quilt. Safety pins are also good for many other craft projects. And I know that people used to fasten cloth diapers with safety pins.
To use the quilt basting pins take a curved pin and pin the fabric layers together. And continue pinning through the layers of fabric every 3 to 5 inches. There are also different sizes of safety pins you can use, but the smaller pins maybe harder to use with thicker materials. Also different types of safety pins like, traditional safety pins, heavy duty, bulb pins and button safety pins and more.
I love quilts, with all the different colors of cotton fabric you can use for the quilt top. There are different kinds of quilting projects you can make besides quilts. You can make quilted coasters, quilted place mats, quilted bookmarks and more. What makes quilts easy is if you use a fabric bundle like fat quarter bundles. If you’re making a quilt for the first time, I would recommend making a small quilt not a large quilt. Smaller quilts take less time and fabric than a larger quilt.
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Sewing supplies you may need to make a quilt
- Curved safety pins
- Rotary cutters
- Cutting mats
- Straight pins or quilting pins
- Sewing machine (unless you want to do it by hand)
- Extra sewing machine needles
- Scissors
- Marking pen
- Pin cushion
Now you may not need all this stuff to make a quilt. But, these things will make quilting much easier. And some of these things you should already have in your sewing box.
I will sometimes use quilting pins to hold my quilt blocks together as I sew them. But, a lot of the time I will just place the blocks right side together and stitch. Making sure to keep the edges lined up. You can use the pins with the glass heads or the ones with the handles for a better grip.
And the rotary cutters and mats are time savers went you cut up pieces for the quilt top. You can use different sizes of rotary cutters, but I like to use a 45mm. And I use the same one I just buy replacement blades on Amazon. I ordered these and they’re great, plus they’re cheaper than the name brand.
And the pin cushions are a good idea so it’s easier to grab a quilting safety pin already opened.
And you can use a marking pen to help you with hand applique or embroidery. For applique you can use invisible thread to hide the stitches.
You’ll also need batting, some fabric for the quilt backing, bias binding or you can make your own using a bias tape maker, and of course your finished quilt top.
Fabric for a quilt
It’s like any of your sewing projects, you can use all kinds of different fabrics for making a quilt. I love to use cotton fabric because it comes in all kinds of fun colors. I’ve actually been eyeing a jelly roll I would love to buy that’s called spring promise from Robert Kaufman. You also have to make sure you have the right amount of fabric for your quilt. A lot of the time I’ll buy the fabric for the quilt top and after I’ve finished it I’ll buy the rest of the stuff.
Besides cotton you can use denim, linens, and you could even use silk even though that would be a very expensive quilt. But, on the other end of the price line, you can use old clothes or sheets to make a quilt. And plush fabric would be the perfect backing for a quilt.
What’s better hand or machine quilting
This like so much of sewing or any other kind of crafts. It all boils down to personal preference. It is faster to stitch the layers of quilt with the sewing machine than to do it by hand. My first quilt I did everything by hand and it turned out great, even though I knew nothing about make a quilt. And I discovered the next time when I started another quilt that I like to do it on my sewing machine.
Here are three of the best curved safety pins.
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Pin #1 Dritz
These pins are a nickel-plated steel. These pins are a good size they’re about an 1 1/2″ long.
Pin #2 Assorted Sizes
Here is another dritz pack of safety pins. What I like about these is that there are variety of sizes, so if you don’t know what size you’ll like it give you an option of the different lengths.
Pin #3 Jumbo Pack
Here is a jumbo pack of curved safety pins. There is 300 pins in this pack, you may only have to buy one of these packs. But, with the others you will probably have to buy a couple packs.
I’m just go to show you 3 sets of pins, and I’m pretty sure that all these pins have a nickel-plated finish. They’re all dritz brand and a great value, but you can use any brand just make sure to read the reviews. Not all the reviews will be positive because not every body will like something. But as long as most of the reviews are good, the pins will probably be good quality. I know a lot of the time I don’t buy name brand stuff, and some of the off brand is actually better than the name brand.
Safety pins – size
Here are the sizes of safety pins
- Size 00
- Size 0
- Size 1
- Size 2
- Size 3
- Size 4
And the sizes in inches goes from 3/4″ to 3″. Size 00 is the smallest and size 4 is the longest.
