I mentioned the other day that I’ve learned a few little tricks while sewing in volume for a wholesale order of my nautical flag banners. Some of these are completely no-brainers, and others maybe will save you some frustration if you find yourself sewing a lot of something like for a craft show or other event.
1. Work in batches. I know, not rocket science but there’s the whole economy of scale aspect where you aren’t moving one item through the whole process. But, we’re human so I would say work in manageable chunks or batches so you don’t end up going insane doing one thing over and over and over and… I’ve been doing 10 banners at a time, or 40 flags, and that seems about right. Plus, then you’re not trying to find space for 400 of something, and you’re not wrecking your back cutting for hours on end.
2. Cheat. This one I may have learned the hard way. By putting a couple of pieces of tape on my quilting ruler, I don’t have to remember that I’m cutting 3.8″ x 11″. I don’t like my seam ripper any more than any of you, so I’ll take some tape on my ruler.
3. Take thinking out of it. I needed to start and stop with enough space to get my hand in for turning, so I put more tape on my sewing machine to remind me where to start.
4. Wind an extra bobbin. Every time I switched thread colors, I would wind a second bobbin so I didn’t have to rethread my machine when the first ran out. Now I finally understand why there could be a market for those sidewinder thingies. Still not enough of an incentive for me to get one, but I get it.
Sort of along with this tip is to finish all the pieces of one thread color before switching to the next.
5. Cut corners. I had one piece that needed to be 5.5″ x 5.5″. Hello, new 5.5″ x 5.5″ quilting square. I’m still cutting strips 5.5″ wide and then using this baby to cut them down to squares, but it saved me a little more time.
6. Press. This is another one that goes without saying, but pressing makes such a huge difference in the quality of a finished product. I press before and during cutting, and again after turning. If you’re sewing a project with seams, you should press each seam as you go.
7. Do what works for you. I sometimes shuffle tasks a little if I’ve been sewing or cutting for too long, so I can sit on the sofa and watch a program while turning and pushing corners. I’ll set little goals and if I’m starting to go batty sewing I’ll step away or do a different task for a while. Like writing a post for my poor neglected blog. Now back to the grind!
Do you have any tips you’ve learned for sewing large quantities or a big project?
Thanks for the tips. I particularly like the tape ideas as I wouldn’t have thought of that. Good for you for taking on such a huge project. Hope it goes well (and quickly).