Quilting can be an expensive hobby, but it doesn’t have to be. With a little ingenuity and the right resources, you can quilt without breaking the bank. In this blog, we will discuss ways to quilt on a dime so that you can make your dream quilts without resorting to selling off your first-born child (or at least without having to sell off your second-born child).
Set a Budget for Yourself
Before you even start purchasing materials for your quilt project, sit down and set a budget for yourself. Decide how much money you want to spend total, and then break that down into smaller amounts for each element of the project (fabric, batting, etc.). This will help keep your spending in check and make sure that you don’t go over your budget.
There are lots of ways to save money when it comes to buying fabric and supplies needed for quilting projects. Many online retailers offer discounts or free shipping on orders over a certain amount, while craft stores often run clearance sales in which fabrics or notions are marked down significantly. You should also keep an eye out for coupons or promotional codes when shopping online – many sites list these regularly so customers can save even more money on their purchases. Finally, there is nothing wrong with buying used items if they are still in good condition; just make sure they come from a reputable seller who stands by their products before buying anything second hand.
Reuse Old Clothes and Other Materials
Do you have some old cotton clothes sitting in the closet that haven’t been worn in years? Don’t throw them away – cut them up and use them as fabric for your quilting projects! If you don’t have any clothes lying around that are suitable for quilting, take a trip to your local thrift store – they often have old cotton clothes in good condition that cost just pennies per yard.
Don’t throw away old cotton sheets either. With a little bit of work, they can be turned into great quilts! If you don’t have any old materials lying around, visit your local thrift store – they often have old bedding that cost just pennies per yard. They may also have fabric pieces that someone has donated.
Look on Facebook Market Place or KIjiji – I have found some great deals there. Quilters selling fabric that they don’t want anymore. Fabric is the most expensive part of quilting, but without good quality fabric your quilt may not stand up for long. So better to look for other ways to make quilting less expensive.
A Visit to Your Local Library
Libraries are great places to find books and magazines about quilting that won’t cost you anything but a few cents in overdue fees (if you don’t return the book on time). You can also find lots of free tutorials, online if you know where to look. Sites such as YouTube and Pinterest offer plenty of helpful tips and tricks for budding quilters looking for help getting started. Plus, there are tons of blogs devoted entirely to quilting where experienced crafters share their knowledge with others.
Take a Look at your local Dollar stores for Quilting tools
Here are 26 different tips that I have collected for you, of things from the Dollar stores that can save you money on Quilting supplies.
1. A Pair of Scissors – Dollar stores carry a lot of different sizes from small scissors for clipping thread to large scissors for cutting fabric. As time goes on and you decide that this is a hobby you want to continue, then look at a better pair of scissors but for now – the dollar stores have you covered.
2. Gardening gloves – instead of quilting gloves. My Quilting gloves cost me $13.95 and the gardening gloves work just as well. Make sure they fit snuggly.
3. Clear cutting mats -Most Dollar Stores sell clear cutting mats. They are thin enough to cut and make your own templates or designs for applique.
4. A Roll of Painters tape – Painter’s tape is an invaluable tool for quilters. It is highly recommended for use in any project, from piecing together a quilt top to binding and edge finishing. Its low-tack adhesive allows it to be applied and removed without damaging delicate fabrics while providing the stability needed to ensure precise pieces are formed. Painter’s tape can be used to create a variety of quilting designs, including straight lines, curves, and angles. It is particularly useful when working with intricate piecing patterns or free-motion quilting.
The tape also makes it much easier to achieve perfect points in patchwork designs. It is ideal for marking quilting lines and creating perfect circles, squares, or triangles. Ultimately, painters tape makes it easier for quilters to create a beautiful piece that will last for years. (Watch this video to see how )
5.Lint Rollers – The standing joke for sewers is that you can always tell a sewer because of all the little pieces of threads attached to their clothing. Always good idea to have a Lint roller for both your clothing and your quilt. Those threads get everywhere.
6. Pot holder – works well as a ironing mat if you have one of those small irons. Just throw it in your case and it and your small iron are ready to go anywhere. You can also attach a few together to make an even bigger ironing mat.
7. Makeup brush – works great for cleaning dust and lint form your machine .
8.Tweezer’s – Can be used to hold small pieces of fabric together, or to pull threads tangled in your machine.
9. Pool Noddle’s – Can be used to roll your quilt on to it. Roll the top on one, the batting on another and the backing on the third one. Then slowly unroll them one at a time, bit by bit so that you can get top, batting and back all spread out smoothly and evenly with a lot less hassle. (Here is a video that explains this method)
10.Rubber Shelf Liners – Cut a piece slightly larger than you foot peddle of your sewing machine and place it on the floor with your peddle sitting on top of the liner. Now your peddle will not slip and slide away from you while sewing.
11. Glue Stick – use a glue stick to hold down pieces of fabric so that it stays in place. You need to make sure that the glue has totally dried before you start to sew or the glue could stick to your sewing machine presser foot.
12. Safety Pins -In number 9 the video showed the quilt being spray basted. Some quilters do not like to use spray basting so you can use safety pins instead. Flatten out the area and pin it, then roll it up and continue on the same way as in the video.
13. Binder Clips – This is a way to keeping all the piece of a block or all the finished blocks together without using straight pins or safety pins until you are able to get it sewed together into a quilt top. the added bonus is that with the binder clips you can hang the project up on a hook instead of just piling it up on your sewing table.
14. Hooks with a sticky backing – These are quilter’s lifesavers! They can be used to hang quilting tools on the wall or to the side of your sewing machine. Stick a hook to the side of your sewing machine and hang you scissors there for easy access.
15. Paper clips – Can be used to keep your rows or your block in order. Place the paper clip in the top corner of a row with the number of that row or the letter of the block. Some patterns use a ABC system for the blocks. eg. block C is sewed to block D, then sew those blocks to block E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNOXl1jvf5Y&list=PLOyBpgg5noRUVtBNC-ArpcdfSVGEA2_-t&index=1
16. Shower Caddy’s – the caddy’s that hang from your shower head are great the hang on the wall and use for storing thread, small rulers, scissors. Get creative and use it to store anything that you need close by but not on your desk or table. A lot of times as crafters we forget about the vertical empty space that we have vs cupboards, draws, desk tops, and tables. I took two metal shower caddies and zip tied them back to back for my thread.
17. Shower basket – These are great storage for those things we do need to keep on our desk or table.
18. Clear glass jars – Glass jars are great for pins, buttons, wonder clips…….and it has a lid to help spilling the contents.
19 .Small tool cases – These little cases can be stacked one on top of the other to minimize space. They are great for storing bobbins -empty or one with thread on them. you can store buttons, beads, elastic bands, push pins….all kinds of small items that you may use.
20. Metal napkin holders – Zip tie two napkin holder together and get some command hooks that have the metal hooks on them. Place the command hooks on the wall to hold the metal napkin holder and you now have a place to store your quilting rulers
21. Storage boxes with lids – Most dollar stores have boxes with lids in all sizes. they are great for storing scrap fabric, or other supplies and you can stack then and put labels on them.
22. Zip lock bags – great for keeping all those piece that you cut to make up a block or to keep the blocks altogether until you can sew it into your quilt. Cam also be used to store scrap fabric. Great for sorting out all your different coloured scraps.
23 .Small hair elastics – Place them around your bobbins so that the threads to not get unravelled or tangled up with other thread bobbins.
24 .Table clothes – Get a table cloth from the dollar store – plastic on one side flannel on the other side. Now hang this on your wall and you now have a design wall ( flannel facing you, plastic against the wall. Quilt block will stick to the flannel so you can see how your pattern lays together. A flannel baby blanket will work the same way ….just a smaller area to work with.
25 .Freezer paper and parchment paper – Used for tracing a design or foundation paper.
26. Pant hangers – Pant hangers are a great way to keep all your blocks and quilts together and not wrinkled up from sitting in a drawer or in a pile on your drawer
