You’ll need several tools to perform the four basic quilting tasks: cutting, measuring, marking, and sewing. If you sew often, you probably have many of these tools on hand already.
Table of Contents
Cutting Tools
- Rotary cutter: Unlike scissors, this wheel blade cuts in one fluid motion. A large rotary cutter is ideal for simultaneously cutting multiple layers of fabric into consistent shapes, while a smaller one is better suited to trimming fabric or cutting curves. Always place a protective cutting mat beneath the fabric when using a rotary cutter. For ease of use, the mat should be at least 22″ wide.
- Fabric shears: These sharp, heavy-duty scissors have a bent handle that allows enough clearance for the fabric to lie flat as you cut it
- Sewing scissors: These are smaller than fabric shears and used for cutting threads, trimming fabric, and completing other small quilting tasks. The blades measure about 6″ long
- Seam ripper: This blade with a forked tip is used for removing stitches and cutting individual threads
Measuring Tools
- Clear acrylic ruler: Because this ruler is transparent, it lets you view the fabric as you measure and mark it.
- Rotary cutting ruler: Also made from clear acrylic, this ruler is used to help measure and cut multiple layers of fabric. Rotary cutting rulers are wider and longer than normal rulers; 6″ × 24″ is standard. The best of these rulers mark 1/8″ increments and provide angle measures of 30°, 45°, and 60°.
- Triangle ruler: Place this clear, acrylic ruler against a straight edge to mark and cut fabric at an angle.
- Sewing gauge: This ruler with a sliding tab is handy for measuring and marking seam allowances (the distance between the seam and the edge of the fabric)
Marking Tools
You’ll need to mark your fabric in order to cut and assemble it accurately. You can choose from a number of marking tools, each of which has its advantages:
- Chalk: Use chalk to make temporary marks on fabric; you can brush it off most fabrics easily.
- Pencil: Though you can’t remove it as easily as chalk, pencil can be more precise when marking placement of pieces, such as for appliqué.
- Water-soluble ink: Markers with water-soluble ink create vivid markings that you can remove easily by dabbing the marked fabric with water.
Always check a fabric’s care instructions to see whether it can take marking tools.
Sewing Tools
Sewing tools include needles, pins, and sewing machines.
Hand-Sewing Needles for Quilting
You need three types of hand-sewing needles for quilting:
- Sharps: Used for piecing, sharps have a sharp point, small, round eyes, and a length of about 1″ to 1 1/4″. Sizes 5 and 6 are generally good for quilting
- Betweens: Also called quilting needles, these short, thick needles are used to make the tiny stitches necessary for hand quilting. Size 10 or 11 betweens are suitable for most quilting needs
- Milliner’s: Used for basting the quilt, these extra-long needles have a sharp point and an eye that’s the same width as the needle. Sizes 5–9 are generally good for basting quilts
All needles, no matter what type, should be rustproof and made from brass or steel (either nickel-plated or stainless) so that they won’t damage or stain the fabric.
Machine Needles for Quilting
For machine piecing, standard machine sewing needles work fine. For quilting with a sewing machine, it’s best to use machine quilting needles, which have a strong shaft and sharp point. It’s a good idea to keep a number of extra needles around, as machine needles break fairly often.
The size of the quilting needle you should use depends on the intricacy of your stitching and the thickness of your quilt sandwich. Needles sized 70/10 and 80/12 are best for intricate work or with quilt layers that are thinner than 1″, while 90/14 is a better size for quilt layers 1″ thick or more.
Pins
Quilters regularly use straight pins, quilting pins, and curved safety pins for a number of quilting tasks, including securing fabric in place before stitching.
- Straight pins: Slightly longer than 1″ and slim enough to slip easily through most thin fabrics, straight pins are used to secure single pieces of fabric when piecing or performing other general sewing tasks.
- Quilting pins: At 1 3/4″, quilting pins are longer than regular straight pins. Quilting pins are used to secure thicker fabric sandwiches or heavier-duty fabric.
- Curved safety pins: Measuring 1–1 1/2″ long, curved safety pins are used to baste quilting projects (anchor them in place before machine sewing). The curve prevents the fabric from rippling around the puncture points.
Sewing Machine
Using a sewing machine makes the quilting process much faster and less laborious. Make sure your sewing machine has an open-toed presser foot. The two “toes” of an open-toed presser foot are 1/4″ apart. By lining up the outside edge of either “toe” with the edge of the fabric you’re stitching, you can create perfect 1/4″ seam allowances, which is the standard quilting seam allowance.
It’s helpful (but not essential) for your sewing machine also to have a walking, or even-feed, presser foot, which grips all three quilt layers during quilting, as well as a darning foot, which helps you maneuver tight or intricate turns.
Additional Quilting Tools
- Thimble: For hand-quilting, wear a thimble on the index finger of the hand holding the needle. This makes it easier and safer for you to maneuver the needle through the quilt layers.
- Iron and ironing board: Use an iron and ironing board to remove wrinkles and folds from fabric before measuring and cutting, as well as to iron flat the seams of the quilt between the stages of piecing.
- Templates: Templates are shapes made from plastic or cardstock. You must either trace these shapes to draw patterns onto fabric or place them on the fabric and cut around them.
- Stencils: Stencils are flat surfaces with designs cut into them. You can transfer stenciled designs to fabric with a marking tool.
- Quilting hoop or frame: This holds the quilting area smooth and flat when you’re hand quilting and reduces wrist strain.