Episode 443: Fright Night Quilting Stories

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The entire staff shares their scariest sewing stories. From bleeding fabric, shrunk quilts, or broken machines, these tales will have you hiding under the nearest quilt! Told with a sense of humor (it's amazing how time heals all wounds), these spooky stories are relatable in the most cringe-worthy way.

Joanna Burgarino, the editor of Quilts & More, shares tips for preventing fabric dye from running in your quilts.

1. Prewash your fabrics. It's always a good idea to prewash dark fabrics, especially reds.
2. Use a Shout Color Catcher. It's a dryer sheet you put in with the quilt when you wash it and it catches all the loose dye that comes out of your fabric. There are some other products on the market that also help with catching dyes, such as Retayne (for fabric before you cut and piece them) and Sythrapol (after a quilt is pieced).

Lindsay answers a question from Joanne Kaufman. She asked: "I'm getting ready to sew some Christmas presents with cute panel prints. What are some times for sewing with panels?"

1. Try stretching the panel along the bias in the opposite direction if the panel is very wonky.

2. Fussy-cut the panel out by wiggling the panel into place along the ruler lines and cutting each side separately.

3. When you add fabrics to the panel, measure through the center lengthwise and add the same length of border to both sides and then measure through the center widthwise and add the same length of border to the top and bottom. That will help to square up the panel.

4. Always sew with the panel on top, so you can make sure it's straight and you can shift the fabric as needed.

See these tips in action here.

Lindsay explore a few tips for hand quilting. From which products to use to marking your designs to time-saving tips, these tips are helpful for anyone quilting their projects by hand.

See more tips for hand quilting here.

On today's show, Jess Zeigler of Threaded Quilting Studio chats with Andrea Tsang Jackson of 3rd Story Workshop, who is a quilt designer, author, and teacher based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. She talks about her background in architecture and how that paved the way to her career in quilting. She explores her love of gemstones and how foundation piecing allowed her to create her own gemstone projects. (You can grab her newly-released Gemology pattern book here.) She also talks about the details of her Quilt Back Party on Instagram that celebrated creativity on quilt backings.

Follow Andrea on Instagram and Facebook to keep in touch.