Episode 520: Upgrade Your Sewing Tools

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Lindsay shares small upgrades to help make your sewing life better. They include:

• Replacing cheap or broken tools
• Ideas for upgrading basic or vintage sewing machines
• Small tools to solve a problem in your space
• Buying something new to treat yourself
• Easy ways to make your furniture ergonomic

See some easy upgrades our staff did here.

We are so excited to share all these tips about upgrading your tools, because this week's Sweet, Quilty Home challenge is to do just that! This challenge lasts for 10 weeks (July 5-September 12). This program focuses on creating your best home -- a beautiful place to relax and be creative. Each week, we issue a challenge: one small step you can take throughout the week to brighten your home and set your space up for sewing success.

See more about Sweet, Quilty Home here.

Many times, the reason the project became a UFO in the first place is because we procrastinated on finishing it. One way to combat procrastination is to rearrange your life so that it's easy to complete the task and hard to ignore it. Lindsay shares some examples of what this might look like in your own space:

• Having your UFO out on your work stations, so that it's easy to make progress on, but hard to move out of the way to work on another project.
• Challenge a friend or family memory to tackle their own hard task they're procrastinating on once a week while you work on your UFO. If one of you skips it, you own the other person a little treat.
• Declare a UFO Day once a month. Put it on your calendar, cancel all plans, stock up on favorite snacks, and get rid of all distractions.
• Tell yourself you can only watch your favorite TV show if you're working on your UFO.

Doris shares some details of the projects she's currently working on. Follow her on Instagram to see her progress.

Joanna explores when it makes sense to save money versus when it's better to just spend the extra cash for a more expensive product that makes the process easier or more enjoyable. She tackled the categories of fabric, thread, interfacing, batting, rotary cutters, rulers, scissors, pins, and irons.

Joanna shares details about the 2021 Quilts & More Quilt-Along! The quilt is called Soft & Spooky by designer Jessica Dayon. It's 82-1/2" square finished and uses the Kitty Corn fabric line by Urban Chiks for Moda Fabrics. It's made of three easy blocks, and although intended as a Halloween quilt, is easy to customize for your own likes! It runs from September 13-November 1.

Join the quilt-along here.