In Brazil you can buy excellent sewing scissors made by MUNDIAL. They are exported and I suggest that your smaller snips have a slightly curved up end which makes snipping threads easier and no risk of snitching fabric.
Jeanine

You have mentioned several times that you are on a limited budget and that you have limited packing space, therefore I am going to streamline my suggestion to you. There are a series of how-to books written by Harriet Hargrave along with her daughter, Carrie.

Purchase the first book and try it. It is a step-by-step guide to setting up your workspace, cutting area, sewing, etc. Eventually there will be six books in the series. Four books have been published to date. You can order the books from Amazon.com (or just look at the information and read the reviews.) They are EXCELLENT reference materials.

Quilter's Academy Vol. 1, Freshman Year: A Skill-Building Course in Quiltmaking

The book is also available as a download for the Kindle. However, I do not have an electronic book reader, so I do not know if that option is useful.

Regards,

Diane

Learning-As-I-Go wrote: For large cones of thread I just place it behind my machine and bring the thread up to the top, around the vertical reel spike and then thread as usual. I don't usually have any problems doing this, even if the cone gets knocked over, I usually catch it straight away and put it right. The vertical reel spike is removable for transporting the machine & it is a Janome - you might have one on yours when you get to play with it.

This has been fun and enlightening to read all the responses. I went a long time before getting a "slider" and I wish I hadn't
waited so long. BTW..you trim it so feed dogs can be used. If you quilt much you will find a way to make a working extension
table for the support of the quilt top..and the slider helps! I use all kinds of gloves, grippers and finger tips...somedays
one works better than the other! the fusible paper liner works in a pinch..but often has residue that gunks up my iron...so
I used regular applique mat 'till it got krinkle-y and last year got a light duty baking sheet from the cooking store for a little less $.
You can clean them better than the paper.And I can see thru it ! There's always something new to try.
I'm thinking those bags are gonna be heavy !!!

Interesting reaction to the supreme slider. :shock: I love it. It's $27 from Amazon.com, which I guess is more expensive than the baking mat, but if I wash it regularly, it doesn't slip. If it gets thread buildup on the back, then it does, but it rinses right off. I've never tried the baking mat. Sharon Schamber tapes hers down to the table, but I've never had to do that. Anyway, interesting suggestions. I simply use the backing paper to the fusible web for my pressing sheets. Free.

Ok, these are great tips! I do have a hard surface where I can do my pressing, so that is good. I've gotten fairly lazy about it, but was looking at some blocks I did early on when I pressed at every completed section, and the difference is astounding! Yikes! Must get back in that habit...

Margo, thank you for the starch suggestion! I looked at that best press stuff last trip, but man it's expensive! A cheaper alternative is much appreciated, thank you! And thank you, all, for the other money saving tips as far as parchment vs. specific appliqué pressing sheets, or silicone baking mat instead of super slide thing, etc.

I organized my many quilt ideas into a "by deadline" list so I could see what I need to be working on between this trip and next, and so I can focus my fabric/thread spending accordingly. Norma is quite right, the thread I can get here is either low quality but affordable, or high quality and not very affordable. On that note, with a horizontal thread older thing on my new machine, can I use big spools? Or just the normal sized ones?

Thanks again!

Margo wrote: But it does work nicely if you are using Inklingo

Yes!! I luv using StaFlo starch mixed in a spray bottle half/half with water. I prestarch my fabric before I cut the shapes for piecing, and also starch my background and applique shapes for machine applique. http://www.staflostarch.com/

The video in this link explains why you can even use a plain graphite pencil to mark your quilting on starched fabrics, and the marks will wash away when you wash the final project.

It also explains why I do NOT recommend starching your fabric before running it through a printer to make computer generated labels!!

Speaking of pressing... I LOVE Best Press! Now, it is quite expensive for starch and they wouldn't let you take it on the plane anyway. But I wish I had known, as a new quilter, that starching my fabric would help immensely with accurate cutting and sewing.

Margo has a make-it-yourself starch formula that she uses that is less costly than Best Press. Can't remember her exact formula, but I am sure she'll chime in! Hopefully, you can get starch in Brazil.

My pressing surface is an old wool blanket, folded into 4 layers on top of my work table, yes the worktable is showing signs of the affect of the steam & heat after 10 years, but since we got it for nothing, we are not desparately bothered. It is a tip I got from the tailors I worked with - multiple layers of heavy wool cloth is all you need.

I want to add again. The hard pressing surface is a must but you can use anything from an unused cupboard door (flat of course ) to a cheap table top (I bought a very cheap one in Ikea) Then you put a layer of cotton batting on it and a layer of cotton fabric (I have a roll of muslin and cut several pieces to fit) on top. Mine is placed on top of my ironing board and it works great. The top fabric is changed when needed and can be washed and used for many years.

Another thing you can't get too much of is thread. I don't know what you can get in Brazil but I have the feeling that it is as expensive as here in DK. So sneak in as much as you can afford.

Thanks, Ritzy, it makes total sense--I would have never thought of using parchment that way basically because I've not done any real applique and fusing, just one attempt at it... and did not use parchment paper. That's a great idea!

Well, I am kinda skimpy with it--so, if I am fusing a small piece and I want to put the fusible web on my fabric, I will fold the piece of parchment in half, lay the fabric with the right side down on top of the parchment, then lay the fusible on top of that. I would then fold the parchment over and press. The fusible will not stick to the parchment. You can see through the parchment and so if you have a pattern with several pieces that need to be fused together, you can lay the parchment on top of the pattern, lay the piece of fabric that has fusible on it on the parchment in place over the pattern, then start layering until the whole thing is together. Since the fusible doesn't stick to the parchment you can just lift the whole thing off and put it on you backing fabric. Does that help?

ritzy wrote:
Ritzy, I ALWAYS have parchment paper in the house for baking... are you saying you use it in lieu of a teflon sheet? Can you tell me exactly what you do with it? I just want to make sure I understand. Thanks!