Quilting Tools and supplies

My friends! Welcome back! Now that we’ve gone over a brief intro to quilting last week, I wanted to take this opportunity to talk about what tools and supplies you need. I know that social media can make it seem like you need SO MUCH STUFF to start quilting, but you really don’t need too much more than you probably already have if you already sew. 

There’s a lot here – I’m talky – but if you want the nitty gritty, scroll down to the end for the pared down must-have list.

Sewing machine

Full disclosure: you don’t ACTUALLY need a sewing machine to quilt. Remember that quilting has been around since around 3400 BCE (holy mackerel!) and I promise you they didn’t have sewing machines for MOST of that time period. So you absolutely, 100% CAN quilt without a machine, by hand. In fact, the first handmade quilt I had any real understanding of was the one my MIL made for my son when he was born, and she did it all by hand – the piecing, the quilting, the binding. Yep, every stitch was done by hand. What a labor of love! 

But for me, tbh, a sewing machine is essential. It doesn’t need to be an expensive or fancy one. If you already do a little sewing with a home machine from Joann or Walmart, what you’ve got is enough. 99% of quilting is done with a straight stitch, so your machine is absolutely good enough! If you don’t yet have a sewing machine, just a simple cheap one from Walmart or Joann is good enough. Get one that sits on a table, though, not one of those little ones you hold in your hand that is marketed for like mending pant seams at work or whatever. That’s not quite good enough lol

Needles. Eh. Honestly, I don’t worry too much about what needle is in there. You can get very technical about your needle if you like, but as long as it’s not a super thick needle and is new and sharp, most general use needles are gonna work just fine for you.

Cutting

Scissors: a decent pair of sewing scissors is technically enough for quilting, if you can’t afford a rotary cutter and mat (I’ll get to those in just a moment). You could mark on your fabric with chalk or something similar, or use pattern pieces to cut your fabric with scissors. If you plan to do applique, you’ll probably be cutting a lot of your pieces with scissors.

However…!

What makes cutting fabric for quilting really nice and quick is a rotary cutter, ruler, and a cutting mat. Aim for a 45 mm rotary cutter, and your mat should be about 18” x 24” or thereabouts. You can get larger of both if you can afford it, but I wouldn’t recommend smaller to start out with.

I think it’ll just lead to frustration. Also, a decent acrylic ruler. Again, don’t start with a little one, no matter how small and convenient they may seem. I’ve got a number of rulers, and the one I reach for the most is 8-½” x 24-½”. You might not need one quite that large to start out, but maybe 12” x 12” or something thereabouts. Look for one with nice clear markings so that you don’t have trouble seeing what/where you’re cutting, and if you can get one with some sort of non-slip on the fabric side, that really does make cutting much nicer – nothing is worse than mis-cutting your fabric because your ruler slipped… 

Thread

Please, by all that is holy, get yourself some decent thread. Don’t use the crappy little tiny spools that come in the on-the-go hem repair kit lol. The kind that your LQS (local quilt shop) stocks is excellent for quilting, but if you can’t find or afford from there, look for some good thread at Joann. Guterman’s has some good thread. Cotton or poly cotton, and not very thick. Look for something around 40 weight. I personally am a fan of 100% cotton thread because it’ll have a similar shrinkage to your cotton quilting fabric. Speaking of which…

Fabric

In many (most?) cases, quilting is done with 100% cotton, woven fabric. There are of course many exceptions (t-shirt quilts spring to mind), but we’re talking about what to start out with. Trust me, get the 100% woven cotton. Look for a simple weave and fairly dense  (quality quilting cotton has about 68 threads to an inch. Not that you’re going to count the threads lol, but just to give you an idea). Very loosely woven or transparent fabrics won’t be suitable to start with. 

Let’s talk about fabric quality real quick. I’m not a snob, but in quilting, better quality fabric makes a better quilting experience. If you are close to a LQS and can afford their prices, they are gonna carry the best quilting cottons. Their entire reason for being is quilting, so they carry the good stuff from the respected manufacturers. What this means is that your project is going to be easier to make, hold its color better, look nicer once it’s complete, wash up nicer, and last much longer, than if you went with cheap fabric. Please, for the love of all that’s holy, do NOT start with something you bought for 30 cents off of Temu. That’s just gonna be garbage fabric, and you’re not going to be pleased with the finished project. Amazon is iffy. 

There are plenty of online quilt shops that carry quality quilting cottons (including my own Etsy store). Joann (and to a lesser degree Walmart) do have some decent quilting cotton, but some of it isn’t great either. If you’re shopping at one of those, feel the fabric. Look closely at it. Hold it up to the light. It should feel nice and smooth to the touch. It should have a fairly dense weave. To be perfectly honest, with the prices I’ve seen on some of Joann’s fabrics lately, you might as well hit up your local quilt shop. A difference of 50 cents per yard is gonna pay dividends in how much nicer it is to use nicer fabric. But I understand too that sometimes there’s just not an LQS close or convenient. So if you have to shop at Joann, just look and feel for the smoothest, nicest feeling quilt fabric. 

Iron 

One of the important steps in quilting is pressing the seams. Most often, seams get pressed to the side, though some people prefer to press them open, and some patterns require it. Either way, you’re gonna need an iron and some sort of ironing surface. I feel like most adults should have an iron and ironing board of some sort, so you’re probably good to go in this department. 

Seam ripper

Lol. Trust me. You’re gonna need a seam ripper at some point. Any quilter who says they’ve never had to rip a seam is flat out lying to you. Just do yourself the favor so it’s not more frustrating than it needs to be when it happens. Get yourself a seam ripper.

These are really all the tools you NEED for quilting. I’m trying to think of other tools that are not essential but maybe highly useful. Here are a few:

Pins or clips

I don’t actually pin my pieces too much in quilting. But they are super useful for making sure your points match up. Quilting clips do come in super handy for binding and can also be used for matching points. Given the choice between pins or clips, I’d say the clips are slightly better

Marking

When you’re doing the quilting part (remember, that’s the stitching that holds all the layers together, not necessarily the stitching that’s used to piece the top), it can be very useful to have something to mark where you want to quilt. There are a number of items that can be used. A Hera marker has no ink at all. It’s a plastic tool with an edge on one side, and you basically use that to press down into your quilt to create a little crease like line to mark where you want to quilt. It’s great because there’s no ink that needs to magically disappear. If you’re doing free motion designs, you may prefer some sort of ink marker or pen. There are some ink markers that wash away with water or disappear with heat. Some people recommend Frixion pens for this, but I’ve read that the ink can reappear later, as they’re not really formulated for quilting or sewing use. I’d stick with the ink markers made for sewing, if you want ink. There are blue ones that you can get in Joann. If you’re doing straight line quilting, painters tape can be amazing for spacing your lines and keeping them straight. You just lay the tape down in the direction you want to quilt, and then just do your sewing stitches just outside the edge of the tape. Once you’ve quilted on each side of the tape, pull it up and place it again on the other side of your stitching line to give you evenly spaced quilt lines. 

Sewing machine feet

There are a number of different sewing machine feet that can be useful in quilting. The quarter inch foot gives you a beautiful, consistent quarter inch seam allowance. It also can be super useful for sewing on your binding. So can the stitch in the ditch foot. The walking foot is practically required if you’re doing any sort of straight line quilting. The darning foot is essential if you’re doing free motion quilting

Quilting gloves 

These have rubberized finger tips and help you move your quilt around when you’re doing free motion quilting. They can be super helpful for this purpose. 

Pressing spray

There are several brands of pressing spray that help get your fabric super flat before you cut, and also are used to help your blocks or quilt top be super flat. This is a bit esoteric, but the flatter your blocks or top are, the easier it will be to trim, and the nicer your finished quilt top will be. Spray starch works just fine, too, and I know I’ve seen some recipes for homemade stuff on social media. When all is said and done, you can also just use water (or the steam setting on your iron). So you’ve got options here.

OMG, Kelley, there is so much I need!!!

Not really. A lot of what I just went over were extras and nice-to-haves. If you stick with quilting long enough, you’ll probably collect your fair share of these and many more! But if you’re new to quilting and want the list of absolute must-haves, here it is:

• Things you probably already have if you sew:
  • Sewing Machine
  • Iron / Ironing board
  • Ugh, fine, a seam ripper…
  • Pins
• Things you may not have already
  • Rotary Cutter
  • Cutting Mat
  • Acrylic ruler
• And then obviously fabric and thread 🙂

Honestly, that’s about it. There are other tools that are used for specific purposes, but for your first quilt or first few quilts, I really think what I’ve got here will set you up for success and enjoyment!

What do you think? Is there anything I forgot that you think is absolutely essential for a new quilter? Anything I need to explain more? Any comments or questions, please drop a comment below and let’s talk about it!