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Felt Christmas Tree Pillow with Pom Poms

December 21, 2015 Anneliese

Christmas Tree Pillow Tutorial

There is something about a handmade Christmas. It’s a tradition in my family for many generations and I love the heirlooms that have been passed down to me. This simple pillow could easily fit in that category. With simple, natural materials such as wool felt and felted wool pom poms, and a bit of hand sewing, it has a rich, timeless style that is also quite current.

Make for your home, as a gift, or teach your children how to sew with this simple project. Felt means it’s a fuss-free finish and the hand sewing is as basic as it comes.

Materials for the Felt Christmas Tree Pillow

  • Template for the tree applique available here: Tree Applique Template
  • 1/2 yard high quality felt in red
  • 1/4 yard high quality felt in green, or a scrap large enough for the tree template
  • 13 felted wool pom poms (available on Etsy) in a variety of colors
  • Coordinating thread for sewing and hand stitching
  • Hand sewing needle
  • Stuffing to fill an 16 inch pillow
  • Your sewing machine. I sew on a BERNINA 580

Intructions to make the Felt Christmas Tree Pillow

Step 1: Prepare and Cut Out Your Pattern

Download the Tree Applique Template file and print it at 100% (no scaling). Trim and tape together the pattern, then cut out the tree shape.

Christmas Tree Pillow Tutorial - Trim and tape together the pattern

Place the tree shape on the fold of your green felt and cut one.

Christmas Tree Pillow Tutorial - Place the tree shape on the fold of your green felt

Cut out two 16 inch squares from your red felt, one for the pillow front and one for the pillow back. Be sure to get a really clean, straight cut as there will be no hemming.

Step 2: Stitch on the Tree Applique

Place the tree in the center of one of your felt squares and pin in place.

Christmas Tree Pillow Tutorial - Place the tree in the center of one of your felt squares and pin in place

Using the #6 stitch on your BERNINA sewing machine, with a stitch length of “5”, stitch the applique in place close to the edge of the tree shape.

Christmas Tree Pillow Tutorial - stitch the applique in place

Step 3: Handstitch the Pom Poms

Arrange the pom poms on the pillow front to your liking.

Christmas Tree Pillow Tutorial - Arrange the pom poms on the pillow front to your liking

Once you have them where you like them you can use straight pins to mark their position and then place the pom poms in a line in the order you had them on the tree from top to bottom.

Christmas Tree Pillow Tutorial - place the pom poms in a line i

Thread a hand sewing needle with a doubled length of thread, double and knot at the end so you can stitch with four strands. Bring the needle up from the back side of your pillow front in the position of a pom pom. Push the needle through the center of the pom pom.

Christmas Tree Pillow Tutorial - Push the needle through the center of the pom pom

Push the needle back down through the pillow front underneath the pom pom, close to where the needle came up, making a short diagonal stitch like one leg of an “X.” Now bring the needle up underneath the pom pom on the opposite side of the original stitch and insert the needle down through the center of the pom pom and through the back, completing one half of the “X.”  Bring the needle up under the pom pom at the top of the other half of the “X”…

Christmas Tree Pillow Tutorial - attach pom pom

…and insert the needle down through the center of the pom pom. Bring the yarn up under the pom pom on the opposite side and insert the needle down through the center of the pom pom to complete the “X.”

Christmas Tree Tutorial - attaching the pom pom

Repeat with all the pom poms to decorate your tree.

Christmas Tree Pillow Tutorial - decorate your tree

Christmas Tree Pillow Tutorial - Christmas Tree Pillow Tutorial - decorate your tree

Lay the pillow front on top of the pillow back, wrong sides together and pin.

Christmas Tree Pillow Tutorial - Lay the pillow front on top of the pillow back, wrong sides together and pin

Using the #6 stitch on your BERNINA sewing machine, with a stitch length of “5”, stitch around the edge of the pillow on all sizes using a .5 inch seam allowance. Leave a 3 inch opening for stuffing the pillow.

Christmas Tree Pillow Tutorial - stitch around the edge of the pillow

Stuff the pillow and stitch the opening closed.

Christmas Tree Pillow Tutorial - Stuff the pillow and stitch the opening closed

Now place the pillow on a couch or bed to warm up your interior for the holidays.

Christmas Tree Pillow Tutorial - Christmas Tree Pillow Tutorial - Stuff the pillow and stitch the opening closed

Today is the day! Our December 21 Gift For You

Today’s gift is a BERNINA 215 Simply Red Sewing machine to one awesome WeAllSew fan. All you have to do is post a comment below and list one of your favorite quick sewing tips!

Select sewing tips will be highlighted on our BERNINA USA Facebook page with a credit to the WeAllSew reader who posted it.

Open to legal residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia who are 18 years of age or older.

A winner will be chosen at random at the end of the month of December 2015 and announced in January 2016!

Good luck!

Congratulations to our WeAllSew reader “memarlin”, the winner of the December 21 gift. Enjoy!

5 days until Christmas

Difficulty level
Beginner
Projects
home décor
Techniques
sewing
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112 comments on “Felt Christmas Tree Pillow with Pom Poms”

  • Love this pillow! Thanks so much for the giveaway. My quick sewing tip, have at least 4 pairs of scissors then you don’t have to keep chasing them around the room. One on the cutting table/work space, one by the machine, one at the ironing board and another set that floats around too. I used to waste so much time getting up and down to find my scissors!

    • Love this pillow. So cute! Love the ornaments on it.

      My quick tip is to have a couple of machines loaded with different colors of thread. It is so easy to have one with dark thread, one with light, then I don’t have to rethread the machine. Best of all is if they are both Bernina’s. I really want a new Bernina with the larger bobbins so that I don’t have to wind bobbins so often! Dear Santa, Please bring me a new Bernina, and if not this year, then next!
      Thanks for sharing the great projects.

    • I’m so glad that I have these colors of felt in my stash and can make this pillow for a last minute gift. Thanks for these tutorials! My husband made me a thread holder and made the posts long enough that I can keep my bobbins on the same post. This saves me time looking for the correct color bobbin to match my thread.
      Merry Christmas to All!

  • Adorable. My favorite notion is Elmers White School Glue with a fine tip for little drops or trails. I use it especially on the back side of my bindings-putting a fine line then pressing it. This eliminates the clips to hold the binding while handsewing. I also use it instead of pins in difficult small piecing or where a lot of seams hit and the machine wants to drag with pins. Love my Elmers.

  • What a wonderful prize. I love my Bernina B550. It is handy to have at least two sewing machines–one for home use and one for taking to classes. I use an old glass flower arrangement frog to hold small scissors. I also put old sewing machine needles in a bead tube for throwing away later.

  • Cute pillow! My tip is to use a mug mat beside your sewing machine to hold your scissors, Seam ripper, and pincushion. This way they don’t slide around on your table.

    • That’s a cute idea. I bought a dish-shaped magnetic pin holder that I use the same way. By keeping my metal scissors and seam ripper on my pin holder along with my pins, I manage not to lose track of them or knock them to the floor when I reach for them. Since reading a recent post that suggested gluing a few magnets to the bottom of a dish to make your own magnetic pin holder, I’ve been on the lookout for a pretty dish. I plan to station one pin holder by my sewing machine and another by my serger. Also, I’ve found that drawer organizers on tabletops are great for keeping my stuff organized and accessible, and they’re stackable.

  • Cool! I have one machine with white or a light color thread, and one with black or darker thread, so then no reason not to do sewing or mending or even sewing fun art projects outlining in a different colored thread with changing threads now there could be three colors.
    thank you

  • My best sewing tip would be to have all of your supplies ready before you start sewing. I like to keep a small trash can close so I can throw away any scraps or pieces of thread.

  • I always have extra bobbins in the color/colors I’m using so I don’t have to stop and wind a bobbin! Loving the comments people have already left, think I will have to implement some of those too!

  • Would love the prize – When I make multiples of the same pattern or craft item, I complete each step for all the multiples at the same time, in an assembly line process. It seems so quick and efficient.

  • This is just the project I was looking for, quick and easy ! I use curtain weights to hold patterns down, that way there’s no puckering from pins and they are easy to move !

  • When I am doing a complicated thread painting where lots of areas of colors are needed, I sketch on Golden Threads tracing paper, a full-sized ‘map’ of my image labeling each color field and then pin it to my fabric. I start with an outline in the predominant thread thread color of each area. This secures the sketch and helps me to distinguish one area from another. (Keep in mind the fabric often can become a very predominant part of the image and may not need any thread-work at all.)
    Also, I like to mix thread types and often combine lots of different techniques and stitch-styles in my thread painting. By the time the paper is perforated so much that it is falling off, I have a pretty good idea where to go with each color.
    My most recent are quilt – Geisha in The Snow (approx 5×8 feet) has an entire background drawn in thread. I was able to use the white fabric as snow mounds on the pine trees. It’s been a 4 year long endeavor, but is almost finished!

  • My quick sewing tip is plastic shoe boxes with each type of notion grouped together in the individual box. I also have a plastic workman scre box ( the one with lots of draws) for same color buttons. This has saved me lots of time trying to find something I just know I have “somewhere”.

  • My quick sewing tip is to use a double needle when working with knits or when you need decorative topstitching. It has saved me so much time and has given me really professional results.
    Merry Christmas!

  • Oh, boy, I have been waiting for this one. Quick tip are those wonder clips, so much better then pins for most sewing. School glue for when you need something placed in the middle of a project, because the pins can make fabric shift a little.

  • My favorite tip is using an old picnic silverware holder to stand my rotary cutters in. It has 4 compartments, so I can separate them by size. You can easily move it around using the handle. And its convenient to carry to class also.

  • My tip is to gather all the materials you’ll need to use before beginning the project. I usually put everything in a clear shoe box so I can carry it to various locations within the house so I can work on it without having to
    pause and go get something that I need.

  • Thank you for the holiday ideas. My quick sewing tip is to take a picture of my completed projects and place the photos into plastic sleeves in my sewing notebook. That way I can refer to it such as — pattern, ideas, sample fabrics, and pdf’s from weallsew.com

  • What an adorable project! I have loved ALL of them this month. Can’t wait to see the winners.

    As for my quick sewing tip…I use rubber-bands on my machine for seam-allowance guides. Its easy than the painters tape I think as it doesn’t leave that residue.

    Merry Christmas Bernina.

  • I use a lot of the elmers school glue to baste things like rick rack prior to sewing it down and for applique pieces. You can press over it with a warm iron to dry it quickly and it always washes out after you are done. I also have a bobbin prewound with fine thread in a light color which I use when making buttonholes. Since I use the same color for all my buttonholes, it saves time winding a separate bobbin for each project.

  • This is such a cute idea and quick. Love the hand made look of it.
    My first quick trip is winding bobbins. I have an old King tube that is full of
    ME bobbin threads. The top came off and i glued it to the bottom.
    It will hold around 8 bobbins which make for a quick change and keeps
    them neat and wound.
    My 2nd quick tip is prep work. I always do my complete prep work first.
    I launder all fabric. Dry and iron.
    I get all threads and bobbins ready and arranged in order of use.
    Cut all fabric pieces and arrange by sewing machine.
    Make sure bobbin area is clean and sewing needle replaced.
    Print any directions that are needed.
    Read through.
    Then when sewing/or machine embroidering, it goes quickly.

  • I keep a travel size lint roller with the sticky paper near my sewing machine so I can pick up any stray threads on my embroidery surface or while I’m free motion quilting.

  • So many fun projects this month! I always fully prep before starting and have my iron and ironing board close so I can just turn around and press and not have to walk across the room. I also keep old needles in a glass vial (cinnamon sticks came in it, so it always smells good) for use on paper piecing or making pounce templates. Love my Bernina and would love to have a Simply Red machine for use while traveling.

  • I like the pillow and you could do it with a snowman or any other simple shape. I store all my 830 bobbins (because I NEED a couple 3 dozen with different color threads:) in small clear acrylic tubes with screw on lids. I label the lids of each tube that holds 5 bobbins with the type of thread that is in each one. The tubes came in an acrylic box with a lid and it holds about 12 of these tubes. It keeps the bobbins neat and easy to see and easy for transport. I purchased this box of acrylic tubes in the beading section of a craft store.

  • When making appliques, I use Cutworks to cut out multiple shapes all at one time. They are more accurate than hand cutting and doing a half dozen together makes the projects go faster.

  • Love the machine! My tip: when sewing binding on a quilt, gather up all the binding into a bag, place the bag on the floor and feed the binding up to the quilt.

  • My quick sewing tip is to leave out as many of your sewing supplies as possible. That way you will be more encouraged to sew, even if you only have a little bit of time, since all the tools are out and available.

  • My tip is to have multiples of seam rippers, scissors, thimbles, and of course needles. I have 1 set by chair for when I watching TV, other sets are at each of my machines. Thank you.

  • I take digital pictures of projects during construction and after completion to remind me of little tricks I figure out along the way. When I repeat the project, I scan the pictures and try to avoid all the “oops” from the first attempt!

  • Love the Christmas tree pillow.
    My tip is using ponytail rubberbands around spools of thread. So the thread doesn’t get all tangled up.
    I also use pill bottles to hold my old needles and straight pins.
    Keep all my stabilizer in different boxes so it’s all together. Never have to go hunt it down.
    Save the scrap pieces of stabilizer to use as floaters.
    Love all the projects that you gave each day.
    If I win the sewing machine I would give it to my giving tree person who asked for sewing things.
    Happy Holiday’s

  • I have an old tea box that I put my applique scissors, snips, seam rippers etc in. It’s sitting next to my machine. I also use chopsticks help me hold the material or lace when I am gathering.

  • My quick sewing tip: I have recently organized my sewing supplies and fabric (sorted by color) in clear plastic bins. I neatly put these bins on a large shelf. Each one is labeled and I can see in it. It makes it quick to sort through my fabric stash for what I need and to be able to get the supplies I need.

  • I love the “3rd hand” I have in my sewing room, which is a repurposed 6″” round and 60 inches wide piece of white plastic PVC. It is priceless to me, as it keeps the fabric flat and wrinkle free, if I am pinning or spray basting a quilting project.

  • I keep a notebook near my sewing machine and when I start a project I make note of the name, settings on machine (SL, SW), foot, needle, thread, etc. Later, can be months, I know what steps to take to continue the project.

    Love this pillow. Thanks for the ideas and projects.

  • I have a lot of sewing machine needles (sizes, types). Purchased on sale of course. I keep the packages sorted in trading card sleeves. I cut pieces of felt to fit the card slot and used the alphabet in my machine to label the felt (but a sharpie would work as well). I have the card pages in a plastic report cover. All the needles together, and easily transportable.

    Not my original idea, but I found it useful.

  • What a darling quick project. My quick tip is to have a quilt sandwich on hand to practice your machine quilting before you start your project. You can test out your tension and design, avoiding frogging (rip-it, rip-it!) in the long run.

  • When you can’t find your hump jumper, use the packet your sewing machine needles come in to do the job. Place in back or front of the foot to keep your needle level and go over those thick seams.

  • Sometimes my seam rippers accidentally roll off my sewing table and hit the floor – always point first – and the points are damaged and don’t work smoothly anymore. Also, sometimes I lose the clear protective tops of my seam rippers or stiletto. My tip is to replace the missing clear tops with knitting needle point protectors. They stay on, don’t fall off, do the job and are easy to find. When not in use, they sit upright on the table top and are easy to see when I am finished using the seam ripper and am ready to put it back on.

  • For a quick repair on sweatshirts with ripped ribbing, I use a twin needle to simulate the cover stitch on a serger, as mine does not have the cover stitch.

  • I use those plastic cases that some people use for sorting jewelry supplies to store my thread. I can sort them by color family and I can see instantly the color I’m looking for.

  • I quilt large and small quilts on my home sewing machine. My least favorite part of quilting a large quilt is basting the quilt top, batting and backing together before quilting them. I have tried everything on the market to make this chore easier and quicker. My favorite method of basting a large quilt is to use a MicroTach basting gun to baste the quilt. Basting with the MicroTach is much quicker than basting with pins or with thread. I don’t like to breathe the vapors of glue basting. The MicroTach uses exceptionally thin fasteners, they are thinner than quilting pins. Also, they are very lightweight. Trying to quilt a large quilt with stainless steel pins is way too heavy for me to manage. The fasteners are quick to apply; you just pull the trigger. They are quick to sew with; I can machine quilt anywhere I want to go, without stopping to remove pins or navigate around them. If I inadvertently sew over one of the nylon fasteners, it is no big deal. I have been machine quilting my quilts basted with this method for years and have never broken a needle. Finally, they are quick to remove after the project is finished. I snip the thin nylon with a blunt pair of scissors. Quick and easy!

  • Sometimes quilting with one color of thread in the top and a contrasting thread in the bobbin can result in one of the threads occasionally peeking through on the opposite side. I call these “pokies.” Rather than “unsewing” that row of stitching, and resewing it, it is possible to make the offending “pokies” disappear by recoloring them with a fabric marker. Try it on a sample first. You may be able to save yourself a lot of time and trouble.

  • Glue sticks make so many sewing projects easier and quicker. It is easy to apply and won’t stick you like pins. Think about those small turn-under edges for appliques.

  • I sew for my granddaughters. So when I use a pattern for an outfit, I mark it with the date, their age, which size I used, what alterations I did, and their measurements. I especially highlight any instructions that were not clear or unusual.
    I also use larger (tall & fat) prescription bottles to keep my 780 Bernina bobbins. I use thicker cotton ponytail ties to keep them from unraveling.

  • Love this project! I use an inexpensive 3 drawer plastic container on wheels to hold everything I need for a project. We have very little room here and I can quickly store everything together and roll it out of the way.

  • This tip can save time sewing many different colored patches of fabric together when quilting. Rather than changing threads to match different colored fabrics, thread the machine with a neutral thread. I personally like Aurifil’s #2370. It works with most colors. Using one large cone of a neutral thread saves a lot of time in piecing a quilt top.
    I also keep my serger threaded with cones of a neutral thread. It stays ready to serge at the flick of the on/off switch.

  • Love pillows! So much cheaper to make and you know the quality put into making it
    My sewing tip is when changing the needle I always write down the date the new needle was put in. You can either post it where you can see it or, I always keep it under the foot when I’m done sewing.This helps me keep track of how long its been used.

  • Merry Christmas everyone! What a wonderful gift! My tip is when you’re quilting start with a scrap of fabric and end with a scrap of fabric, it’s easier to chain piece and less waste of thread. Here’s hoping!!!

  • When you shop the new year’s “white sales,” save those nice vinyl zipper bags that hold sheets, duvets, etc. They are perfect project bags. Also, keep the little packets of silica gel that are included with new shoes, handbags, etc. They are great for keeping the moisture down in your project bags and sewing room drawers. Silica gel can be “recharged” by microwaving for a few seconds to remove moisture.

  • My favorite tip is using the wash-away wonder tape to baste in a zipper before sewing it. In fact, I use it to stick down almost everything before sewing. Saves having to remove pins as I sew.

    BTW, really cute pillow!

  • I like to save skinny strips of fabric from my cutting table, and eventually use them to wrap clothesline for scrappy fabric bowls. It feels good to use every last bit of fabric. Thanks for the today’s fun pillow feature. I’m definitely going to make this. And thanks for the chance to win!

  • I’ve started using plastic grocery bags as scrap catchers while serging. I like to set my machine a bit back from the table edge which means having to scoot my scraps off the table and into a bag. I love that grocery bags provide me with me one smooth, continuous surface for doing so. I just make sure to tuck the edge of the bag under the edge of the serger. To keep the bag in place, I put the front legs of my serger inside the handles of the bag, then I tug the bag handles outward and toward the back of the machine until the legs of the serger grip them and the bag is in place. The legs of the serger are just as nonslip on the sides as they are on the bottom so the bag doesn’t budge as I fill it up. When the bag is full, I don’t even have to empty it. I just throw it away and grab a fresh bag.

  • What a delightfully fun project! I’m off to etsy to order my felted balls. Remember to stand up and
    move your body around during long sewing sessions to loosen up. As relaxing as our hobby is I still stop and take a break every 15 minutes or so. Of course there is the occasional pressing that needs to be done too; I keep the ironing station across the room so I have to move around.

  • I love Bernina sewing machines. I keep scissors handy at the machine and ironing board. When piecing I use a neutral thread and several bobbins read to go.

  • my quick tip is to keep a notebook with my CD’s and the instructions in a plastic sleeve so everything is together when I am ready to embroidery a project.

  • I really like the look of topstitching, but don’t always sew really straight lines. I have found that using masking tape to guide my sewing really helps. I just place the tape where I want to the line to be and sew along the side edge of the tape. When finished, all I have to do is pull the tape up and I have my straight lines!

  • Most of my tips have already been listed, but one that I have found to be very helpful lately is having lots of extra bobbins on hand. Load 5 or 10 with thread before starting the project so you don’t have to stop and unthread the machine midway through the project. lisajcowell(at)cs(dot)com

  • Cute tree pillow. I once made a sweatshirt jacket that had cut out flowers of wool felt applied with the BSR attachment. I still get compliments on it. My sewing tip is for keeping unexpected things from falling into the trash can by placing the trash can UNDER my sewing table instead of beside it. It is still within my reach yet no more lost items accidentally falling off my table into the trash!

  • These Holiday projects have been so fun, so with all these new ideas start these projects early in the new year so you can enjoy and not rush through them.Teach your your children how to sew so they can carry on the talent of sewing for many new generations to come. I’m so fortunate that my mother taught me and now I’m teaching my daughter. So many of my daughters friends do not know how to sew or even sew a button on a garment. These projects are really the most meaningful gifts ever and the time creating them. Thank you

  • Thank you for another fabulous project. Opening sewn buttonholes was always a challenge for me until I was visiting my Mother one summer and she showed me how she inserted a straight pin to run parallel with the inside stitch of the bar tack then inserted the seam ripper at the opposite end and run it up to the straight pin. The pin stops the seam ripper from cutting into the bar tack! So simply and I have not destroyed a button hole since!

  • My tips are: 1) using a glue stick to hold pieces together to get an accurate seam. 2) using several layers of painter’s tape on machine bed to assure an accurate seam. The Bernina prize would be great for classes, etc.

  • This appears to be a neat project that beginners or mid level sewers can master especially with the great Bernina sewing computers, etc. Our tip is not unique but has made it much simpler for projects – I use tackle boxes to organize various sewing implements as well as organizing feet to take to classes. I also use the provided standard and optional foot storage units as well

  • This pillow is super cute. Thank you for sharing. My sewing tip: Before chain piecing blocks together I take a quick picture with my phone to use as a reference. This way, after I sew and press, I can make sure I put them in the exact order/direction I’ve intended.

  • This is a fun project to do with the grandkids.
    After I complete a project, I jot a few notes to make a “tip list.” in my sewing notebook. The tips help me
    organize my project to use at another time.
    I really like to keep a saucer or small dish near my machine. I keep my Bernina seam ripper, a small pair of
    scissors, and some pins. This keeps my sewing area clean and my sewing tools handy.
    Thanks, Bernina for all the holiday fun.

  • What a terrific design for the pillow. I will do this as a pajama bag someday!

    My tips:
    1. Use a self-threading (AKA cheater) needle for hiding thread when free motion quilting.
    2. For a quilting project that will be finished up soon, baste with straight pins and put a little piece of painters tape to cover the pin tips.
    3. Test a new procedure with inexpensive materials and/or with basting stitches.

    Thank you for putting my name in the hat for the giveaway. This red machine has a lot of nice features!

  • My favorite sewing trick is to use a mouse pad under the foot pedal. While it doesn’t completely stop the pedal from sliding away on my hardwood floor, it does slow it down considerably. And I don’t throw away my trimmings and threads and thread clippings; I keep a small container nearby to collect them, and then I use them as part of the stuffing in sift dolls and animals – after all, it’s new, clean material!

  • This is the cutest little pillow. thanks for the pattern. My quick tip is to use spray starch before cutting pieces for quilt blocks. Especially helpful to stabilize fabric when cutting and sewing triangles that have those pesky bias edges.

  • very cute pillow– I love pompoms!
    my tip– at least for me– I have a box in a pull out draw under my machine
    every time I start a project I put in 4 wound bobbins, 4 pairs of snips or little scissors and as many rippers and I can find. then by the end of my project I hopefully have at least one left

    I do restock or re find all those items on a daily basis when I put away my sewing for the day

  • I use painter’s tape for many applications in sewing and embroidery especially when placing wash away stablizer on top of a project. That way it won’t get caught by the presser foot.

  • This was a hard question to answer. I have been thinking of some tip I could offer. I love reading the tips from everyone, such great ideas. When I cut out many pieces of fabric for a project that need to be labeled I used to use masking tape and then throw it away. I have now started to put letters on flat head pins, for example A, B, C, etc. I can reuse the pins over and over and not have to throw them away. It works great.

  • Thank you for the pattern. Will have to sew one not for this year but for next year. My tip is to wash and iron fabric after purchasing so it is ready to use when you start a project.

  • I have a little wooden roller with which I can “quick press” quilt seams. Prevents me from having to get up frequently to go to my ironing board to press Sean’s to one side.

  • I have a magnetic strip (found at IKEA) with round magnetic sew thru lids attached to the wall right by
    my sewing machine. One holds safety pins that I use regularly for keeping things together or for
    alterations projects I do for my family or others; one for my straight pins that we all use on a regular
    basis, and the other for T-pins that I use instead of straight pins. Then there is room on the strip for
    all of my different scissors that I use.

  • My favorite sewing room trick is to use golf tees to keep bobbins with their corresponding thread. That way, I always know if I already have a bobbin of a particular thread filled and I don’t waste time searching for filled bobbins!

  • This is an adorable pillow!! My sewing tip is to wind two bobbins when starting a new project. I then use one in the bobbin case and the other as my top thread. For a new sewer who can’t yet recognize the sound of a bobbin running low, this trick lets me know when my bobbin is running out. Merry Christmas to all!!!

  • A trick to use if you are not sure if seams will match on a quilt, or if a garment part will fit right…….set the straight stitch (1 on Berninas) to 5mm length to baste across intersections on a quilt block, or to stitch seams for fitting. If everything is OK you can stitch right over the basting line after reducing your stitch length to normal. If things are not right it is easy to undo the basting and redo it.

  • Use a 5 width and 5 length setting on a Bernina sewing machine to quilt runners, wall hangings, baby quilts, etc. Quilt from the center out, spacing lines every inch or so depending on size of item. The smaller the item usually the closer the lines. Quilt vertically and horizontally as in crosshatching, or only in one direction. This is fast, easy, and does not require perfection!

  • Great tree pillow!
    My tip, cause I always loose my snips, is a commander hook (small size) adhered to my machine. They are always there. Best is I can remove it with no ill effects to my Nina!

  • I hope it’s ok to give another tip. After sewing yesterday I realized that I love to have a cup full of q-tips near my sewing machine. The q-tips work really well to get the little snippets of thread and fuzz from around the bobbin area and under the stitch plate. I use these every time I change the bobbin and/or change the stitch plate out.
    They work great.

  • When using a jelly roll with pinked edges, use a lint roller on the edges before opening the roll. Saves having lint ( a good share of it) going everywhere later.

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