100+  Non-quilting items to add to your quilt supplies!

1. Carpenter's Square about two feet long on one side and 18" on the other, a flat metal one that will not "flex" like some plastic ones sold in sewing stores.  It is invaluable for squaring things up, and you can use it with your rotary cutter for accurate corners. Also a long metal rule - 5' long to use for measuring, marking, etc.

2. Clamps for woodworking are wonderful for preparing your quilt for basting.  You can clamp the three layers firmly to your table.

3. At the hardware/building supply store: sandpaper to hold fabric while marking, masking tap, gardening gloves with nubs to use while machine quilting.

4. At the office supply store: "Sharpie" pens, graph paper, water soluble glue sticks, tracing paper, colored pencils, square and round drafting templates.

5. Art supply stores for templates with different size circles (for appliqué), also watercolor pencils (for marking quilt tops).

6. Hot Wheels^© "garage" for holding spools of thread.  A box 10" X 13" that opens from both sides,  and has many small compartments and is see-through, has a handle.

7. Barrette clips to use instead of pins on a baby quilts outside seams.  Also use them when sewing paper pieced chunky blocks together; buy the long hair holders with claw to clip around a floor lamp stem to hold extension cords or iron cord up out of the way; also use the long hair holders to clamp around a rolled up quilt when machine quilting.

8. Use vet wrap for your fingers; get it at "farm and fleet" type stores.

9. Flat hair clips that "pop"? Use them for keeping binding in tact while hand stitching it on.

10. Deli paper for paper piecing.

11. Large rubber door stops for tilting sewing machine.

12. The retractable scissors gadget from the fishing department, the one with clip on part to keep it handy and then pulls out like a tape measure.

13. Sheets of foam core covered in flannel for a design wall.

14. Shish kabob sticks for helping to get your fabric fed through the machine instead of those expensive ones the quilt shops sell.

15. Carpet tape really holds paper templates to plastic to make permanent templates; also to hold together the greeting cards made with quilts blocks; also to make stickers using printed quilt blocks (it acts like a quilt permanent glue that doesn't stink).

16. Post-it notes as a temporary sewing guide on your sewing machine.  Mark 1/4 inch with a part of the pad: can use the pad for other things later.  Use a stack about 1/16 inch high.  Pad is about 1 1/2" x 2" and you put the sticky part 1/4" from the center  of your foot to mark your seam line.  No need to cut the pad, just use as is.  The pad forms a ridge to guide you.

17. Ice cream plastic buckets (1 gallon size) make wonderful waste baskets that can sit anywhere but especially on your cutting table.

18. "Sailor Leaf-it", little rubbery dots used to put on fingers to sort papers.  Use them on rulers instead of sandpaper dots, also on fingers to protect when hand quilting.

19. Fishing tackle box to hold all your tools, Plano that has many compartments and opens from both sides, not great big about 9" x 13" easy to carry to class.

20. Sandpaper that comes with the sticky back.  Cut it into small pieces, great to stabilize your rulers or templates.

21. Ruler compass with two metal parts that slip on a normal wood ruler and the ruler because the compass to draw out big circle, also you can use a yardstick with these parts.

22. Clear first aid tape to put on the back of your rulers, thinner than the sandpaper dots.

23. Used X-ray film makes wonderful templates for appliqué and the tacky finger grip stuff that you can get in office supply stores, great for free motion quilting.

24. The largest size zippered plastic bags to store fabric: organize sewing notions in these large bags, e.g., one for pins and needles, different ones for thread, marking tools.

25. Picnic table clamps: just the right size to hold the quilt while you baste.

26. New Leaf plastic dots sold on a roll in a small box at the office supply stores; great for putting on your index finger and thumb to pull needles through when hand quilting, about 60 on a roll for a couple of bucks.

27. Metal washers from the hardware store for weights when cutting out fabric and paper clips instead of pins.

28. Rubber finger cots from office supply stores to pull the needle through while hand quilting; also 3M Post-it correction and cover-up tape from the office supply stores used to  mark rotary cutter rulers since it doesn't leave any sticky residues.  It's also great for marking on patterns since you can reposition it without risking ripping the pattern.

29. Binder clips; they're great! Use them to clip blocks to your mini-blinds when you want to step back and take a look.

30. Sticky-backed sandpaper found in the paint department; use your hole punch to cut out a sandpaper "dots", to put on my rulers to keep them from slipping.  They're just the right size to put over the circled numbers on the Omigrid^© rulers.

31. Plastic ceiling grid from Home Depot for basting my layers together with the basting gun, four times the size, 1/3 the price.

32. Carpenter's clamps to clamp the quilt backings to the table when layering.  If you have the strength in your hands to squeeze them, what a time-saver!

33. Bicycle clips that quilters use to "tie up" their quilts while machine quilting.

34. Extension cord on a reel ($12 on sale at the hardware store) for carrying to quilt class

35. Zippered plastic bags to keep all the parts and pieces clean and tidy until we are ready to put that quilt top together?

36. Plano fishing tackle box, the biggest of them with many compartments and drawers, a clear top that opens with little sections and a handle to carry it to classes or bees if you can lift it after filling it.

37. Rolling Popular Mechanics toolbox for sewing machine and notions for workshops at Wal-Mart.

38. Nancy's Notions has a yardstick compass that makes circles up to 72 inches.

39.Plastic cross-stitch canvas at Wal-Mart. 7 to the inch.  Cut a strip lengthwise (5 meshes wide).  Use a pushpin to anchor the center, draw any size circle you want to mark a quilt top with pattern.

40. Plastic quilting stencils that are concentric circles, and depending upon the size of your dishes, you might find a circular serving platter that would make a circle.

41. Flannel-backed vinyl tablecloths make excellent design walls.

42. Cup Hooks are great for wall-hanging: just slip dowel onto the hooks.

43. Wrapper for printer paper; inside is waxy, works like freezer paper and costs nothing if you have a source of it!

44. Polystyrene cubes (from large item packaging) as instant pincushions.

45. Cigar boxes, just wonderful for everything.  Store marking pencils, packs of needle, fabric samples, tools, cut pieces for hand piecing.  These boxes usually have a little catches/locks and are made of wood/plywood, VERY
LIGHT.

46. Milk carton plastic for templates.

47. Pieces of leather e.g. cannibalized gloves) with a sticky/tacky glue, cut out rough circles, put the glue on, leave them to set, stick them to the inside of plastic sewing box and use  them as thimbles.

48. "See through" vinyl sold for book covers, the same material that window clings are made of.  Cut this in pieces to mark you size on your rulers.  In other words, if you are cutting multiple 1 ½" pieces or strips stick a
piece of the cling wrap at the 1 ½" line; sure makes cutting the exact size quicker and easier.

49. ELECTRIC TAPE, black plastic with something that sticks on the back, cut a strip and wrap it around your finger to protect it when quilting.

50. Wooden molding strips in different widths to use as a guide for marking quilts.

51. 72" straight metal measurer, for something longer than a yardstick.  It has such a wonderful long, sturdy, straight edge.

52. Pizza Boxes (clean) work great for storing UFOs, stack nicely and keep blocks flat and neat; most pizza places will sell them for 50 cents or if you are a regular may even give you a couple.

53. Plastic containers with lids that are available today in myriad shapes, colors and sizes.

54. Expanding file from the office supply to keep cut pieces of stabilizers and interfacings used for appliqué and fusing.

55. Full sheets of adhesive backed label paper from the office supply I am using on the top of fabrics (instead of freezer paper on the reverse) for templates for needle turned appliqué.

56. Baggies, all sizes: sandwich bags are great for project parts; grocery sacks, jumbo bags.

57. Tips of plastic gloves and use them to pull my needle through when hand quilting.

58. Two different sizes of the free Priority Boxes from the Post Office  for storing quilting projects; do a bit of cutting and taping first so that the cover opens from the top.

59. Large refrigerator magnet to keep needles and pins on when quilting/sewing.

60. My sewing table is a computer table that I bought at Staples about three years ago for a reasonable cost.  I put my machine into the cut out where the keyboard tray drops down, and I have a large surface almost exactly
flush with machine.  It's covered with some sort of laminate and seems impervious to scratches and the like.  I had the options of putting it into a corner.  This way I can support the quilt on the left-hand wing when I 'me machine quilting, and there's lots of room behind the machine so that it doesn't bunch up while I quilt.  I realized that the keyboard tray can tilt, so I titled the machine toward me and got a wonderful view of what I was doing.

61. Zip lock bags of all sizes for keeping templates, cut pieces, instructions, everything you need sorted in bags.  You can punch three holes and put it in a loose leaf notebook when  taking classes.  That keeps everything together.

62. Freezer tape to mark templates, pieces, and blocks for order placement.

63. A smaller tackle box is good for beads too when embellishing.  It is just the right size for the beds, needle, thread and scissors.  It's about 1" high and 3" x 5" inches and even has a little loop on top.  Take a skirt hanger and clip project on it and loop the little tackle box on the hook.

64. Empty roll and the box of waxes paper and use them to store blocks of "in progress" projects, keeps the block of the month   in and to transport it to the meeting - keeps your block nice and wrinkle free after pressing, keep some ribbon embroidery and ribbon flowers supplies in , an easy way to store ribbon by color and without fold marks or dust -- the uniform size of the box also makes storage easier and more compact.

65. Store large amounts of fabric on cardboard forms used at the fabric stores. The store is usually happy to get rid of them. They make a great temporary ironing board when wrapped with a large bath towel - easy to take for
classes or small projects close to your sewing machine.  The long tubes used for drapery fabric are also available at the fabric store for free and can be cut to size to store wall hangings and delicate fabrics.  Again, no wrinkles.  Cover the tubes with muslin and also make a muslin bag to store large hangings.

66. Orvus soap or paste (horse soap) at the farm supply or feed store, for washing quilts.

67. # 10 envelopes, available at Office Depot to store cut pieces for blocks. I cut the pieces for the blocks, then collect them in an envelope (making notes if useful) and then rubber band the envelopes together and
stick in a plastic  box along with the pattern or instructions.  A quilt ready to sew together.

68. Fillet glove, the glove fishermen use to keep from cutting their hand when they are filleting fish.

69. Hangers: after washing/pressing long lengths of fabric, fold it from cut end to end to 20" width or so, then clip the selvage side with a skirt hanger and hang crease-free in a closet.

70. Rubber door stoppers for a tilt table, put them under the back of my machine, and I have a tilted machine.

71. Flat wooden pants hanger to hold cutting mates. It keeps them flat and east to find as well.

72. Book cover plastic rolls that come in bright colors you can see  through to make template sized cutouts to put on rules, plastic templates, etc.

73. Contact paper to cover boxes for projects and scraps, different patterns for different projects.

74. Plastic carrier designed for carrying napkins and silverware, one side has 4 compartments, the other side is just open, only 5" X 8" and about 4" tall, very handy for taking scissors, pins, cutters from room to room.

75. 2" wide masking/drafting tape for taping down the backs of our quilts when we baste using a table.

76. Irons seldom bought in quilt shops.

77. Wall mounted cases that one would usually put nails and screws in.  They have many drawers and come in handy for all sorts of small things.

78. Deli paper makes a wonderful stabilizer for machine appliqué, or you can trace patterns on it and use it for foundation paper piecing.

79. Plywood nailed to the back of sewing room door with hooks, nails and all tools hang there, rulers, cutters, stencils.  Even further, have a document wallet nailed to board, keep flipped open and keep value finder, the angler and various flat things in there - the wallet is kept "open" with big paper clips;  also a transparent document wallet,  which has templates in.

80. Shoeboxes for scraps sorted color.

81.Empty prescription pill bottles to hold thread for take-along projects.  Use a hot needle and poked several holes around the top of the plastic bottle.  Fill several bobbins with the colors you are using for the appliqué currently working on. Place the bobbins in the pill bottle and thread each through one of the holes in top.  Place the lid on the bottle and secure the dangling threads with a rubber band.  When you need a certain color of thread just pull down on that  thread color without taking the thread our from under the rubber band and cut off what you want.  This keeps the thread handy and untangled.  You can also just put one spool of thread in a pill bottle if you are working with one color or if you are quilting.  These bottles come in several sizes and can be purchased from your local pharmacy for very little if you don't have a supply on hand.

82. Quilt display stands for your guild from a photo supply store.  They are used to hang the backgrounds for professional photographers.

83. When going to class put your rotary cutter in an old eye glass case.

84. New disposable food containers (Glad, etc.) in various sizes; sewing machine feet in one, sewing machine leaning items in another, needles in another, etc.

85. Rubbermaid and other storage containers in various sizes for fat quarters, projects in progress, etc.

86. For patterns, etc. printed off the internet, three-ring binders with pocket dividers.  The pocket dividers work great.

87. Rubber tubs you get in the hospital, along with the water pitcher, etc; one holds adult patterns; the other holds infant/children patterns.

88. Disposable rubber gloves for machine quilting, tweezers for removing paper from the back of a project.
Organize the odds and ends of patterns, templates, booklets, small stencils and such in a drawer file cabinet using manila folders.  It works great!

89. Clear plastic shoe bag w/20 shoe slots, great for storage.

90. Traveling roll-up jewelry case w/clear pockets.  The pockets are a perfect size for keeping Gutterman thread; in the zipper top keep needles, thimble, tape and marking pens.

91. My sewing table consists of a door (that I purchased at Home Depot for $18) that I painted white and 2 dressers from Wal-Mart.I sort all kinds of stuff in the dressers and they are just the right height for me.  I'm tall and wanted a higher cutting table.  I laid the door across the dressers and put 2 large cutting mats on top and now have a 36 by 80 cutting area.

92. Storage carts from Office Max that are  on wheels with six drawers to store works-in-progress and thread.

93. Rubberized shelf liner to keep thread from rolling around in your cart and use it under foot pedal to keep it from slipping.

94. Pumice stone to keep handy while working on flannel.  One swipe with a pumice stone and the "pills" are gone!  This also works great on sweaters.

95. Empty plastic 35 mm film containers for pins or embellishment beads; the clear ones are better.  You can see what's inside.

96. Rubber shelf lining to keep machines from slipping, also under cutting boards to  keep them in place, and probably a million other places besides.

97. Reynolds freezer paper is a staple in quilting.

98. Medium-size cosmetic case with pockets inside; holds hand quilting supplies including all the threads in the middle and various other things in each pocket (including the Roxanne thimble), very portable and attractive.

99. Plastic pages that have pockets to store slides at camera supply stores; put embroidery thread into each pocket.  Their plastic will not ruin your thread as will cheap plastic.  The pages have holes to store them in ring binders. No searching for the color thread or the brand as it is in the proper pocket and you can see it.

100. Something used while appliquéing are round toothpicks to help turn the edges.

101. Revolving spice caddy with the opening in the top.  The caddy is made of heavy duty molded plastic and has four sections where 4 glass jars fit into a separate slot in each of the four sections, 16 wonderful  clear jars with a screw-on cap which you can label.  In between the  sections are prongs to hold what used to be measuring spoons and such.  The glass jars hold sequins, pretty decorative buttons, embellishments, and small lengths of
various ribbons.  The utensil holder in the middle of the caddy can hold extra scissors, pinking shears, and smaller rulers. The revolving feature is perfect!

102. Freezer paper: Iron it onto your ironing board, shinny side down, and it will protect the ironing board cover from the its & bits of glue when you are doing fusible appliqué.

103. An art portfolio used to carry cutting mat for class; two pieces of poster board to store and carry blocks in the portfolio.

104. Plastic snap or zippered bags that sheets and blankets come in for project holders.

105. Replacement OTT light bulbs at Staples and Office Depot for about $9. These bulbs also work in any standard fluorescent office desk or task light fixture that is rated at 13  watts.

106. Similar fusible web for sale by the yard (under a different name) under the cutting table at JoAnn's.

107. Dryer sheets for appliqué;  draw a pictures on them or tracing around cookie cutters to get  good shapes; they seem to stay if ironed down to the right side of the fabric, long enough not to have to pin them before sewing.

108. Styrofoam to place beside your sewing machine; as you take pins out, "jab" them into the Styrofoam for use later or keep them from falling on the floor.

109. Baby wipe plastic boxes to store precut scraps for scrap quilts; also have one packed at all times to  take to classes with a rotary cutter, extra blades, seam ripper, triangle ruler, extra bobbins, scissors, extra thread,
pins, needles and scraps of fabric to test stitches before starting on a current class project.

110. My dining room table has quite a thick top, and the clamps I could find at the office supply store just wouldn't fit to hold my quilt sandwich while I pin basted.  However, I went to a camping supply store today and found those metal clamps that people use to keep their tablecloths from blowing off a picnic table when it's windy.  They should work beautifully!  And the best part is that I bought two sets of six at less than $2.00 for each set!

Submitted by qD.

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