I don’t claim to be any expert when it comes to piecing quilts, but I thought I’d share this tip anyway because I felt like it really speeded things up when I was piecing this week. I have a small, wooden tool (shown on the top) that I think was sold as a Hera marker. I blogged about it once before when I was explaining about markless marking. Anyway, I like it because it fits neatly in the palm of my hand. I can easily hold it while sewing, so I’m not constantly picking it up and putting it down.
When I’ve sewn a seam, I can flip the fabric piece over and “press” my seam to one side. This saves me the trouble of moving back and forth between the sewing machine and the iron, and it gives me the advantage of forcing the seam to behave when I stitch the next one.
I also use the tool to pick up the next piece that I need to sew. It easily slips between layers of fabric so I’m not fumbling so much.
Using this simple tool, I was amazed at how quickly my Braided Zigzag quilt top came together.