Katie's Tips & Tricks (affiliate links)

Those of you who can't find a good 3-tined fork for your home-made zipper jig, here's an easy solution!  Use this self-adhesive tea towel holder to place your zipper pull in when trying to attach to your zipper tape!  

 Your embroidery machine will load designs into the machine's memory faster from 1GB USB sticks. Here's a set that comes with a wristlet to help you hang and organize them neater in your sewing space! You can get hundreds of designs on a 1 GB stick....You can also organize your designs by category on the sticks! 

Having the right tools helps your machine perform at peak performance!  These Digital Cleaning Swabs are perfect for getting the extra grit, grime, and lint from underneath your throat plate and bobbin area! 

Used with a fabric folding pen, this Hera Marker tool will give your perfect corners and rounded curves, as seen in my classes!

Your needles need to be changed more often than you think.  Save time and money by purchasing them in bulk!

Another great item for your sewing machine kit!  We all need an easy access, small screwdriver for a quick fix or repair.  These fit on your key ring or store in your sewing machine accessory tray without using up valuable real estate! A great gift or stocking stuffer for your sewing buddies!

  Use these soft mascara brushes and multi-purpose them to clean your bobbin case area...clean out those loose threads and wads of lint!  A clean sewing machine is a happy sewing machine...

This always sells out in my classes after the demonstrations.  It's a must for quilters and seamstresses alike to get that perfect fold for a hem, pieced seam, or finger-pressed seam.  You'll see I use it in all my online classes.

You have serious power fluctuations when you are running an iron and computerized sewing/embroidery machine at the same time.  What if your power fails and you lose your embroidery design?  With a battery backup system with AVR (automatic voltage regulation), you will maintain a constant flow of power to your investment and give yourself time to power down your machines appropriately and help protect your machine from a power surge or brown out.  With the battery backup, you'll have some time to charge your electronics, even if the power goes out!

My embroidery machines are an investment I want to protect, so when I work in an arid environment, it's easy to create a static charge when I'm sewing.  Putting my sewing machine on a mat like this not only dissipates a static charge, but it provides a little sound buffer under my machine.  An added bonus is that it keeps my machine from moving around on a table.  It's also  great to take to a sewing class if you are sewing on a plastic table which creates a lot of static charge build up!  It's easy to cut to a custom size as well...you may have enough for home AND classes!  There are different sizes available.

For successful machine embroidery, you need to have the fabric stable, yet relaxed (not stretched out of shape).  If you can stabilize the fabric, you can use lighter "paper" stabilizers.  I love Terial Magic for those special quilt blocks, applique, or machine cutting techniques.  I even used it to add body to the 15 Minute Bow Pattern!  This small bottle will be your stabilizing friend, so give it a try.

This Mylar places the right "Glitz" in your mylar designed embroideries.  The softer hand and easy manipulation make it perfect your embroidery project. It comes on a roll so there's no creases to embroider over and the "mother of pearl" iridescence complements any design.