Product Review: Supreme Slider

I love to free motion quilt.  Once I got over the bump of learning how it all works and getting my sea legs when it came to how to control the machine, my speed and forming the shapes, I became addicted.  I know that for a lot of folks it seems intimidating or too fussy to do at home, but I get a lot of joy out of it. 

That being said, there are a lot of gizmos and gadgets in the market targeted to quilters to make free motion quilting easier - there are clips and gloves and ointments and brackets and the list goes on.  You know me...the apple doesn't fall far from the gizmo-hating tree.  I was brought up by a gizmo hating quilter, so I too am a gizmo hating quilter. 

A while back one of our quilting buddies told us about a free motion quilting class she took in which the teacher had the Supreme Slider by Pat LaPierre on the list as a recommended supply.  She absolutely raved about how wonderful it was, and considering who was doing the raving, I conceded to giving it a try. 

So it came in this little folded pack, and it is just an 8.5" x 11" piece of slick teflon-esque material with a sticky bottom side that adheres to your machine like so:

It's not too difficult to get on there, but it does want to stick before you're ready for it to, so it takes a little finagling.  But one it's on, so long as your feed dogs are dropped and the hole is centered over the hole on your machine's throat plate, you're ready to rock.  

I should have taken a picture of the project I was quilting while I was using this thing, but to he honest, I didn't think about it. Oops!  But the Supreme Slider is WONDERFUL.  It really does reduce the friction like it claims to, and it is quite noticeable.  With my machine, there is an issue where, in heavily quilted areas, the threads want to catch on the open feed dog area.  I have NO idea why this happens, since the threads aren't loose, but it does.  Using the Supreme Slider seems to eliminate the issue in addition to eliminating the drag.  And, even though the backside gets linty after a while, it is very easy to clean and reuse.  For a gizmo...this thing is pretty sweet.

So what would I say are the pros and cons?

CONS

- If you have top loading bobbin case as I do, it's a pain to change the bobbin when it runs out.  If you aren't cautious to thread the bobbin thread up through the mat, it will get stuck on the sticky side and cause real issues if you don't notice and go to start sewing again. 

- For a one trick pony, it's spendy.  I had the advantage of being able to buy it wholesale, but it retails for just shy of $30.  

- Keep the packaging!  It doesn't come with anything to protect the sticky side from getting linty or dusty while you're not using it, other than the packaging it came in. 

PROS

- It really, really does reduce drag.

- It fits your machine even if you have an extension table.  My extension table likes to move while I'm quilting, and this helps keep that sucker from shifting.

- It is reusable.  I was able to get three quilts done before it was linty enough to affect its ability to adhere to my machine. 

- Speaking of washing, just some warm water and hand soap is all it takes to get the lint off.  Washing it with warm soapy water did not reduce its stickiness.

All in all, I give the Supreme Slider 4 out of 5 stars.  The cost and the bobbin issue are both enough to knock it out of 5 star status. 

You can find the Supreme Slider online here directly from the website. 

Product Review: Mettler Web Bond TA 101 (Spray Adhesive)

So it looks like Mettler has gotten a little deeper into the Notions game with their spray adhesive.  Just about everyone knows Mettler for their thread, which is wonderful and very competitive with Aurifil and Gutterman.  I don't know how long this particular product has been out in general (probably a considerable while), but the shop has carried it for about 6 months and I thought it might be time to give it a review.  I am a spray adhesive girl.  I use it when I can in my quilting projects, and also in other crafts where I want to have a good, but non permanent fix.

Like most all other spray adhesives, it comes in aerosol form, not pump-spray form, which means it should have a fairly even spray distribution...and it delivers.  I found it to come out quickly, evenly and the spray itself was fairly thick.  Rather than coming out as a fine mist like a lot of other sprays, which can make it hard to see where you've sprayed and where you haven't, this comes out whitish and kind of webby and stringy. What I really liked about this, aside from it making me feel like Spiderman for a second, is the fact that I could actually clearly see where my spray had ended up on the fabric. Another bonus is that even where I had sprayed the fabric heavily, the adhesive remained on the fabric surface so there was no absorption into the fabric itself - meaning, no funky patches or color distortion on the right side of the piece.

Because the spray came out as a web instead of a mist, more adhesive came out per spray, which means a little goes a long way - it has a very strong stick.  I was able to leave a project alone for a few weeks without the pieces separating because the glue was weakening, so I was very pleased with that.  Also, despite the amount of glue coming out per spray, I found it to have a lower odor than other sprays.  Often aerosol sprays will have a very strong chemical smell due to the aerosol delivery, and can be off putting to the point where people don't want to use them.  While the smell of this one is still here, to my nose it seemed less stinky than the 501, 505 series of adhesive sprays that you commonly see out in the quilting world.

The only caveat?  This is not your best choice for spray basting a quilt you plan on free motion quilting.  Why?  Here is where it's super stickiness becomes a foe rather than friend...it will make you skip stitches like crazy if you use it as your basting spray for both quilt top and backing.  I was quilting along happily and noticed my machine was skipping stitches, particularly on the curves.  That immediately signaled "tension issue!" to me, so I fiddled with the tension.  Still skipped.  Changed my needle.  Still skipped.  Re-threaded my top thread AND bobbin.  Helped, but still skipped.  It took 2 wall hangings and some scientific method-level process of elimination, but after testing the different variables on a scrap piece of quilt sandwich, I found that the pieces that did NOT have any of the spray adhesive on it didn't have skipped stitches no matter how fast, slow, simply or intricately I was quilting.  I made a couple more quilt sandwiches with different adhesives, and it was the Mettler that seemed to have the skipping issue...the others (505, 501, 301, Dritz) did not.  I did find fewer skipped stitches when used on only one side (quilt top or backing) but not both.  My conclusion is that since it comes out fairly thick, and has such a strong adhesion, it is catching the thread as it moves in and out of the fabric, and preventing it from creating a correct stitch.

So overall, Mettler has put out a good spray adhesive product with low stink and high stick that lasts.  I will not be using it to spray baste a quilt again, but for all other purposes, I think it far surpasses Dritz and the 501, 505 and 301 series.

Product Review: Cutting Edge Rulers

The Cutting Edge Ruler by Sullivan's

This time around I'm reviewing Sullivan's Cutting Edge Ruler. The concept behind this ruler is that on one edge, there is a metal, blade sharpening strip; as you cut your blade is sharpened, hence extending the time between blade changes.

We're testing these out at the shop and I have one at home. I have been a Creative Grids girl since I started quilting. I LOVE those rulers but these give those a run for the money. Here are the pros and cons:

Pros
- This ruler stays PUT because of the frosted back. I mean, it does not move at all.
- Comes in all the different common ruler sizes
- Reasonably priced
- Actually sharpens your blade if used properly

Cons
- The sharpening noise is atrocious. I HATE metal-on-metal sounds (it's my version of nails on a   chalkboard) so I rarely use the sharpening edge for that reason alone.
- There are no measurements on the lines on the inside, so finding the measurement you need takes a little more focus to make sure you're cutting accurately.
- The frosted back, while preventing slipping, is difficult to see through, which makes ensuring your fabric is straight and lined up difficult if the color is off.

Despite the cons, I use this ruler all the time at home and love it. I don't know if we'll be carrying this at the shop any time soon, but I recommend giving it a shot!

Product Review: Heat n' Bond Feather Weight

If you do fusible applique, then at the very least you have heard of the brand Heat n' Bond, if not used it yourself. There are a few good fusibles out there on the market, and I have found through trial and error that Heat n' Bond products work the best for me. Not that the others, like Steam-A-Seam or MistyFuse, don't work well; they do, but I like the results I get with Heat n' Bond better.

Anyway, so Heat n' Bond has developed and released their response to MistyFuse and the other very light fusibles, which is their Feather Weight brand. We got it in at the shop for Carol and I, since we do a lot of applique, to test and see what we thought. Our opinions differ. I like Feather Weight, and actually I prefer it to Heat n' Bond Lite (my previous staple). I concede, however, that Feather Weight has some...idiosyncrasies. But once you know how to deal with and counteract those quirks, it's a wonderful, wonderful thing to have on hand.

Feather Weight really is just that...it is light as a feather! I have a tendency to go for patterns and designs that pile layer upon layer, and so the thinner the fusible, the better. But like I said, there are some idiosyncrasies. When the fusible comes off the roll, Heat n' Bond has affixed the plastic instruction sheet to the inside (fusible) side of the roll. The adhesive is so thin that trying to pull that instruction sheet off without tearing a wide swath from the middle is both an exercise in patience and dexterity. I have found it difficult not to lose an inch or two from the end that I peel the sheet off of, but I have also found that once you get it started and it stops tearing, it can be ripped right off like usual. Also, if you pull the sheet off just a few inches past where you're planning to cut your piece off, the fusible won't tear when you go for another piece and have to tear the instructions off again.

Speaking of instructions, this is the one fusible where I do in fact follow them. You absolutely cannot use a higher iron setting on this stuff, because the fusible is so thin it'll just dissolve away if you do. It on;y takes a second or two to adhere it to your fabric, but once it's on there, it's fabulous. Because of its thinness, it's able to be repositioned on your applique. The drawback on that thinness though is that repeated ironing, when you assemble your applique, makes the fusible dissovle a little more each time so you may find your corners coming up as you stitch everything down if you're working on a more intricate project.

So with Heat n' Bond Featherweight, its assets are also its liabilities. I have found, however, that it is more beneficial than not and it's definitely a product worth giving a try.

I give Heat n' Bond Feather Weight...