Thursday, December 1, 2016

Product Reviews - Free Motion Tools

I have taught Free Motion Quilting for many years and I thought it would be fun to tell you about a few products that I've tried to help me control my quilt as I stitch on my home machine.

Noble Notions makes Quilter's Grip and Quilter's Tips.

Quilter's Grip is a set of 2 odd-looking blue plastic shapes, one for the right hand and one for the left. They are easy to get on and off and they helped me move the quilt fairly easily for free motion quilting. However, I found my hands became cramped if I used them too long.
 
Quilter's Tips are harder to get on and off but they also worked well. I didn't have to put one on every finger to gain more control. I didn't have to remove them if I needed to trim threads but threading the needle if I changed threads took a bit more practice since I wasn't used to having something on my finger tips. They can also be used when hand sewing to get a better grip on your needle.

 
I normally use Machingers quilting gloves when free motion quilting. They are thin so my hands don't get hot and the rubberized ends of the fingers give good control of the quilt as I move it under the needle. I think I will continue to use these instead of the 'grips' and 'tips'.

 
Recently I had a student in a free motion quilting class who was using Grip & Stitch™ quilting disks from Clever Craft Tools. I tried them in class and I think they are a great option if you don't like to wear gloves when free motion quilting.

 
 
Do you have a favourite product that gives you more control when free motion quilting? Tell me about it and I'll share it here on the Blog.

3 comments:

Pat said...

There's a similar tool, Batt Scooters by Paula Reid. I've wanted to try these but never got around to them.

Baglady said...

Bib n' Tucker has some in stock.

barbara woods bewtjw@gmail.com said...

16 is almost over!