I love pattern weights, they have so many uses. They’re sold to hold pattern pieces in place when making clothing, but they come in handy for quilting as well.

Dritz Fabric Pattern Weights come in sets of four and can be purchased at many quilt shops, Joann’s and Amazon. I’m sure there are many other places to buy them as well. They come in purple, pink and green to add some color to your sewing room or to see them better in that large pile of fabric. I started with one package of four then added four more and eight seems just right.

So how do I use them in quilting you might ask? Here are some of the ways but I keep finding more.

I put the weights on my acrylic rulers or templates to help hold them in place as I position the rulers or templates on the fabric. The ruler and templates can be nudged into place and stay put. Four to six weights work great for this.

The weights also add enough extra weight to the ruler or template to help with cutting or squaring up. I may add as many as 8 weights depending upon the size of the template or ruler. The bigger the template the more weights. I place the weights on the ruler then position my hand over the top or around them, then cut. The ruler stays in place and doesn’t push away from the rotary cutter.

I also use the weights when cutting fabric, batting or fusible fleece. Say I want to cut a smaller piece from some yardage. The large amount of fabric likes to slip off the edge of the table making it difficult to cut. Place the weights on the larger piece of fabric and it will stay put while you cut the smaller piece of fabric.

When doing appliqué I draw the design on the paper side of the fusible web. I place a weight on the fusible web to hold it in place as I draw or trace the appliqué shape. After I cut, if I have a lot of small shapes, I stack them and add a weight so they stay put.

The weights help with the binding as well. Fold the binding in half wrong sides together, place it on the ironing board, place three or four weights along the binding to help hold the fold then iron, removing the weights as you go. Reposition the binding and weights and iron some more.

I like to have my thread scissors, seam ripper and small rotary cutter to the right of my sewing machine for quick access. My pin cushion, pencil and various other accessories, that I'm using at the time, end up adding to the necessary clutter.

I've used a tabletop carousel for art supplies, for many years. Inspiration hit the other day. There just so happened to be an empty carousel, waiting to be filled with the various quilting supplies that had accumulated.

Everything fits nicely with room for more. The carousel spins freely for quick access and the rubber feet hold it in place. I can also easily pick the carousel up and move all those supplies to the cutting table or to wherever I need them.

It had been many years since I had bought a carousel so I looked them up on Amazon for anyone that is interested. Amazon has several that run from $15.00 to $23.00 with free shipping for orders over $25.00. Do a search on Amazon for pencil carousel.

We'd love to hear some of your storage ideas in the comment section. Happy quilting!