Marilee's Numbered Pins
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| Marilee's Numbered Pins |
Before I got the Marilee’s Numbered Pins I used little numbered pieces of paper and straight pins. Marilee’s pins are much easier and faster since you don’t have to keep track of little pieces of paper. The pins are numbered 1 through 20 with about 4 to 6 pins of each number. I don’t know the exact amount of each number.
The round container opens from both the top and the bottom with numbers 1 through 10 on one side and 11 through 20 on the other, all separated in their own little compartments. It is a little cumbersome to pick up one pin at a time from each little compartment but I found it much easier to take out one of each pin and put them in a pin cushion. I keep one set of numbers in my pin cushion at home and the container with the rest of the pins is kept in my traveling supply case. The numbers are easy to read but are only numbered on one side so you have to make sure the numbered side is facing up.
I place the pins on the upper left side of the block so I know which orientation to sew the blocks. My one complaint is that the pins are a little too long but if I place the pins in the fabric vertically it works just fine.
I leave the pins in place until the entire top is pieced. When I press the seams on each row I press the odd rows to the left and the even rows to the right to make sure the seams in each row interlock with those in the adjacent rows.
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| This is row 14 and block 6 |
I leave the pins in place until the entire top is pieced. When I press the seams on each row I press the odd rows to the left and the even rows to the right to make sure the seams in each row interlock with those in the adjacent rows.
You can use two or more pins on each block to designate the row number and the column number. I put the row numbers first then the column numbers to the right and slightly below the row numbers.
I do a lot of paper piecing and often the units are pieced by sections instead of rows and columns. In these cases I number the units on the diagram in the instructions and then put these numbered pins in the pieced unit that correspond to the units in the diagram. No more stitching the units in the wrong order and ripping out!
I do a lot of paper piecing and often the units are pieced by sections instead of rows and columns. In these cases I number the units on the diagram in the instructions and then put these numbered pins in the pieced unit that correspond to the units in the diagram. No more stitching the units in the wrong order and ripping out!
Happy Quilting!
Carol Thelen