What tools do I need for quilting?

You've decided you want to start quilting. Great!

Now. Where do you start?

The first question to ask yourself is, are you going to stitch by hand or by machine? I've yet to piece blocks together by hand or quilt by hand - I'm not confident enough with my stitching, but I am determined to have a honeycomb design in my own quilt, so I need to get practicising. The honeycomb design involves cutting out hexagon shaped fabrics using paper templates and piecing them together. But more on that when I let you know about my christmas project...

My experience of using a sewing machine up until 3 years ago was limited to textiles GCSE where my project was to make a swimsuit for the larger lady. I wasn't great - my mum ended up sewing most of it for me. I got an A for the actual swimsuit... and a B overall. I fear my coursework let my mum's sewing skills down!

My Cypriot mum was a seamstress before she came to England and is a whizz on the sewing machine. She used to sew her own outfits, such as this lovely dress and this skirt and blouse number:

My beautiful mum

Her sewing skills were also put to use during the 80s making some rather interesting outfits for my sister and I. (Think shorts and crop tops in luminous grafitti style fabric. I'll have to find a picture for you...)

And now my mum is called upon for numerous alterations to curtains and clothing (we're a short legged family and often need a trouser hem turned up!). All these years since being in England she has had the same machine:

New Home Model SW20I8E

For those who don't know New Home is actually Janome. The machine (touch wood) has been going for 30+ years and it is still working fine thanks to services my dad has carried out on it over the years. So, this is what I work on, lugging it (it's quite heavy) between my parents house and my flat when I want to use it.

I want to buy my own but between buying a flat, renovating a flat, and getting married I haven't had the opportunity to save up. Any machine recommendations for quilting would be gratefully received. Please leave a comment! I would want to spend a maximum of £400.

Anyway, so that is my the machine I use. A 30+ year old sewing machine. And here are the rest of the tools I have collated:

Tools for quilting:

1. To me, one of the most important tools for accurate quilting is the green cutting mat that all the tools are sat on. My mat is 17" x 11" and cost c.£12.
2. The rectangular plastic transparent "quilt-n-sew" ruler by Sew Easy is the second most important. Mine is 12" x 6.5" and cost again c.£12
   These two products ensure that you can line your fabric up squarely and accurately your fabric. 
   Being just a little bit off can throw a pattern when you come to sewing and piecing together.
3. The triangular plastic ruler (with yellow grid lines) is called an "Omnigrid 96 Triangle" and is used for making half square triangles. I bought mine from the quiltroom.co.uk, it appears in a lot of their Jelly Roll patterns (which is when I first came across it/needed to use it).
4. An iron! Ok, we've all got one of these, probably.. but it is so important that you use it! It is so much easier to sew blocks together when the seams are pressed and everything is neat.
5. The two blue things are "Quilt clips". I bought these when I was working on a larger quilt. I struggled to machine quilt when there was so much bulky material to manouver. I rolled up the side that I was not working on and attached these clips to keep it all in place. It was much easier to handle after that. They cost c.£3.
6. Quilting foots. I have two - the thin one is for free-motion quilting. I have still not got used to it and I'm still practicing! I want to move away from straight lines! The larger foot is a walking foot that helps move all three layers of fabric that you are quilting along together. A must have. They cost c.£10 each (I think!) 
7. Hemline curved quilters safety pins. These curved saftey pins are supposed to make it easier to pin and hold in place your 3 layers together before quilting. I've had mixed results with them. They are helpful to a point, but I still find getting the basting really flat and smooth tricky. Any tips for other products to use would be lovely. I've heard of sprays that can be used but I'm reluctant to use sprays on a baby's blanket?
8. Rotary cutter! It's a must. I'd say 3rd most important tool! (So really should be at number 3 in the list. Sorry.) I put the scissors in there, but it's only to keep threads shorts and neat. The rotary cutter is a must for straight accurately lines. It is also a quick way to chop up the fabric. Do not use your cutter for anything other than fabric, though. It will blunt easily. (I used mine on my wedding stationery and soon had to go out and buy another blade.) My cutter is 45mm and cost c.£13 
9. Stitch unpicker... I shouldn't need it, but I do. It's the little yellow tool on the bottom right. (It's my mums. She's had it for years and is held together with sellotape!)  It saves so much time - especially when you're annoyed that you have to back track for not sewing correctly in the first place and are furiously unpicking your error.
10. Either side of the stitch unpicker are tools to draw on your quilting design. I have tried a little chalk tool (the grey one) that is supposed to brush off once you've sewed over it and an air erasble marker that slowly disappears. My only gripe is that it usually evaporates a little too quickly for my liking! They were c.£3
11. Flat flowerhead colourful pins. I love them. I won't look at other pins now. They are great because they don't create bulk (ahem, flat head), they are nice and long, and the colourful flower-shaped head makes it so easy to find the pin when you've dropped them onto the carpet. Seriously, better than your foot finding them! I bought them from cottonpatch.co.uk (it has a great haberdashery) and cost me £1.60.
12. And finally ... my embroidery hoop. I originally bought this to embroider a christmas stocking I made. But, having read the 2012 Love Patchwork Magazine I found a great tutorial by Elizabeth Hartman that shows how to use the embroidery hoop to practice your freemotion quilting. I've already given it a go. Results in another post. (I need more practice.) If you can't find the magazine in the shops, the tutorial was originally from Elizabeth's book "The Practical Guide to Patchwork".

And that is that... any more for any more?!
Anyone have any other suggestions? The more tools the merrier....