I think that a good place to start was by telling you the supplies and sewing gadgets that I LOVE, couldn't live without, and use most often and the why's behind it all.
First. A good pair of scissors. I know I'm kind of snob about this but, Gingher scissors are GREAT! I have the knife edge dress makers sheers like these.
I like dressmaker kind because it allows you to use all or most of your
fingers and the handle bends so the scissors can be as close to parallel
with your cutting surface as possible. I also have a pair of the featherweights. The sheers are heavy, there is no doubt about that, but these are super light. My mom bought me this pair when I was kid and she was teaching lessons to children who were too weak to make the real heavy kind go. These are great too but the sheers are still my favorite.
I also like to have a pair of snips that sits right by my machine (this is what I call them anyway, just a short scissor with a sharp pointed tip) I use these to trim threads, snip curves, cut out intricate designs etc. My snips are not gingher brand. The fact that I've got three pair of cheap snips tells me maybe I should have just splurged and bought a nice pair of gingher snips.
And to keep your scissors nice and sharp, only use them on fabric. NO PAPER! In fact, if I'm cutting a fabric that has sequins or anything else that might dull my blade, I use my garbage pair of scissors. Did you know you can have your sewing scissors sharpened? You can! And it's usually not very expensive either. I think a local fabric store close to me does it for about a dollar. They do a great job too.
On that note, my next favorite thing is this:
I LOVE my rotary cutter. I have the one pictured above and this one:
I like the top one best because of two reasons. One, the blade engages just by gripping the handle so I don't even have to think about it. Two, the blade closes when not in use. These blades are SHARP! You have to be super careful with them and definitely keep them away from children, but they are an amazing time saver. Don't even think about doing a quilt without one, How did anyone quilt before these things? I've used them for cutting out anything that will fit on the mat that needs to go underneath. it's a great way to square up fabric too. The blade itself isn't too horribly expensive, it's the mat that goes underneath. Always buy these puppies on sale or with a JoAnns coupon.
OK on to the next.
Security! Glass head, stainless steel pins. I HATE pinning. More often than not, it seems like such a waste of time. But sometimes you don't have a choice and you just have to pin. Glass heads are stronger and won't melt if ironed, and they tend to have stronger metal that doesn't bend by just looking at it (which many cheaper pins do) And... i much prefer a magnetic pin cushion to any other. That's not to say that I don't have a tomato pin cushion, I just save that for all my sewing machine and hand sewing needles. Don't overload your magnet though or they won't stick well and that kind of defeats the purpose. Who needs 100 pins at one time anyway?
And get this, my newest discovery that I LOVE.... Alligator clips.
I'm sure I'm not the first person to use these in sewing but I got the idea from the quilting section at JoAnns. They have these snap clips for holding quilt binding in place while you sew
. I don't like the idea of snap clips because they distort when they are closed. But Alligator clips lay flat and have been my "go to" since I bought them. They do a fantastic job of holding a hem in place, holding together slippery fabrics until I get them under the sewing machine and using on fabrics that I don't want to pin... like the vinyl I used for a purse the other day.
For marking I have three options. I have a white pencil that came in some sewing kit I bought once. It's not great. I use hotel soap. just make sure it doesn't have lotions or other oils that might damage your fabric, but I love using soap for dark fabrics. Another favorite is a disappearing ink pen. Not the cheapest option out there, but how cool is that?! There are other chalks and marking wheels out there but I have never or rarely needed to use them.
A good seam ripper.
I've had lots of seam rippers in my life. I hate them based solely on principle. Who likes un-doing their work? Not me! In fact, I know I've given up and started over instead of ripping out seams more than once. That being said... This kind is my favorite.
For me, it needs to have a sharp and small tip to get in those really small stitches. If the tip is too big, it's too hard to get just the thread and not the fabric. The only downside to these is that they are small and round. I'm always loosing mine. There is lots of options for seam rippers, I bought a whole sewing kit once because the store didn't have these kind for sale separately. Yes... I like these ones that much. ;)
A good measuring tape. I hate to say it because they are way more expensive, but retractable measuring tapes are wonderful! Mine is in my purse most of the time. It comes in ridiculously handy not to mention that it's my kids favorite thing to play with when I need them to be patient at a store or something. I'm going to get one for my sewing room too because I can't stand how a regular one gets everywhere and I'm always searching for the end.
And last... some sewing machine oil. So many problems stem from your machine just needing a good cleaning and oiling. Sewing repair men just love to "help" you out with that (at the tune of $50). It's not that hard, I may even go over the basics with you in another post.
Any sewing gadgets that you just LOVE!? Let's hear about it.
