Hi everyone,
I posted about using makeshift tools for eyelet creation in another thread since I lack an awl. This comment made me think- I wonder what other tools I'm missing that would make everything so much easier? The sewing tools and notions aisles are always a little mystical/overwhelming and I was wondering what tools were game changers for more experienced stitchers that a newbie might not know about or have considered?
Seam ripper, rotary cutter and mat (life saver for slippery fabrics!), soft measuring tape. My stepmom has a nifty little thing that is an open circle that is just wide enough to store your bobbins in. They won't roll around and unroll the thread and get tangled but you can easily see what colors you have and store empty ones. I definitely want one! if you can get a seam ripper with a bigger handle it will be helpful when you have a lot to remove. You won't get as much hand cramping.
(I don't have an awl either, need one at some point. I use the tip of my seamripper to make a hole and a chopstick to widen holes.)
Quote from: Trillium on September 08, 2014, 11:21:18 AM
Seam ripper, rotary cutter and mat (life saver for slippery fabrics!), soft measuring tape. My stepmom has a nifty little thing that is an open circle that is just wide enough to store your bobbins in. They won't roll around and unroll the thread and get tangled but you can easily see what colors you have and store empty ones. I definitely want one! if you can get a seam ripper with a bigger handle it will be helpful when you have a lot to remove. You won't get as much hand cramping.
(I don't have an awl either, need one at some point. I use the tip of my seamripper to make a hole and a chopstick to widen holes.)
I actually have most of those things!
I never use the little bobbin thingy because I don't have enough bobbins to use it- I just throw them in the little tray on my machine.
The fancy seam ripper I picked up over the weekend and it was an AMAZING experience- it has a little jelly handle and is twice as sharp as the one that came with my hand me down machine.
Rotary cutter and mat is on my list of things to get as well- I am AWFUL at cutting fabric in nice straight lines, I don't really understand how it is possible with scissors.
Random thing I would add?
APRON with a pocket.
I am AWFUL about putting my scissors down and covering them in fabric or pattern pieces, same with my measuring tape. I came across a gardening apron in my stash of aprons (I mostly have hostess aprons) and made a conscious effort to put both items in my pocket while not in use. I only lost my tape TWICE- that's a new record!
I actually have one those shelves with hooks in my sewing room. Mine is from Ikea. I keep most of the trim in boxes up on the shelf part and put the scissors on the hooks. The way my shelf is, I also run a dowel across the hooks that holds a lot of different ribbons. Another good thing - one of those thread spool holders that you can screw into a wall. Very, very helpful since you have all the thread out but organized. My nephews love that I have a rainbow of thread. :-)
For actual tools, the only thing I might suggest is a big eye needle for beading. I always lose mine but they aren't expensive and they work really well for spazzy threads and fibers.
Really, scissors, a needle, and cotton thread will get you through almost any project.
If you are just trying to cut straight lines, any even weave fabric is very easy to rip. I do this for most linens and cottons - just make a small snip at the selvage and then tear across the grain. This makes life easy for any chemises you need to cut out as those are all rectangles and squares.
A good Bodkin for elastic and waist band drawstring threading. A safety pin will do in a pinch, but it really helps to have the proper tool for the job.
One of those long hooks with a handle for turning narrow tube projects; like straps and ties, and to pull drawstrings through very narrow channels.
Quote from: Rowen MacD on September 08, 2014, 12:47:08 PM
A good Bodkin for elastic and waist band drawstring threading. A safety pin will do in a pinch, but it really helps to have the proper tool for the job.
I use a drinking straw. :-) Cut it to about 4", slide the ribbon through the straw, pin it to the straw, and just push the straw through. Cheap and it works much better than the safety pin.
Noting that for the next time I'm stuck on the road with no bodkin!
Get yourself an awl (it should be much wider at the base than the point). You will find ENDLESS uses for it. I have at least three. They're not hard to find, although I haven't gotten around to picking up a wooden or bone one yet.
My favorite new "how did I live without this?" notion is a scalpel-type seam ripper (http://www.lazygirldesigns.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Havels-seam-ripper.jpg). It is a GAZILLION times faster than a traditional seam ripper (although the blade is not as strong; it slices rather than snaps the threads). If you do any kind of re-fashioning (not just sewing from scratch) or serge any of your seams, you will LOVE this thing!
I also have a lot of different varieties of pins and (hand-sewing) needles. Silk pins with glass heads are long and sharp and can pin tricky fabrics like velvet without leaving a mark. Short thick pins with colored-ball heads are sturdy enough to pin through canvas without bending. Quilt pins are good for holding long layers together. I prefer tiny, thin sharp needles for hand-sewing, but some applications call for something a little larger and sturdier... and it's nice to have a heavy, blunt tapestry needle on hand for things like sewing yourself up into mockups or threading ribbons into things... just stuff.
I also HIGHLY recommend learning how to use a thimble (it goes on the middle finger of your dominant hand, to push the blunt end of the needle through thick layers). You *really* don't want to stab yourself with that blunt end! :o I use a leather full thimble with a metal pad inside the tip, but there are gads of varieties--you just need to experiment with what's comfortable and fits you.
Here's more of a trick than a notion... I just discovered that I can pin directly into my carpeted floor, making pattern/fabric cutting a lot easier. I don't have a cutting table, and it's hard to use a rotary cutter to good effect on carpet (you really need a flat, solid surface), but pinning right into the floor leaves no marks in the carpet, holds both layers securely, and avoids the distortion possible with scissors.
The one thing I am yearning for... a *really* long (at least 40") ruler that's actually straight, for hemming skirts. (I have a couple of cheap wooden yardsticks that, aside from being too short for my skirt length, are slightly warped.)
Quote from: gem on September 08, 2014, 04:49:11 PM
The one thing I am yearning for... a *really* long (at least 40") ruler that's actually straight, for hemming skirts. (I have a couple of cheap wooden yardsticks that, aside from being too short for my skirt length, are slightly warped.)
Home Depot/Lowes usually carries flat aluminum strips that would work really well for that.
I don't remember where I got it, but I have a steel yard stick that I could not do without. Awls are worth their weight in gold. The one I found is about 4 inches of point, and is about half an inch around at the base, with a very sharp point.
As for the bobbin box, its worth it, especially when dealing with a bunch of different colors. I'd suggest getting one, and filling it with empties. I really dislike not being able to find the one for what I'm working on, or having to strip a full one to start a new color.
The odd random thing that helps me pretty often in a good pair of tweezers. Better than my fat fingers for changing needles, or for fixing the rather fowl prone auto-threader on my machine.
Quote from: Hoowil on September 08, 2014, 09:43:14 PM
The odd random thing that helps me pretty often in a good pair of tweezers. Better than my fat fingers for changing needles, or for fixing the rather fowl prone auto-threader on my machine.
ITA!! I have a pair of tweezers in EVERY ONE of my sewing and needlework boxes, plus the super-long angled ones that came with my serger (which have turned out to be more useful than the serger itself!). I also really like the locking forceps I picked up once for some reason I can't now recall.
***
Here's a DIY one that I use CONSTANTLY: Hemming templates. I took acid free cardstock and marked 1/2", 5/8", and other common hem depths all the way across. I just lay it atop whatever I'm trying to hem, fold up to match the marked line, and press. Infinitely faster than measuring & marking! I like this method so much that when hemming the awkward curve on my English fitted gown, I made templates for pressing those, as well! (We just reorganized our bedroom, and the ironing station got moved around a bit. I made a deliberate point of showing Milord my cardstock hemming templates and explaining what they were and saying, "If you ever stumble across this, IT'S NOT TRASH. Don't accidentally recycle it!" LOL)
On the subject of rulers, my folding carpenter's ruler was a game-changer for me. I tend to live in shared spaces where crafting space is at a premium, so having a ruler that I can fold out to 9' for use and then store at 12" has been delightful.
Quote from: gypsylakat on September 08, 2014, 11:38:01 AM
I never use the little bobbin thingy because I don't have enough bobbins to use it- I just throw them in the little tray on my machine.
Don't.. have.. enough... bobbins? ??? :o Well, there's your mistake, right there! lol I probably have 40-50 of the little beggers, and I usually
still can't find the one I'm looking for! I believe I need a few of those bobbin boxes for myself! I do really like having lots of extra bobbins, though, because I can load more than one for a big project, and not have to take time away from the actual sewing to stop and reload one... and I can load all of the different colors I'll be using before I even start sewing, and that cuts down on the "fiddling around" time, as well.
I also have one of the thread display boards that hang on the wall, but I don't have it mounted in my studio, yet. It's second hand (as are many of my wonderful studio accessories), not very large, and 8 of the 69 dowel pegs have been broken off, but I believe I may be able to repair it if I can dig the ends out of the board. I have tons of thread that a friend gave me after her mother passed... but it was stored in one of those clear plastic zippered comforter bags, and some of it has unraveled enough to create a good size snarl! I've worked on about 1/3 of it, but I need to cut the rest free and see what's still salvageable. I think it's going to take a whole drawer unit to store it so that I can find what I'm looking for, though... there are at least 300 spools, or more. Some of it is older, and may no longer be usable...but some of it is very good thread, indeed, and should be stored where it can be easily used. I don't have a lot of accessible wall space, though, so hanging it where it can all been seen at once isn't really an option. I think I need something sort of like a revolving tie rack, only for thread. Hmmmm... I might have to look into that! :D
I no longer use my bobbin boxes; if they ever got spilled out (why that NEVER happens!) it was a mess. I now have these doughnut-looking thingees that are made from either rubber or soft plastic. I have red and blue (my older machines use a different sized bobbin than my more recent machines). These doughnuts hold the bobbins securely, and one can readily see the thread color. Get one of these and see what you think!
For my rotary cutter, I use a half sheet of masonite on the floor. It's big and smooth, and gets put into our laundry room when not in use. I also use it for pinning.
I recently went to a steel yardstick vice a wooden one for measuring and cutting.
Something I could use more of: BRIGHT LIGHT!
One thing that I got that I love is my tackle box. Laugh if you will but I have gotten more use out of this tackle box. What is different is that it is made of closeable diviable trays. Not just open top containers. I have a heavy duty pocket for sissors. I have compartments for hook and eyes, buttons, tweesers, pearls, paint brushes, ect. If I was in a pinch, I can grab it, and my sewing machine and be out the door in 5 minutes if need be. Another thing that is nice is that if I have to clean up quickly everything is in one thing. It also keeps little hands from getting into things they shouldn't.
As for bobins, there is a fishing tackle box tray that holds sinkers. The little boxes in the tray are the right size to hold most bobbins. Since it snaps closed you don't have to worry about them going flying if you knock the table, or if you have to throw them in your sewing kit quickly.
Quote from: Butch on September 09, 2014, 07:50:01 AM
I no longer use my bobbin boxes; if they ever got spilled out (why that NEVER happens!) it was a mess. I now have these doughnut-looking thingees that are made from either rubber or soft plastic. I have red and blue (my older machines use a different sized bobbin than my more recent machines). These doughnuts hold the bobbins securely, and one can readily see the thread color. Get one of these and see what you think!
For my rotary cutter, I use a half sheet of masonite on the floor. It's big and smooth, and gets put into our laundry room when not in use. I also use it for pinning.
I recently went to a steel yardstick vice a wooden one for measuring and cutting.
Something I could use more of: BRIGHT LIGHT!
I love new gadgets and have seen the donut ones but my current box is working out good. It's a clear enclosed box with posts that stick up. It has 3 rows. I put the spools on the outer posts and put the matching bobbins on the inner posts. I do a lot of quilting and I usually buy new thread when I start a new project. I've learned my lesson with old thread. Its just not worth the aggravation over trying to save a few dollars.
I was having light problems too and I still have problems with darker colors even with good light. I remedied it by taking out the dining room table and putting a conference room table and the sewing machine under the chandelier. When I need more light I just screw in a few more of the bulbs.
The Bobbin Saver looks like an interesting option... I'll have to see if I can find some cheap ones on ebay. Good little tool, there!
Yes! That's it! "The Bobbin Saver"! I didn't know it had a name, but that's it exactly.
Thought of a tool that I was so happy to get: A pair of pinking shears that clip the zig-zag when trimming the seams. Around curves is where they're most useful.
Quote from: Butch on September 10, 2014, 06:44:04 AM
Yes! That's it! "The Bobbin Saver"! I didn't know it had a name, but that's it exactly.
Thought of a tool that I was so happy to get: A pair of pinking shears that clip the zig-zag when trimming the seams. Around curves is where they're most useful.
LOL I just looked up "donut shaped bobbin holder", and that's what popped up.
My google-fu is strong. ;D
I just saw an *awesome* bobbin storage tip on Pinterest:
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ufeq-3E0Rm8/UO7rJpH7-QI/AAAAAAAABog/iDiawMc4-tc/s400/IMG_2002.JPG)
Guys (males), you will be forgiven for not recognizing them. Pedicure toe separators! How genius is that? And cheap, to boot!
Brilliant!!
Great tip Gem! I can definately see using them. I also really like the tackle box idea by LadyStitch :)
Definitely sliced my finger over the weekend since I don't have an awl... HELLOO Amazon
Ouch! I sliced my thumb right in half once.
BTW, if you ever do go through a fingernail, get a small piece of silk (organza or georgette is best), put it over the slice on the fingernail, and use a quick drying strong glue (ie, not Elmers) to hold the silk over the slice. This will allow you to continue to grow the fingernail without it being "deformed" or having to cut too much of it away too quickly. The silk will hold the two halves of the nail together almost like fingernail stitches. ;D
Not exactly a tool but it is something every beginner should know. ;-)
I'm by no means an expert, but the one thing I would suggest is to invest in some nice scissors. When I first started out, I bought the economy scissor pack at Jo-Anns, and it made projects harder than they needed to be. It was difficult to cut straight through heavy fabric because the scissors kept getting stuck, cuts weren't as nice, etc. I invested in a quality pair of scissors and it's a night and day difference.
Quote from: gem on September 12, 2014, 11:20:48 PM
I just saw an *awesome* bobbin storage tip on Pinterest:
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ufeq-3E0Rm8/UO7rJpH7-QI/AAAAAAAABog/iDiawMc4-tc/s400/IMG_2002.JPG)
Guys (males), you will be forgiven for not recognizing them. Pedicure toe separators! How genius is that? And cheap, to boot!
Oh, that is soooo clever! I have come up with an idea for a hanging bobbin storage device that I think is going to work, once I find all of the parts for it. It should last a good long time, as well, and be fun to use, also!
I ordered one of these...
(Twirl Tie)
(http://www.spyder-paintball.com/images/22-0208b.jpg)
... from Ebay, and I am currently shopping around for some of these...
(http://www.heckmannbuildingprods.com/images/174.png)
... in 3/16" x 6" size (with nut, of course), and I am going to hang the whole thing above my work surface suspended from the paper drying lines I have there. The bobbins will fit on the bolt, and can be color coordinated... and the whole thing will twirl so that I can quickly find the color I'm looking for. It shouldn't take much effort to remove a few bobbins to get to the one I need, and it will be a pretty and colorful accessory for the studio!
One thing I have come to like are Post it's Full adhesive Notes. Normally post it notes fall off my patterns, or tubs, or what ever I am useing. As these are adhesive the whole back they hold onto what you stick them to ALOT better. I did a slight re-org for my fabric bins last week. Using them make life much easier. They are bright colors so easy to read. They are easy to change, and don't damage my tubs/boxes. This came in to play when I realized I had marked my "Yellow/Orange/ brown" box as my "Blacks/ Silvers/ Grays" box. Before with Duct tape and masking tape it would have been a pain. Now it was take off, and replace in a minute. Less headache is the way to go.
Regarding bobbins...I store mine with the spool of colored thread they go with in a plastic thread storage container (double sided, looks sort of like what you could use for tackle). That way the matching bobbin is with the spool and I don't have to try to compare 6 shades of green to figure out which is the right one. Got it at JoAnn's
@Gem and Rani-Brilliant! Sally Beauty has the pedi-toe spreader thingies for a few cents each.
The hardware store has the Eye-bolts for about $1.70.
@LadyStitch- Do you find those at Office Depot?
Quote from: Rowen MacD on September 23, 2014, 10:22:22 AM
@LadyStitch- Do you find those at Office Depot?
Staples or Office Depot both have them .
I use the Post-it Super Sticky Notes, too--you can find them just about anywhere, actually (I think I've gotten packs at Target, my grocery store, and most recently, Ace Hardware... in addition to Office Max/Depot). I'll use them to identify parts of cut-out garments (LEFT SLEEVE, etc), to ID my stash ("4 yards wool/poly gabardine, washed & pre-shrunk, Spring 2014"), and to make notes about the next steps in a sewing project (nice to have when you've drafted the pattern yourself & it didn't come with instructions!).
***
Anyone want to hear a funny but ENTIRELY off-topic Super Sticky Note story? Too bad, I'm telling it anyway. ;D The last time I started writing a new novel, I was very excited to try a new-to-me method of plotting it out via storyboard, like this (http://philophrosyne-publishing.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/first-storyboard.jpg). I didn't have a bulletin board--but my office/sewing room has two big double closets with sliding doors. I cleaned the room so I could close all 4 doors, bought myself a big multipack of Super Sticky Notes, put the title of the book on one, and stuck it on the upper lefthand corner of the doors.
...Three years later, that ONE sticky note--the title!--is the only one I ever got around to! LOL ...Evidently I'm not a storyboard person! But the novel got finished anyway, and the Super Sticky Notes have been employed for various other purposes--including sewing notes--around the house.
Quote from: gem on September 23, 2014, 12:19:05 PM
Evidently I'm not a storyboard person! But the novel got finished anyway, and the Super Sticky Notes have been employed for various other purposes--including sewing notes--around the house.
I can't stand doing a ton of pre-writing/storyboarding etc.
I'm not going to pretend to be an amazing writer or anything, but I do generally get good grades on the papers I turn in- except when they involved a ton of pre-writing as part of the grade. I understand that teachers want us to learn different styles but sometimes they're just such a crappy fit it's not even funny. Same thing when they want students to do a ton of editing- I'm writing on a PC not in sharpie on a wall- I can do most of my simple editing as I go!
***Still Off-Topic***
When I do workshops, I tell my students that whatever method gets them from "Chapter One" to "The End" is what they should use... but I also encourage them to try new methods, because you never know what's going to resonate with your process. The funny thing is, I can't seem to take my own advice about it! When I started the revision for this book, I decided I was going to do a Proper Outline, despite *just* (practically moments before) telling a novel revision class that an "outline" can take any form that works for the writer--just as long as it's some kind of chronological list of every scene in the book + notes about it. Well, my "proper outline" lasted a page, before I realized that I already have a perfectly good system that's served me well for the last four books--a chapter-by-chapter Notes file! In contrast, my writing partner makes weird, incomprehensible doodle-diagram things, sometimes several sheets of paper taped together (and then tries to explain them to me). My editor is also a very annotated-notes person (her editorial letter on my last book was 45 pages long, and that didn't include her outline!), which works well for me, although I've seen other authors faint at the sight!
I don't know how anyone in school has *time* to revise a paper! I know I never did, but it also wasn't a skill that was taught "back in the day." But it is critical to successful writing--the ability to tweak and finesse and sometimes hack and slash and rearrange. I think of it (BACK ON-TOPIC!) a lot like sewing--your muslin is your rough draft, and all the fittings, ripping out and resewing, &c are your revision process, in order to produce the well-fitted final garment. Sometimes--a lot of the time--you need to go through several things that DON'T work, in order to figure out what DOES. As the sewing, so goes the writing. :)
LOL!! Love how you tied that in! ;) ;D 8)
Here is something that I started this past summer that may be handy for beginner, and those who have sewn a "few" times. 8)
I started project folders. I can get those cheap after back to school 10 cent 2 pocket folders really easy. OR when someone was cleaning out their back lock of filing cabinets I got my hands on some manilla file folders. What I did was each time someone asked me to work on something I made a file folder. This way I had swatches, drawings, cost sheets, pattern notes, measurements sheets, alteration notes, what have you, for the project in hand. Because of the way I have had to jump from project to project lately this has kept my head straight. Each folder is labeled using the aforementioned extra sticky post it notes. This also means I have a physical reminder of what is on my to do list. This has also worked for non-sewing projects. I keep the folders in the 'file' section of my back pack. It has turned into my walking office/sewing room. (a fellow theater tech person and I laughed when out of the blue someone asked for a pink sharpie, and large saftey pins and we BOTH pulled them our of our backpacks in 30 seconds)
Another though, project files.... to keep track of all your current projects, future projects, and wishful projects ;D
Since I make most of the patterns for the kids' garb, I keep everything in big, gallon zip locks, labeled with what year its from, what it is, roughly what size it is, and a quick description so I can match it to the project it was made for.
Quote from: Hoowil on September 24, 2014, 11:35:47 PM
Since I make most of the patterns for the kids' garb, I keep everything in big, gallon zip locks, labeled with what year its from, what it is, roughly what size it is, and a quick description so I can match it to the project it was made for.
It helps to have a bunch of those old fashioned metal shower curtain rings around with the Zip Lock bags. You can attach the bags together by related group.
I do this with my MA patterns that have been traced to permanent pattern material. You can also use them to bag the muslins/mock ups to hang with them.
Quote from: Rowen MacD on September 25, 2014, 02:32:22 PM
Quote from: Hoowil on September 24, 2014, 11:35:47 PM
Since I make most of the patterns for the kids' garb, I keep everything in big, gallon zip locks, labeled with what year its from, what it is, roughly what size it is, and a quick description so I can match it to the project it was made for.
It helps to have a bunch of those old fashioned metal shower curtain rings around with the Zip Lock bags. You can attach the bags together by related group.
I do this with my MA patterns that have been traced to permanent pattern material. You can also use them to bag the muslins/mock ups to hang with them.
I don't remember where I found it, but I have a wicker chest that the cross-section of the storage space is almost dead on exactly the dimensions of the bags. I use it like a filing cabinet. Only problem is that since I've only got it about half full, stuff keeps falling over and sliding under the other bags.
For my MA stuff, I got a bunch of big manila envelopes and used a three hole punch to put them in the back of the binder the instruction manual went in. Keeps it all together. I've got envelopes for the originals, and for each project. Which reminds me:
Contractor's plastic: the nice thick stuff, that you can trace/transfer patterns onto. It allows adjustment, use of multiple sizes off one pattern, and is a lot more durable than the tissue. And a 4x40 foot roll is only a few bucks.
Never-Dull scissors (http://www.gardeners.com/buy/scissors/13145.html). Good for heavy fabrics and leather. Worth the money. They do keep their edge. I have a 20+ year old pair that I got at Tandy Leather.