Things I wouldn't be without

We do air this one out and dust it off now and again, but it does help as people are always coming up with new ideas, and it's good for the new sewists to see what us oldies use and find most useful.

Personally, I'm a pin freak, and couldn't sew without a good selection of good quality pins! I like the big flower head jobs for using with thick fabrics and with the kids, and very fine long ones for both patchwork and silks and other fine fabrics.

I also like my rotary cutters and mats! Great for cutting multiple layers and long seams...

Other things that are maybe a tad odd but I really need at times:

Tin snips - used for cutting corset boning! No more wrecked scissors HERE, I'm telling you! Nail clippers: used for rounding the ends of plastic boning! A file for cleaning off the ends of metal boning. A hammer! MUCH better for whacking studs and grommets and things in than those plier tools... Just don't whack your thumb by mistake! Doll needles: perfect for miles of cartridge pleating in costume skirts...

I think favourite tools depend largely on what one is doing at the time. Gotta love my hand crank sewing machines when a job like yesterday's comes in!

On Sat, 3 Feb 2007 08:29:17 +0000 in alt.sewing, The Wanderer wrote,

I've been looking for a pair of those. Found plenty of reading glasses, but no clip-ons. I guess more people just use bifocals.

Varifocals here! 'Distance, computer screen, sewing' is what I told the optician! :)

My cheap "oil-o-pump" hand-pumped aerosol bottle. It was an abject failure in the kitchen, but does a fine job of spraying a fine mist of water.

Joy Beeson

Try here

used to use them only for fly tying, they have now migrated into my sewing area.

Val

Waiting for my first pair right now, as it happens. Had readers for many years, distance two years ago, but I reckon it was time to admit defeat....

You and me both, as it happens. I got my pair from B&Q about 3 or 4 years ago, a heap of them lying at one of the checkouts and it was an impulse buy. When I tried again it was a case of 'Oh they were a one-off special'.

The sort I have are the close-fitting ones. I've tried googling for suppliers in the UK, and managed to locate a couple, but when it came to ordering, they could only offer the sort that stand away from the lens on a short arm.

I got a pair coz Audrey said she wanted some as well, but they're not as good as the close-fitting sort.

Oh good. Kate has now started the topic of dragging "regular tools" into the sewing room for possibly violent usage. ;)

I have a hammer in my sewing room too. AND!!! I have a scrap piece of

2"x4" to put under it. I don't want to whack directly away on my ceramic tile floor, or my work tables. So I put the wood under whatever I'm beating on with the hammer. Usually that's blue jeans. If you ever need to work around/sew over a flat felled seam on a pair of blue jeans, whack it with a hammer when you have it all lined up. Makes it so much easier to sew over.

Medical implements are another one I like to drag in there. :) I have a scalpel for delicate seam ripping. I have a pair of mayo scissors for getting at funny spots that need trimmed. I have a pair of stitch cutting scissors too. Those I use A LOT!! Great for opening out a hem fast.

Then I have a lot of traditional notions too. Some of my favorites are: Space Tape, for helping size button holes correctly; Wash Away Wonder Tape, I use that for everything from putting in zippers to putting on patch pockets--Love it!; and glass head pins!!! Don't care what shape the glass is, flat flower pins or little bitty bead heads. They are wonderful. (Having had to pick a melted plastic pinhead off my iron once, I decided never to go there again!)

Oh! And rubber shelf liner. Have it under my machines (the ones that aren't mounted in a table.) Have it under my foot pedals so they don't slide around. Have it lining the plastic drawers where I store thread so the spools don't slide around. And I am sure I will find more uses for it too. ;)

Sharon