Thursday, December 10, 2015

My list of essential sewing supplies

Recently I read a post from Mabey She Made It listing some of her favorite beginning tools.  That got me thinking about my favorite tools.  Here are some of mine (some are elementary tools that are often assumed.)  Oops--we need to get our hose into the shed for the winter!




My most important players when I'm sewing are:

* Tape measure
* Pins
* Magnetic pin catcher
Gingher shears (love Ginger shears!!!)  *Good shears are essential but Fiskars are good enough.
Fiskars pinking shears (Didn't have the budget for more Gingher shears since I was also outfitting my daughter with her own sewing supplies!  I like these though.)
Seam gauge
Olga 45 mm cutting blade (I recently caved into cost pressures and bought a 50% off Fiskars 60mm cutting blade--love the size but don't love the mechanism--not smooth.  I want the automatically locking Olga blade for safety reasons.)
* Seam ripper 
* Janome S5 Skyline sewing machine 
Husqvarna Huskylock serger
* Iron

Some of these I've spent years collecting, so I marked the absolutely essential ones with an *.  Before you ask, I use an iron.  A lot.  To iron clothing and press quilt squares.  It makes a huge difference.  I've had one since I was in college many moons ago!  My latest was new 3 years ago when my husband moved ahead of my kids and I to Kentucky.  Then the one I had in Missouri died so we're down to the "new" one.


My next picture show two additions:  cutting mats in two sizes.





The one is smaller (24" x 18" Olfa) for quilt blocks while the other is bigger (18" x 36" Fiskars) for longer lengths and clothing construction.  I have no preference.  Even with 50% off at Joann's Fabrics, the Fiskars was a better price.    Using cutters and mats is so much easier for both quilts and clothing; you just zip the cutter around the pattern pieces!  Warning:  the cutter blades do not have a long lifespan so if costs are a huge issue, stick with good shears, the most expensive you can afford.  If you take care of them and only use them for cutting, they will last a  much longer time.

So that's my list.  It's funny how each piece seems essential after you have them.

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