I may not be the best sewer (or sewist) in our family, but I’m definitely one of the more experienced ones (ahem, I’m looking at you, Evelyn…). Sewing can sometimes be as challenging as it is fun, but there are a handful of sewing tools I swear by to get the job done! Behold my favorites!
- A great pair of scissors. I know rotary cutting is all the rage these days, but nothing gives you better control than a great pair of sharp scissors — especially when it comes to cutting curves and small pieces of clothing. My favorites are Fiskar 12” or Gingher, but I also use a pair my mom used to use (!), and a pair my grandma used (!!), which are extremely heavy (bonus: good for arm workouts).
- Fastturn. Why spend valuable time working safety pins through tubes of fabric when this tool will do so in just minutes? Just this week, my Fastturn came in handy while I was making new cushions for my dining room chairs. After I dragged through the mess on my sewing floor closet to find all the different tubes, it only took a couple of minutes to complete my project. Of course, it took me some time to subsequently clean and reorganize my sewing closet floor, but that’s not the point (a story for another time). The point is the Fasturn is an amazing time saver!
- Hemming gauge. There is nothing more frustrating than a long tape pooling on the floor and wiggling around when you’re trying to measure (think: trying to push a rope uphill). This tool’s sliding bing-a-bob preserves the measurement you want to use so there’s no need to constantly re-measure! Fast and accurate!